We have applied for planning permission to put up an agricultural building on our farm, it will incorporate a new milking parlour & cow housing.
In 2015 we replaced our 1980’s milk processing dairy with a new dairy building on the farm and after 50 years our milking parlour & cow housing are coming to the end of their usable life and now need to be replaced too, we can’t replace them while they are in daily use which is why it’s a new shed.
We have been a dairy farm since 1947, investing in new buildings & modernising our farm periodically over the years is what has not only kept our farm sustainably producing dairy products for our local area, but has also allowed us to have our cows grazing in the pastures contained by traditional dry stone walls an area we are proud has been classified as of ‘outstanding natural beauty’.
We have worked with a local architect who has already designed two similar agricultural buildings in this area in the last few years, ours will be a very similar design to those already in our area, it will nestle in with the other farm buildings and be made out of the same materials but will be visually lower than our existing buildings as the design is for 3 smaller peaked roofs.
We have taken great care with the building design for it to both function as we need it to but also have the lowest impact on our area & have been guided by the Sheffield City Council planning officer who has visited the farm twice during the design stage.
As well as functioning as the building we need, it will also allow us to continue to work with the University of Sheffield & feature a vertical hydroponics growing wall which will use all the rain water harvested from the roofs incorporating the solar panels and a small aerobic digester.
The aerobic digester will be used to digest the cow muck in a sealed container which reduces the smell when we use it as fertiliser on the land & the amount we need to use & frequency of muck spreading on the fields.
We will harvest all the rainwater that lands on the building roof filter it & use it for the cow’s drinking water.
We already work with Sheffield Wildlife Trust who have a permanent classroom on site & this building will be incorporated into future school visits to help future generations understand how their food is produced.
Covid-19 has highlighted the need for food to be produced locally & sustainably, we saw first-hand the supermarkets shelves empty of milk other than ours, this building will help us to continue to have a resilient supply of dairy products for our area & the dream is to do it all from 100% green energy with no requirement on fossil fuels, please watch the video below.