Purbeck Products is a cooperative of famers from the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, farming in a way that is in sympathy with the environment and humane towards their animals.

The products on offer are boxes of ¼, ½ or 18 kg whole lambs and 14 kg boxes of beef. The meat can be cut to order, but the normal specification is given on the order page, the cuts are vacuum-packed ready to be cooked or frozen, packed in a box and delivered free to residents of Purbeck.

The animals are selected at the time of order.

The Purbecks are one of the most diverse areas of the United Kingdom. They contain the eastern end of the Jurassic Coastline, from the stunning chalk cliffs of Old Harry Rocks to the fascinating window at Durdle Door. They contain the majority of the Dorset heathland, so important for its rare reptiles and plants. There are the hills for the sheep, valleys for the dairy and beef cattle, fields full of corn and small rivers and streams wind through damp meadows rich in wildlife. A patchwork of mixed farms that produce an environment so diverse that the area contains twice as many animal species than anywhere else in the United kingdom.

Many of the farmers have been farming this land for generations. They have a passion for their animals, their farms and the environment. These Purbeck farmers want eating local food to be part of our lifestyle. They want us to feel ownership of the countryside we love so much. We can enjoy the view. We can eat the view.

Two traditional breeds of sheep grown in Purbeck, Dorset Horn and Polled Dorset.

A distinctive feature of both these breeds is that they can lamb naturally at any time of the year; this means that lamb can be offered at the right age and weight at any time of the year.

Because Purbeck lies on the South Coast, the grass generally grows all year, all be it slowly in the winter months, and this gives the lamb a diet mostly of grass. Lambs and sheep range free on the Purbeck hills and valleys throughout the year.

Cattle for beef production are so important for the environment. Mixed grazing creats a mixed sward of grass, which is great for diversity. Heathland needs to be grazed by cattle and horses to produce patchworks of mini-enviroments vital for the animals only found here. These different pastures produce an animal rich in the flavours of Purbeck.

The beef produced in Purbeck falls into two categories as in all parts of the UK. Some beef comes from the dairy farms where beef bulls are used to produce the traditional cross bred beef animal such as Aberdeen Angus or Hereford cross Friesian. Other farmers might well use a continental bull such as Belgium Blue, Charolais or Simmental to produce a larger beef animal. However many farmers have Single Suckled herds. In these herds the beef cow produces one calf per year, which it rears for nine months. This is the most traditional and natural method of beef production. There are many of the traditional herds in Purbeck such as Hereford cattle with their distinctive white faces and the black Aberdeen Angus whose beef is prized throughout the world. There are also rarer breeds of beef cattle such as the Long Horn and White Park. All the cattle are grazed during the spring, summer and autumn, and housed during the winter, fed on hay and silage. It takes about 2 years to raise a beef animal.

Beef Animals and the unique environment.

The beef animal is highly prized for its contribution to the heathland ecology, because by its grazing pattern it allows a mosaic of heather, short and long grass to exist. This enables a rich diversity of plants and some of our rarest reptiles to flourish (smooth snakes, sand lizards etc).

The Purbeck farmer, because of the different types of farming, has maintained a mixed farming landscaped. So that one finds arable fields along side grass fields filled with a variety of agricultural animals, Sheep on the hills, dairy in the valleys and beef on the heath.