November 2025 at Stourton

Venison – December availability

Fresh venison – order before 12^th December

Our last fresh venison delivery before Christmas will be on 12^th December. Honey and Stourton Estates eggs are also available to order. To place an order please click here.

Louth Market – 17^th December

The last time we will be attending Louth Market ahead of Christmas will be on 17^th December. A wide range of our frozen venison as well as Taylors Rapeseed Oil, Antler chews and honey will be available.

Frozen Venison

Our freezer is fully stocked ahead of the festive season and our frozen venison is available to order for collection or delivery. To place an order please contact the farm office. Don’t forget, you can add venison onto your log delivery! Our last delivery day will be 18^th December, so please place your order before then!

We really enjoyed meeting many customers- old & new at the Food & Drink Fayre at the Walled  Garden Baumber recently and sharing samples of our delicious venison ragu. This recipe was developed for us by Richie Stamp-Mason of the Red Lion in Raithby and it is such an easy & healthy warming recipe to enjoy over the winter.

We’ve also improved the packaging of our venison burgers. We’ve always been keen to use biodegradable discs rather than plastic to increase the sustainability of our products. These new discs are much more durable and are easier to remove before cooking. Let us know any other feedback as we look to continually improve our products.

Kiln Dried Logs – Last delivery date before Christmas is Thursday 18^th December

Don’t get caught out in the cold! Our last logs delivery date is Thursday 18th December. To place your order please click here.

We close the office and deliveries stop over Xmas & New Year. We reopen on 5th January and deliveries will recommence on Tuesday 6^th January.

Administration & Audits

We are (hopefully) reaching the top of the paperwork, administration and assurance scheme mountain.

Recently we have successfully passed the ‘Ready to Burn’ Woodsure accreditation. This scheme ensures that our logs have a moisture content of less than 20% ensuring that they are easier to light, burn more efficiently, produce more heat, and are kinder to your appliance and the environment.

We have also passed the Red Tractor whole farm assurance scheme audit. This means that the food you buy has been responsibly produced and you can be sure it comes from crops and animals that have been well cared for.

These audits are just two of many we need to keep completing as farmers and event hosts – others include the SAI Global quality assurance scheme for the deer going to supermarkets, plus a further Woodsure accreditation for the woodchip that we burn in our boiler under the HETAS scheme! It is frustrating for UK farmers to know that imported food and products do not have to meet these same rigorous quality standards.

Other administrative tasks we’re getting to grips with include cash flow forecasting and business planning – definitely some of the less ‘sexy’ sides of farming but they are vitally important if we’re to continue to run a viable business during these challenging times.

On the Estate

At the end of November we hosted Pilgrim School Baumber,who came to see everything that we get up to here on the far and with our ever growing range of animals. Despite the weather having different plans, they all enjoyed it

Storm Claudia has ensured that our winter ‘tidying jobs’ have increased. We lost a few trees as well as some falling onto deer fencing so the fallen trees have been removed and the fencing mended to ensure our deer’s security and safety.

On the Farm

November has been a quieter month on the farm as it has turned wetter and colder. We managed to get just over half of our sugar beet lifted and transported to the factory. We are quite pleased with how it has done so far. Because of the dry conditions in the early establishment phase and growing season we were worried about yields, however we have achieved a yield of 71t/ha on our first harvested field and with good sugar content this has helped the margin for this crop. We have another 25ha left to harvest which will be finished in the new year.

During November we brought the cattle inside to a warm straw bedded shed for the winter. We bring them inside so we don’t damage the ground when the weather turns wetter, also it is better for the growth of the cattle when they don’t have to use vital energy to keep themselves warm. We are feeding them on a diet of herbal ley silage and a blend of home grown rolled barley, home grown rolled beans, additional minerals and some molasses.  While they were out at grass during the summer they achieved a growth rate of 0.99kg/day daily live weight gain. We are very pleased with this given how dry the summer was and how slow grass growth was. We hope they will achieve slightly more than this being in the shed and will be ready to go from June 2026.

All the winter crops are in the ground and looking very well, again this year we have applied no insecticide to any of our crops. We monitor very closely for insect pests that effect our crops but none have been found over treatment threshold. This requires lots of field walking and careful searching to make sure we haven’t missed any and are confident in our actions. We will have to keep a close eye on our Oilseed rape crops as they become very attractive to pigeons over the winter time as it makes for a very tasty snack. We will have to set out bird scaring equipment eg. gas bangers or flags if they start to become a problem.

Farm maintenance has been carried out this month focusing on hedge cutting and clearing out water courses. We remove silt and debris from our water courses to improve drainage; if the water can get away quicker this helps to dry our fields sooner in the spring time meaning  that timely field work can be carried out on schedule. It will be quite a busy spring as we have barley and oats to drill. The team is glad of a slightly quieter period and ongoing training is carried out during the winter to keep everyone up to date with skills and ability.

Deer Diary

Winter feeding has started in earnest so the herds are enjoying our herb rich silage now. We have to supplement their diets over winter as the grass growth and nutrition slows and does not match the demands of the deer.

Will & Ed have now prepared the roundhouse so it is ready for this year’s deer calves that will over-winter in there. The last job is to add some straw for bedding then just need to herd & transport them in there (more easily said than done!). Once inside we will give them a mineral boost for good health over the winter.

The yearling stags (pictured) are relaxing in the shelter of the woods, and they will shortly be joined by Harry and Winston who will deserve some R&R after their recent exertions.