Gallery 2023

Spring Farm Walk – Overbank Farm, Macclesfield

Graham Parks and Pam Clarke

On 3 May we visited Graham Parks and Pam Clarke at Overbank Farm to find out about their system of achieving high retruns from low value calves. Around 120 people joined us on the day.

The systems uses beef calves from the dairy herd. They are primarily Angus and Hereford crosses but there are also a few Belted Galloways, British Blues and Black & whites. Calves are bought in at 7-10 days old and sold for slaughter at 24-32 months of age. During the grazing season there are three age groups of cattle, all or which are managed on a rotational block grazing system. The simplicity of the system is the key for Graham, and although it is a single-handed operation, he has a good work life balance with time away from the farm (other than during calf-rearing).