 Okay, so here we are at Bradley Nook Farm. This is run by Jay and Katya, and we're going to go talk to them because there's a very special story about this farm, and it's very heartwarming, and I can't wait to meet them. Let's go. So Jay, this is your farm here? It is, yes. How long have you guys been here for? Well, I was more or less born here. Really? And it's like about the third day after I was born, I came here with my parents, and they started farming. So you've been here your whole life, basically? Yes. Amazing. So this was a dairy? It was a dairy, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, everything was manual, very hard work. So you've basically been a farmer or involved with farming your entire life? Well, that's what happens when you're born on a farm base. You know, it's hard to escape, so... I noticed in the area, like, there's a lot of farming in this area. Yes, yeah, sort of dairy farming, and in fact, like 50 years ago, practically every house in the area was a small farm of some kind. So your entire environment, your family life, like, passed on your heritage. It's all farming now. Everything's farming. Everything's farming, yeah, yeah. When you've got a family dairy farm, it's so time-consuming, needs so much energy and commitment that it's what you do. You don't have time for hobbies or, you know, you get up in the morning, you start looking after the cows, and by the time you're finished at night, you're just too knackered to do anything, basically. So a lot of farmers, they live and breed this stuff. Oh, yes, definitely, yeah. It's a way of life. You know, it is a way of life. It's more than a lifestyle. It's an all-encompassing. And that's what makes it so difficult for farmers to contemplate change. Changing, yeah. It's not like in all the industry where you, like, go to work somewhere else. You could go anywhere to go to work. Yeah, it is a very distinct way of life. So far as to say to a farmer and say, like, you've got to change this whole facility right now and stop farming animals. Like, that would be a daunting concept. Like, they wouldn't even, something that wouldn't even cross their mind. No, no, it would seem impossible. You've got to have a very good, you know, like, offer or incentive for people to change. Yeah. All right, let's go to a different part of the farm and we'll talk about, we'll start talking about your change, cool it like a awakening kind of thing, wasn't it? Yeah, sort of. But, you know, I think the rot's set in for me when I learned transcendental meditation about 30 years ago. Oh, really? Well, it'd be 40 years ago now and everybody connected with that was vegan or vegetarian, even back then. And so, I found it difficult to look after the animals and then sit down and eat them basically, which is what you, you know, that was what you were expected to do, that was the way things were. So I became vegetarian then and so, when we approached the vegan society, I was good and ready to take the next step. Wow. But it was how to do it on the farm and I really wanted to produce food on the farm. I didn't want to sort of sell it and walk away and say, okay, I've had enough of this, I can't do it anymore. We want to provide some kind of template or example that you can do something different, you can feed people, but you don't have to have fields full of animals and animals go into the slaughterhouse or animals having calves every year, permanently pregnant basically, and you just don't need to do it in order to feed the world's population. In order to live the farming lifestyle that is true, you're hard and true to your tradition, you don't have to... That's it. You feel responsible for the farm, so obviously you enjoy being in the countryside who wouldn't. Yeah. And let's face it, we need farmers. Yeah. We need farmers, but we don't necessarily need the animal farmers. No, you don't need the stuff that goes with it. No, no, no. That's it. Underneath all, like 30 years worth of crap, you can see where two cows used to live and they've got the water bowl in front of them. We had probably 80 milk cows tied up in there. Okay. To be milked every day. Wow. And so in the winter you'd get up, get your wheelbarrow, clean the manure from behind the cows, and then the day starts. Yeah. So back then, because being a dairy, you wouldn't have any sexed semen back then, did you have to send any of the calves away? Yes, most of the male calves had to go to... It was a regular, like Friday run to Derby. Yeah. Cattle market to take the calves to market. So back then the male calves would be sent for beef or grown for veal? You know, I don't know. I presume they went for beef. Yeah. But ours were not extreme dairy breeds. No. So possibly they went for beef. And I think probably Holsteins or more extreme dairy breeds probably go for veal, I'd say. Yeah. And a lot of them, they actually killed them on the farm in England. Yeah, yeah. No, we never did that. No. I see over here we've got some little friends over here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, 17 friends. This is what they eat for the winter. Wow. And they eat on average 10 of those a week. Wow. Even the few that we've got. And how many have you got? 17. Got 17 here. This small amount of animals. Oh, yes. Comparably to like a large scale. Yes, yes. And that just shows the environmental impact of keeping livestock. Yeah. Because ours are not producing anything. No. They eat 10 of these a week just to live. Just to live. And if you were fattening them for beef you'd have to supplement that with grains, barley or something. Or if they were milking, obviously they'd have enormous food demands and you'd be eating what they call dairy concentrates which contain micronized protein, stuff from all over the world. In particular, soya, which is very damaging. And of course, serials that people could eat. Of course, yeah. A lot of people think that because like they see the cows on the grass that they never supplement their diets. No, that's only part of it. There are people making grass-fed beef and grass-fed milk. Grass-fed milk. But they're still harvesting a lot of grass. The environmental cost of just producing food through animals is just magnifying all of the resources. Well, it is. It just doesn't make sense anymore with the growing world population and the climate crisis and the loss of habitat agriculture is responsible for. And then when you look around on the country side all it is is flattened grass. Exactly. People think that's just normal. It isn't. That's panda. Hello panda. You look like a panda. Hello, darling. So you started to make the connection. You went vegetarian and you still had cattle on your farm that you were having to... Can you explain what that felt like making the connection to the animals and still having to do what you had to do with the animals or torn a little bit? Well, I was very torn because you look after somebody like this or panda. Panda should have been a beef animal and you sort of look after them and I mean, look into their eyes. You can see there's somebody in there. And then you have to put them in a trailer and take them to the abattoir. It's just... Like it must feel like because you're kind of their only carer they've ever known that it's like a sense of betrayal. It is a sense of betrayal. You're like sending somebody you know to be murdered basically in terrifying circumstances. We used to go to a big abattoir in Shropshire and at the front it's all like glossy like a supermarket and you go around the back where the farmers take the animals and there's pens where you put the animals and you know you can smell the smells from the slaughter process coming out of the back and you can tell the as soon as they you can tell they've got a pretty good idea of what's coming for you and you can feel the stress in there the whole it's like a nightmare place to go. You can see the images of cows trying to escape this little house and the killed lion and I never saw that I never saw inside it was not something I had an ambition to do. So as farmers even though they're connected to the animals on the farm do you think they have a level of disconnect from the slaughterhouse process? Yeah it's you couldn't do it otherwise but I couldn't do it so I obviously knew there was a different way a different way. You didn't have to put yourself through it let alone the animals just the act of putting them in the trailer it must completely freak them out what it does because then I wonder where they're going and then they get there. So you've got names for all these? Yes. Panda Blue Badger Hole in the head Yeah We treat them like individuals but we have to realise that they're cattle and they have different instincts and different ways of reacting to the world. So how long has it been since you have been operating as a normal beef farmer? It can be four years now I think it's four years since the vegan society visited and we sat around the kitchen table and they said there's something else you can do on your farm apart from keeping animals and that's when we decided that's what we've been looking for that's what we want to do So it feels pretty crazy thinking that going back to that mindset where you're in before and now you don't even have to worry about taking them to the slaughter. No it's just incredible you can't believe what a revelation and a life changing experience it was not to have to do that anymore and to know that people, animals like panda won't have to go through what they used to have to go through but as I say I was in the same position as all the farmers up till then I didn't know what else I could do Yeah Yeah that would be interesting to talk about let's just say there's a farmer out there that feels the same way they're in two minds and they feel like there's no other way what would you say to someone like that that's placed in time where you were at? Well just take stock of what you're doing think about what effect you're having on the animals what effect you're having on the planet and yourself and realise that you don't have to do this you can do something else you could grow vegetables like we hope to still not started you could turn your farm into a sanctuary or you could grow trees go into forestry you've got this farm most people own the farm some people rent the farm so it's a lot more difficult for them but the land is there you can do whatever you want with it So what have you chosen to do here? Well we've been delayed by Covid the same as everybody else but we should have been producing vegetables this spring and that's the overall plan that a small area of the farm will produce as much food as animals used to we'll grow vegan organic vegetables which need no animal inputs so ever That's crazy to think this is 17 cows what they're eating what an intensive dairy in Canada needs to feed them it's just unfathomable It's one thing that will be a different that I've been sort of wandering around this huge site for years on my own since my dad died and hopefully in a couple of years time there might be 12, 20 people employed here so that will be a massive boost for local employment and really useful jobs as well Yeah definitely Fulfilling jobs That's something that you see farmers saying a lot that this movement of plant based eating it's attacking their livelihood and if new markets open up and there's more plant based foods available then that food needs to be grown and produced and it's got to come from somewhere Well if more people give up meat and dairy the market will force people to produce food differently and provide what the farmers move into and it will provide an opportunity the opportunity will be there the market will be there and it'll be stupid to do anything else well it would make life on the planet possible in the future we've got to do it and it would be a better world without slaughterhouses that's for sure So this is like a little portable it looks like a truck container It used to be a milk delivery truck Well that's even better So this was a dairy milk delivery truck We've got a cheese kettle that we heat the oats in the water and the other ingredients that sort of extract the products from the oats Yeah it is a mini factory really See how crazy is that you can make a little mini oat drink factory in the backyard of your farm there That's it You don't even need a suitable building you can convert something like this and literally drop it off the back of a truck and next day you could be in business And no animals being chained up on a milking machine in a milking parlour No carvings No calves being taken away That's it It's the only ethical way If you want to put something on your cereal in the morning, then your coffee it doesn't need to come out of a cow No it doesn't need to go through all that That process Don't have to impregnate the cow No Because the milk is coming from a cow that's been pregnant They forget that part It seems like such an insane way to get a beverage to put on top of your cereal I did it It's such a sweat isn't it basically all unnecessary and better if people didn't do it really This is the way forward It is Every ingredient is certified organic It's not just animal free It's the highest possible production standards Amazing This was renewable energy You are also very much bound by what your land is capable of producing Growing up If the farmers in Wales say I can't grow avocados That's true But other things are possible and not everybody has to produce food We need timber We need carbon capture Other things are possible But they will need a lot of support Hopefully from the new government subsidy scheme And that might actually open a few doors for people to get out of life Stopped into doing something different with the land Definitely There's always different alternatives Not just food, if you can't grow something There's like you put a fucking container out the back here It doesn't matter if they've got some in front of them already There's always something better Oh, here comes Rosie Rosie! We're rolling the hay Has it got protein in that hay? Yeah, it has got protein Where do the cows get their protein from? Well, they're all vegans Don't tell anybody So who's got the most interesting personality out of all the cows? My cheeky This one's called hole in the hole That one's cheeky She's a bit cheeky So a lot of the cows have gone to sanctuaries We send around 60 to hillside animal sanctuary in Norfolk who took them all And that was especially satisfying because they could all stay with their calves or the cows I think when you change you've got to accept that what you did previously wasn't a good thing I think that's a big hurdle for people that you think about all those hundreds of animals who went to the slaughterhouse or you think of all that the imported protein maize, soya, whatever that you were responsible for being grown on what used to be grassland or forest which is now intensive cropland So you start really thinking about it it's just what you do And to talk about farming being a close knit community it is because farmers talk farming amongst farmers and nobody else has a clue what it's about or you can't relate to other people I always say that farmers interact with animals more than your average vegan activist does and so they know more than me how much of a personality these animals have so I try to ask them you know more than me how much these animals are individuals you're bound to because you've got years of living with them literally living with them and you recognise that families have different personalities and you can say she's just like her mother wow, so they pass on their attributes so how do you think that someone can be so connected to animals but still eat them I think it's this thing tradition isn't it, an expectation and like community the people define themselves as oh I like my meat I like my cheese it's who I am one thing referring back to your question you know if farmers care so much for the animals I can part of the answer is that farmers care for the animals to the point where they will retreat when it comes to the slaughter and you will hear anecdotes and people will say oh I love the animals but when they get slaughtered you know I just have to clear out yeah so I guess a lot of farmers will just put them on the truck and then that will be it some drive them to the slaughter some will just lead them onto the truck and then forget that put it tuck it away in the back of their mind most people are safely removed from the physical reality of it they know it happens but they don't like to think about it they like to buy the little packet of something with a silly name like steak or veal that doesn't actually refer to an animal it's kind of a product you know you're going to the supermarket you buy a little tray of it doesn't say this was rosy no rosy went to the slaughter house and didn't want to die this is a piece of British raised reared grass fed steak it's detached from the individual isn't it so what we sort of think is well you can get your protein you can get your carbohydrate you can get your vitamins and minerals you don't have to feed all that stuff to a cow first then kill the cow why bother it's just all bad what a silly thing to do why not just eat the stuff in the first place it tastes like the best seat oh it does definitely it's got the best cushioning it's very good I'll be your personal servant okay so this is the product this is what you produced in the amazing little facility look at that it looks beautiful and it's in this traditional glass bottle returnable so you guys are doing this you guys are actually producers for an operation called re-farmed and what their goal is is to turn animal based farmers into oat drink producers wow look look at that it reminds me of like a creamy like porridge well I guess it's because of oats but it is super creamy it is isn't it so this is all very simple ingredients in here now you've got it in the bottle here like and it's been a long sort of progression from where you come from to here but you haven't been alone in this you've had helpers so who's helped you along the way to get you to where you are now well first of all the vegan society and then they're kind of offshoot the vegan organic network who are promoting animal free agriculture in all its forms and laterally re-farmed and that's the whole idea of re-farmed isn't it it's to provide a real solid genuine alternative that real people can do to change their lives and change the way we react the way we interact with the planet as a whole so it's all gone you have to say that re-farmed only found us because of the help we had from the vegan society from the vegan organic network because obviously there was a lot of media exposure and that's how they knew about us if you ever return hopefully we can offer you some vegan organic vegetables amazing that would be like veganic vegetables absolutely veganic farming is the way forward isn't it we don't need any animal inputs no menu nothing at all amazing they say it can't be done but it can be done the trick is the knowledge is out there but on a very small scale in many places it just needs upscaling upscaling and when you get the message out there hopefully people will have a change of heart a change in demand a lot of people might need something to fall back on and look oat drink is where it's at and for farmers don't say oh dear somebody is trying to put me out of business say somebody is offering me a new business something exciting, different something that enables a future for everybody for generations to come I think we finished that is there anything that you guys would want to add support hillside animal sanctuary in lawfork yes who are caring for the remainder of our herd amazing hillside animal sanctuary we're going to leave those everyone that we mentioned we're going to leave down below especially hillside as well if you want to support the animals that have gone from this previous farm to the sanctuary and quite a few other farms and quite a few other farms as well so thank you hillside thank you re-farmed thank you vegan society and the vegan organic network so what an amazing story hey what an amazing place a story of personal revolution awakening of someone making the connection of moving forwards into the future with more ethical farming better for the environment and just seeing those animals in there and other chance now and all the other animals that got taken to the sanctuary it's just a beautiful story and the oat milk is fantastic the oat drink is fantastic and it's just a really positive story and I hope this inspires some other farmers out there who they might be at a crossroads I don't like taking the animals to the slaughter house well there's another way and this is the future really plant based food is the future so amazing