LEAF Online Farm Sunday
This weekend Jersey Dairy and Westlands Farm took part in LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Online Farm Sunday. Farmers from across Britain and of course Jersey, took part in the online event – a virtual celebration of farming, which gave hundreds of thousands of people the chance to discover more about how and where their food is produced.
LEAF’s Online Farm Sunday replaced the traditional on-farm event, Open Farm Sunday, where Westlands Farm had planned to open their farm gates to members of the public for the first time in June. Unfortunately, due to Corona-virus the Open Farm event did not take place and this year the celebrations went virtual! The weekend included a packed programme of interactive live video tours and demonstrations on the LEAF Open Farm Sunday Facebook page, with farmers across the country also sharing their own pictures, recipes and video clips across social media.
Dairy farmer, Phil Le Maistre, gave a fantastic online tour of his dairy farm in St. Brelades. The tour took you to visit the Jersey cows grazing in the field, through to the milking parlour, into the cow shed and onto visit the beautiful Jersey calves.
Phil said: “We had a great time hosting for LEAF Online Farm Sunday. We had originally planned to open for Open Farm Sunday in June, however, due to Covid this wasn’t possible. It was slightly strange doing the live stream especially not having members of the public in front of you asking questions, however, being able to show the public the process of milking the cows in the parlour was fantastic. Plus, we were able to extend our audience to everyone in the UK and further afield, not just Jersey! We enjoyed having the opportunity to show people the standards which modern day farmers adhere to along with all the hard work that goes into putting all of our great LEAF Marque certified Jersey Dairy products on the table”.
“From feeding a fresh born calf to preparing manure management plans or from milking the cows to cutting the maize silage no day is ever the same and we are lucky to have a great team that make all of this happen. Looking at all the different farms that featured throughout the day you can see the high standards that farms in the UK are all at. So next time you’re in the supermarket look out for the LEAF Farming, Red Tractor, Genuine Jersey and Jersey Dairy logos and support local produce where possible.”
All of the virtual live tours are available to view on the LEAF Open Farm Sunday website www.farmsunday.org. And if you missed Phil, his brilliant and informative tour can be found here: www.facebook.com/LEAFopenfarmsunday/videos/1069290593507801.
