Rare breed meat and livestock sales combining taste with tradition.

What We Do              

Welcome to Bay Tree Rare Breeds. We raise small numbers of rare breed livestock using traditional management systems and this allows our animals to benefit from fresh air and sunlight and to display normal behaviours such as rooting, grazing and scratching.

Whilst we do keep some of our stock at Bay Tree Lodge, this site is relatively small and has little in the way of grazing and so we keep the majority of our stock on rented land about three miles away. Here, there is a charming mix of shady woodland, well established pasture and ancient apple and pear orchards.

Stock is sold, at weaning, to other rare breed enthusiasts or is fattened for slaughter at the small family run abbatoir that is situated just 15 minutes drive away. Carcasses are collected by a local butcher who then hangs, cuts and packs the meat ready for our collection and subsequent onward sale. Very few food miles and very little stress!

Our animals do take longer to mature than those produced in intensive, commercial systems but we believe that the enhanced taste is certainly worth waiting for.

Why Rare Breeds?

The intensively farmed and commercially produced livestock favoured today have their genetic origins in the rare breeds that they have superceded. Supporting rare breeds allows us not only to preserve our heritage and culture but also to defend the biodiversity of our food and agriculture.

Native and rare also tends to be synonymous with small and hardy and therefore perfectly adapted to life on the average smallholding. 

Slower to mature, rare breed meat develops a much deeper and more characterful flavour and this flavour is increasingly sought after.

Background

Bay Tree Rare Breeds was set up in 2010 by Camilla Meheran.

Camilla grew up in the heart of the Gloucestershire countryside with a passion for animals, for good food and for all things 'country'.

The realities of earning a living, however, whilst raising a young family were such that any dream of living 'The Good Life' lay dormant for years.

In 2008, whilst working in the education sector, a return to the countryside prompted these smouldering dreams to re-ignite and so began 'Bay Tree Rare Breeds'. 

Aims and Objectives

  • To produce tasty, home grown food 
  • To promote rare and minority breeds
  • To boost quality of life
  • To use traditional, small scale production methods
  • To cover costs and, with luck, to generate a small income through sales of surplus stock and meat!