
We finally got there and judging by the reactions, it was worth it! The Oving Cow Shed finally opened on September 25th. A proud moment in the history of our farm thanks to the hard work and tenacity of the team at Woodhorn.
A huge personal thank you to all concerned from me but even more so to the many, many of you that have supported the project so far and for the wonderful feedback given when you have met me or other members of the team or via social media. I would also like to give a special thanks to Anne-Marie Eastwood and the Jubilee Hall Committee for their support and encouragement. Thank you everyone!

It really has been a joy to witness the level of interest in not just the milk vending project itself but the farm in general, and it has been fun answering so many questions whilst we have learned a lot in return.
We don’t homogenise our milk which is a supermarket driven industrial process to prevent the cream rising to the top. I was aware that many have health concerns about homogenisation, but I was surprised to learn from a number of visitors to the cow shed that some people who are lactose intolerant have no problem drinking non homogenised milk. Our milk is also ‘full fat’ and some people are astonished to discover that ‘full fat’ milk is typically 3.6% fat – officially a low fat food. However, I was unaware (until now) that ‘full fat’ milk is much better for us than semi skimmed or skimmed because the body absorbs the many nutrients present much more efficiently when drinking ‘full fat’ milk.

V2 Radio carried out a live tasting of our milkshake flavours
I think both these facts illustrate that, as always, we are better consuming food in its most natural form, as nature intended, without unnecessary processing.
We are now stocking butter, cheese and chocolate and a common question has been ‘who or what is Organic Herd’? Organic Herd is a cooperative of Organic dairy farmers of which we are members. Up to now all of our member’s milk has gone in tankers to the likes of Yeo Valley, but in August this year we launched our own range of dairy products. These will not be available in supermarkets, only in specialist food shops and farmer member’s vending machines!
We are looking forward to organising tractor and trailer rides out to the dairy in the spring and summer of next year.
In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, please take a trip down to the cow shed and give our milk and/or milk shakes a try. We need to get sales to a certain level (and a % of every sale goes to the Oving Jubilee Hall) to make the project work, so please help us by spreading the word verbally or via social media (You can follow Woodhorn Farm via the website or on Facebook and Instagram) . Thank you again!
Rain, rain and more rain…!
Back ‘down on the farm’ things are a little wet! Cows can’t swim very well and anyway, ours are so soft that they gather at the yard gate at the slightest sign of drizzle. So they are all happy and safe in the real cow shed at Reeds Farm. The fields are totally saturated and though all our autumn crops were successfully sown, I suspect that some will not survive this level of standing water or washed soils. Perhaps I shouldn’t be overly surprised as October is typically our wettest month, as our own Woodhorn rainfall data shows.
Year/Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
2019 | 21.7 | 47.6 | 43.3 | 12.1 | 18.2 | 61.2 | 47 | 61.2 | 97.5 | 100.3 | 104.7 | 114 |
2020 | 50.3 | 106.9 | 41 | 42.8 | 2 | 34.4 | 20.2 | 72.6 | 33 | 190.2 | 61.8 | 110.5 |
2021 | 78.5 | 49.2 | 24.8 | 1.4 | 69.7 | 44.2 | 39 | 54.8 | 59.8 | 68.8 | 4.8 | 22.6 |
2022 | 44.2 | 34.2 | 29.2 | 16 | 54.2 | 31.9 | 5.8 | 36.2 | 76.6 | 35 | 113.2 | 64.8 |
2023 | 29.3 | 3.8 | 89.3 | 67.3 | 8.8 | 26.8 | 64.2 | 57.5 | 57.4 | 182.2 | ||
Monthly Average (mm) | 44.8 | 48.34 | 45.52 | 27.92 | 30.58 | 39.7 | 35.24 | 56.46 | 64.86 | 115.3 | 71.123 | 77.98 |
Thank you again for your support and please follow us on Facebook, Instagram or other social media forums, as we hope this is only the start of things at the Oving Cow Shed!

John Pitts, November 2023
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