https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/mattwellyn

Steve Matthews and Claire Llewellyn are first generation Buffalo farmers in Staffordshire. Initially starting with a handful of sheep we decided we wanted to farm something different that was both good for us and the environment around us.

After a lot of research and exploring many options we purchased four Water Buffalo calves. We raised them and realised they were definitely the right animals for us. Claire then travelled the UK and Italy to learn all about them.

The main attraction of buffalo was their positive environmental impact,  longevity and uniqueness. Our ultimate goals being to sell all our own produce including meat,  cheese and milk.

We now have a herd of just under 100 animals, the females are used for milking, currently raising their own calves then milked once a day around the calf's requirements. The males are naturally reared for meat and enjoy a life similar to the milking herd, based soley on forage and turned out onto pasture as much as possible. The original four calves were all males and have gone to live out their days at a conservation centre in Devon.

Until recently we have been based on Claire's parents smallholding in Staffordshire but the herd grew and we knew we had to find a new base. After two years off applying for farms (a very lengthy, competitive and difficult process) in October 2022 we were finally given a tenancy on a Staffordshire Council Farm which was an incredible break for us. Unfortunately though the farm was very very run down with virtually no fencing,  serious drainage problems, fields of weeds rather than grass and leaking water pipes everywhere, inside and out! 

Since October we have been working extremely hard to make the buffalos comfortable. They didn't take well to the move and took a long time to get used to the parlour as before Claire milked them on mobile milking machines. The farm has been a huge draw on our finances, despite us selling our house to take on the tenancy we find that we are now struggling to get everything in place to be able to start selling our milk. 

Why we need the money;

Our current issue is our tractor, a 40 ish year old David Brown 1490. She has worked incredibly hard in the six years we have had her but sadly she is now past the point of repair and we desperately need a replacement tractor,  without it we can't feed or bed our animals. 

Unfortunately as we already have so many outgoings we are very unlikely to be able to get a loan. The tractor we need would be able to do all the day to day feeding and cleaning as well as helping to make the winter feed out in the fields during the summer. 

Please donate if you can!

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/mattwellyn