FARM NAME: Neidpath Farms, Scottish Borders
FARM SIZE: 1,012 ha
DESCRIPTION: Neidpath is a large, upland collective of four farms in Peebles that takes pride in livestock farming with nature.
Here, Matt Griffiths is shifting conventional mindsets towards natural ecosystems and applying lessons learned from famed livestock farmer, Allan Savory. He has since applied holistic management techniques to the land and is pursuing a regenerative estate wholly independent of government subsidies.
THEIR APPROACH TO FEEDING THE SOIL:
To build resilience in their soil, stock, and people, Matt looks after 50 Johnson-Su bioreactors that create fungal-rich compost, has a custom-designed sprayer for microbial dispersal, and also experiments with compost amendments including seaweed.
Alongside this, Matt has a prototype continuous-flow worm farm, made up of large, raised open, troughs with a winched blade along the bottom. This trims an inch of worm-rich matter from below while Matt and his team fill the troughs from the top.
They feed their worm farm largely with animal manure and kitchen scraps, with the worms then being added into their Johnson-Su to help break down organic matter. They’ve previously tried Bokashi and Elaine Ingham’s composting methods but found their John-Su bioreactors are lower-maintenance and simpler for their operation, while being perfect for the fungi-rich compost they want for their land.
Neidpath also moved from a set stock system towards livestock breeds with native lineages and greater biological efficiency. That means Angus-based gene lines for its cattle and Romney-based sheep flock.
In addition, Matt transitioned to mob-style grazing – short, high-impact grazing with long rest periods – that has improved water infiltration rates, reduced compaction, and helps drawn down more carbon for biomass and nutrient cycling. Cows move roughly every day and sheep, every other day, except for 6 weeks at lambing.
CHALLENGES:
Before shifting to mob style grazing, 25km of piping, 70 troughs and 100,000L of water storage needed to be implemented across the lands, alongside the subdivision of 70 paddocks into 200 smaller parcels – so quite the initial effort!
Matt also acknowledges their worm farm still isn’t perfect, and a few years ago they walked into their barn to find the floor covered in dead, escaped worms. They later learned of something called ‘the worm moon’ that may have impacted the oxygen and air pressure enough to have caused the worms to evacuate.
TOP TIPS:
If you can, instead of sowing herbal leys, let nature regenerate itself from its own soil seed bank.
Revitalise dormant sheds or outbuildings into composting rooms or worm farms.
You can buy large rolls of cardboard to help cover, but not seal, your worm farms troughs.
Purify water from public mains before watering your compost to spread on the land – many chemicals like chlorine in our mains water kills the bacteria we need to improve soil health.
The longer you leave your Johnson-Su, the more diverse the species of microorganisms. Matt and his team have between 15,000 and 25,000.