West Middlewick is a traditional dairy farm situated in the heart of Devon. Most of the food eaten by the animals is grown and harvested on the farm. Our sustainable approach to farming means we are planting meadows with wildflowers, looking after trees that are several hundred years old and maintaining our hedgerows so that they are full of food and shelter for wildlife. We are proud to be one of the first farms in the area to be awarded Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship by the government.

Our extended farm shop provides the great taste of West Middlewick free range farm produce including our award-winning raw milk or pasteurised milk which we bottle fresh every day. Find out more about our milk and the benefits of drinking raw milk here. We are also now selling West Middlewick pasteurised milk.

Try our delicious beef, lamb and pork. Choose from a selection of steaks and joints of meat. All our beef is hung on the bone for 21 days producing exceptional tasty and tender meat. We also sell our own delicious bacon, sausages and burgers. All our animals are grass fed and free range.

Our cows

Our grass-fed cows, largely British Friesians and British Friesians Cross Jerseys, roam the green fields around the farm giving our milk its authentic free range label. We also have several more Jersey Crosses coming along in our herd. The cows produce so-called A2 milk that not only tastes great, it also tends to be kind on the stomach and have many other benefits.

The cows munch on the grass in the fields for most of the year. They also eat other crops we grow ourselves. The fields produce hay and silage (cut grass that is stored in an airtight bag) so that our cows have plenty of nutritious food to eat during the winter months. We also grow our own corn and grind it to produce meal (a bit like porridge oats) for the cows to eat. When we cut the corn, the straw is baled and stored ready to be used for bedding in the winter months when it is too wet or cold for the cows to be outside. We buy in some animal feed, known as cake, and in 2019 we moved over to soya free cake which the cows enjoy at milking time.

The cows are milked twice a day. The calves are also fed during these times in the morning generally between 8.30 and 10.30am and in the evening between 5 and 7pm. ou can see some photos in the gallery and find out about our award winning milk.

We run a ‘closed herd’ which means we don’t buy in any cattle as this helps us keep our herd healthy. We can trace many of our cows back several generations. Our herd is currently around 80 strong plus ‘followers’. The term follower refers to young stock – the young calves and heifers that one day will also take their place.