The Ardtornish herd of Luing cattle and flocks of largely Blackface sheep are hardy scottish breeds that live on our land year-round. Our cows have virtual fencing collars, allowing us to guide where and how they move through the landscaoe.

This movement is a return to how livestock were herded through these pastures, woods and hills before the Fuadaichean nan Gaidheal, the clearance of the Gaels in the 18th & 19th centuries.

Our modern buachailleachd, ‘herding and watching’ of our animals, allows regular moves onto fresh long grass. It regenerates our soils through the trampling of organic matter. Healthy soils function without the need for synthetic fertilizers. Regular moves to fresh grazing ground breaks the cycle of parsites, and reduces the need for artificial treatments. We operare a regenerative farming system.

We continue to work towards the vision of a farm that produces meat in a way that benefits nature. Each year, some of our animals take a short one-way ferry trip to the small Mull abattoir. Meat is hung traditionally in a controlled environement for up to three weeks to tenderize and concentrate flavour. We are proud of the meat that we bring back across the ferry.

Our landscape is àirigheach, ‘abounding in hill pastures’. Our farm team uses the cattle’s collars to direct them to where they’re needed on the hill – where they trample dense bracken and purple moor grass, plants that have become unnaturally dominant due to historic heavy grazing by deer and sheep.

Fewer sheep and deer, and trampling by cattle, allows regeneration of more sensitive plants and trees. This type of farming is part of our strategy for regenerating the coille-uisge, rainforest.

We have been farming for generations. The farm is more than simply a business. More than just a way to create food. And more than a tool to support the recovery of nature. Our farming is also supporting a way of life – a traditional relationship to the land as a place where our food comes from.