Poultry the way nature intended

by Robert Morris of St Bride's

It’s the early 1960s and my dad is spending yet another night outside trying to protect his poultry from a hungry fox. Fast forward 50 years, it’s 10pm on a Saturday night and I’m trying to protect my poultry from a hungry fox. The intervening years saw a revolution in the way that farming, in particular poultry farming became industrialised. Small scale free range poultry all but disappeared from the UK countryside. The upshot was the supermarkets and a handful of large scale producers totally control the market.

Enter St Bride’s and a couple of handfuls of intrepid farmers trying to produce poultry the way nature intended. Hardy breeds slowly grown with minimal inputs. Good for the planet, good for the birds, good for the soul, not so good for the pocket.

Ten years on we, myself and AJ, are still trying to produce the best poultry possible. The birds are allowed outside as soon as they are hardy enough to withstand the weather. They are let out early in the morning and locked back up last thing at night. We feed them a vegetarian diet and finish with locally grown whole wheat. We let them live as natural a life as possible.

They live for up-to 20 weeks which is four times longer than supermarket chickens. In addition to chickens we produce ducks, bronze turkeys and a few guinea fowl from time to time. We passionately believe that the industrialisation and commoditisation of agriculture is bad for people and planet. We believe in small scale family farms and are grateful that we have restauranteurs like Fred and Betty that support farms like ours.

At times it can be tough, especially with the increasing volatility of the weather, but there is something special about seeing the name of our farm printed on the menu. It makes all the long hard hours seem that bit easier. Bravo Fred et Betty

Find out more about St Bride's on their website www.stbridespoultry.co.uk