The Regen Soils Series aims to highlight the power of observation as a valuable tool that deepens understanding of your context, and allows you to make truly informed on-farm decisions.
In our second episode of the series, Abby Rose interviews Clare Hill from Planton Farm, a regenerative organic farm in Shropshire. Clare is also the co-founder of Roots to Regeneration, a course that guide farmers through the regenerative transition process, and Impeckable Poultry, a pioneering project to bring regenerative, dual purpose poultry to the UK.
In this episode, Clare and Abby delve into how observation has been integrated into daily routine at Planton Farm, and what triggered Clare’s regenerative transition towards a diversified, nature-first farming system.
The Planton Farm site
As a relatively small farm, spanning just over 80 acres, Clare shares that one of the intentions for Planton Farm is that they’d like to make a living from this site alone. This means maximising on-site productivity in a truly sustainable way, making use of their natural resources. The farm has a herd of suckler cows, runs broiler chickens, and grows perennial vegetables. They have intentionally incorporated agroforestry for longer term climate resilience; Clare has 70 different varieties of trees growing on-site, producing edible fruits and nuts, as well as providing shade and shelter for the cows.
Observation as a ‘Way of Knowing’
Clare references Carl Jung’s “ways of knowing”, four different ways to think about what knowledge you can draw upon, and therefor apply to making observations: thinking (scientific knowledge/information), sensing, feeling, and intuition. She notes that in a scientific field, sensing, feeling, and intuition have historically been dismissed. The Roots to Regeneration course validates these non-thinking methods, encouraging participants to trust their intuition, especially when scientific data for new regenerative practices is scarce. Observation connects directly to these other ways of knowing, as spending time looking at animal behaviour leads to a sense that informs management decisions.
Observation and Farm Management
At Planton Farm, they run their suckler herd as a family group with natural weaning, supporting natural herd behaviour and higher welfare, despite conventional knowledge stating this might not lead to optimal growth rates. They have noticed the cows adapting their diet preferences to an increasingly diverse pasture, learning over time to graze a wider range of plants, and also that their ‘undesirable’ plant species grow less successfully in the species rich meadows. The cow’s diverse diet has also eliminated the need for anthelmintics and increased the farm’s productivity.
The farm has a pre-planned grazing plan, but daily observation means they adapt the plan as they go. They monitor pasture recovery and identify which species the cattle are targeting, such as nettles or bracken. In response, they adjust cell sizes or move the cattle on if the grass needs more rest, ensuring they do not overgraze.
They credit tall grass grazing with improved animal gut health, better water holding capacity of the soil and increased root depths, protecting the farm against droughts and flooding. The farm is verified with the Savory Institute Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV), so they are externally audited to score the effectiveness of ecosystem processes such as the water cycle and photosynthetic capacity.
The farm team have tick sheets as a reminder to make certain observations when checking the cows. Planton Farm even include the importance of having an observational mindset in job descriptions, to ensure their team is given ‘permission’ to take time to stand and observe rather than always feeling pressure to be doing a more ‘productive’ task.
Clare’s observation tick sheet:
- Precipitation – did it rain or snow?
- Browse – was there browse available?
- Animal behaviour – were the cows settled or unsettled?
- Grass growth rate – fast, slow or none?
