About JJ & Kiki Wilcocks
JJ is a third generation dairy farmer, and has farmed at Tregleath for the past 35 years and the last 20 in partnership with his wife Kiki. Tregleath is located between Bodmin and Wadebridge on the edge of the Camel Valley. They are currently milking 200 cows throughout the year, calving them outdoors on ‘hay’ grass in the late summer and early autumn. Grazing their cows is very important and if the weather permits they will turn them out into fresh grass usually in February and continue to graze them until October. Being able to graze their cows enables them to produce high quality milk mostly from grass alone. Total milk production at Tregleath is 1.5 million litres/year.
The farm is a total of 700 acres, which allows JJ and Kiki to also grow crops including peas, barley, wheat and lucerne which are all fed to the cows through the winter months when the cows are housed from the weather and the grass in the fields has stopped growing. Recently they have sown mixed species swards or herbal leys which are a variety of grasses, legumes and herbs. They allow some of these paddocks to go to seed and flower which is excellent for pollinating insects. This adds some variety to the cows diet and also adds biodiversity to the farm as a whole and maybe some extra flavour to the milk!
Why they like to work at Trewithen
JJ and Kiki have been producing milk for Trewithen for 14 years and they really enjoy selling it to a processor who is locally based ( less than 10 miles from the farm ) and with a good ‘family business’ ethos which compliments their business.
Main Cow Breed
There are a blend of three different breeds of cow at Tregleath; Brown Swiss, Norwegian Red and Montbeliarde. This mix of bloodlines gives them a fit and robust animal with hybrid vigour which is achieved using cows with different breeds. These are cows who love to graze in the summer and eat forage in the winter.
Favourite Cow
The cow at the back of the herd going out for their evening grass, Bertie, is one of JJ & Kiki’s favourite cows.