Woodlands Farm is a fragment of London's old countryside that offers a unique opportunity to conserve heritage landscape and promote biodiversity.
At heart this is a conservation and development project.
The ambitions of The Woodlands Farm Trust are to:
1. build a truly sustainable future through sensitive farming using native stock and working towards a sustainable, harmonious practice, minimising the impact of activities on the environment both local and global.
2. maintain the farm as a community resource, giving volunteers and the community access to education, training, experiences and tasks that they might not otherwise encounter.
3. conserve and improve the biodiversity of our 89 acres.
4. create a sustainable operating and financial structure for the future.
English Longhorn cattle
This breed of brown and white cattle are distinguished by their long horns which grow in towards their face. They originated in Craven, in the north of England around 17th Century. Their large body size meant they were a good working cattle used for pulling farm machinery. However would also be bred for beef and milk production. Although their horns may seem threatening this is a usually friendly breed of cattle. This breed is often confused with the Texas Longhorn – the main difference is that the English breeds horns grown in towards their face whereas the Texas horns grow upwards on either side of their face.
The numbers of this breed plummeted in the 1950s and 1960s as indoor housed cattle meant there was a preference for short horned or polled (de-horned) cattle as this reduced the chance of injury. However the Rare Breed Survival Trust saved the breed in 1980.