Latest news with #Harbury
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
The vending machine and robots helping farm in Harbury survive
A vending machine, offering fresh milk direct to customers, has helped a farm in Warwickshire diversify and survive, the owners say. George and Heather Clarke run a herd of more than 100 cows at Chesterton House Farm in Harbury near Leamington offer non-homogenised pasteurised milk from their Milk Shed - along with a selection of coffees and have also been deployed at the site, in an effort to cut down work for the farmers. The diversification scheme was "just another revenue stream," said Mr Clarke. "Most of the milk goes to a milk buyer," he said, "but as much as we can is sold through the milk machine.""We have people come from Daventry and there's a group comes from Dudley" for their milk, added Mrs Clarke. "It's also helped bridge a gap in the village - it's not just a smelly farm - it does actually produce quite a high-value product," Mr Clarke added. Two robots, named after their children Martha and Ralph, are also being used to work more efficiently. "As the cows eat they tend to nose the food away from the feed fence and they can't reach it," explained Mr Clarke. "So this robot comes out every hour, every 45 minutes and just pushes the food back in for them so they can reach it again. "It works really well, it saves my back having to push it all in with a fork". Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
14-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Warwickshire farmer's 'nightmare' after fire on first harvest day
A Warwickshire farmer has experienced his "worst nightmare" after a fire destroyed part of his crop on the first day of Hadley, who owns Chesterton Farm in Harbury, near Leamington Spa, spotted smoke in his field on Wednesday as he began to gather his winter quickly identified where the blaze had started and used a fire extinguisher to try to limit the spread, but in the meantime the field also went Fire and Rescue Service warned during the latest heatwave that a "small ember could cause a huge wildfire". "A fire of this size you can't put it out, you've just got to stop the feed of it," Mr Hadley managed to contain the blaze using his tractor as a firebreak, but described how the "tinder-dry" conditions had "exaggerated" the blaze into "quite a substantial fire". "It was all going seemingly perfect, moisture contents were great, everything was going nicely until a quarter of way into the field, smoke," he said."[But] it could have been a lot worse." Mr Hadley said a "fair patch" of his winter feed, that was already in short supply, had been destroyed and the blaze had made him nervous as he continued to harvest. He added that his biggest cost would be to repair the machinery that was damaged as he tried to control the spread of fire. Despite his growing concerns about the UK's extreme weather, Mr Hadley remained positive."Everyday comes with its challenges, but truthfully that's what we [farmers] love," he said. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
