How-To Guides

How to Cook Minute Steak

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Four raw minute steaks on a wooden board, thinly sliced with visible marbling

What Is Minute Steak?

How to Cook Minute Steak: A minute steak, as the name suggests, is a quick-cooking cut that can go from pan to plate in just a few minutes. It’s expertly butchered from the top rump, located on the hind quarter of the animal, and is known for being thinly sliced and lean. This makes it ideal for high-heat, flash cooking, perfect for quick weekday meals or steak sandwiches.

Traditionally, minute steak contains little marbling and can be prone to drying out. However, our heritage breed, grass-fed cattle produce meat with naturally higher fat content and deeper flavour, even in leaner cuts like this. The result is a minute steak that stays juicy, tender and full of beefy character, especially when cooked quickly and served medium-rare.

Whether you’re pan-frying, grilling or cooking minute steak on the barbecue, this versatile cut is ideal for fast, flavourful meals.

Minute Steak Cooking Time

Thanks to its thin cut, usually around a quarter of an inch thick, minute steak cooks extremely quickly. The key is to use high heat and keep the cooking time short, as overcooking can make the meat tough.

For a medium rare finish, which we recommend to preserve tenderness and flavour, cook the steak for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Total cooking time should be no more than 4 to 6 minutes. Let it rest briefly before serving to allow the juices to settle. Minute steak is ideal for quick meals where full flavour and minimal fuss are essential.

The Best Way to Cook Minute Steak

  1. Take your minute steaks out of the refrigerator. Remove them from the vacuum packaging and pat dry to remove any surface moisture. Allow the steaks to come up to room temperature before cooking.
  2. Heat a griddle or heavy-based frying pan until smoking hot.
  3. Just before cooking, rub olive oil over both sides of the steaks and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Place the minute steaks in the pan and cook for one minute on each side. They will naturally release from the surface once a crust has formed, so if they stick at all, give them a moment before trying to turn them. You’re aiming for a rich, golden crust.
  5. Continue flipping the steaks every 30 seconds until they reach your preferred doneness. For medium rare, total cooking time should be around 4 to 6 minutes.
  6. Remove the steaks from the pan and leave them to rest in a warm place for at least 6 minutes before serving.

Top Tips for Cooking Minute Steak

  • To check how done your steak is while cooking, use the finger test. Gently press the tip of your middle finger to the tip of your thumb. The fleshy part of your palm just below the thumb should feel like a medium rare steak, soft but slightly springy.
  • Always cook minute steak over high heat to quickly sear the surface and develop a flavourful crust while keeping the inside tender.
  • Avoid salting the meat too early. Season just before cooking to prevent drawing out moisture and drying the steak.
  • Don’t overcrowd the pan. Cook in batches if needed to maintain a high temperature and ensure proper searing.
  • Rest the steak after cooking, even if just for a few minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute and ensures a more succulent result.
  • Slice against the grain when serving to maximise tenderness.
  • For extra flavour, add a knob of butter and a few thyme sprigs to the pan during the final minute of cooking and baste the steak before resting.

Minute Steak Recipe

Try chef Valentine Warner’s version of crispy chilli beef recipe, his take on a Western favourite that nods to Sichuan flavours without claiming full authenticity. Using thin strips of Swaledale minute steak, quickly fried until crisp and tossed in a sticky, aromatic sauce, this recipe is perfect for a speedy midweek meal or as part of a larger spread.

Order meat online

Brent, a proud New Zealander, was lucky to grow up in Hawke's Bay, often referred to as the Fruit Bowl of New Zealand, and famed for its wineries. As a third generation farmer, agriculture and livestock management are in his blood.

Enthused by the wholesome food production scene, Brent began his 16-year career in hospitality at a local winery, and then gained experience at some world class hotels; Huka Lodge beside the Waikato River NZ, and Hayman Island within the heart of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Having met his future wife Dawn, Brent moved to England in 2007 where he then spent 4 years as Head Chef at Hipping Hall, gaining multiple awards during his tenure.

Brent is passionate about native breeds and the conservation and enhancement of natural biodiversity in rural landscapes; so his 2013 appointment as the General Manager of Swaledale Butchers was the perfect match.

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  • A prize bull is an intimidating thing to see up close. It is also, in its way, awe inspiring. We recently took the team from @bavettebistro in Leeds, headed by @sandy_jarvis, up to meet one of the most prized Highland herds in the country at @andylambertfarmer. There is a particular kind of patience that cannot be hurried along by anyone’s convenience, least of all ours. Swaledale beef carries that patience in it. The cattle are given the time they need, nothing more urgent than the season allows, and that unhurried pace is not an inconvenience but the whole point. Years of quiet, careful work go into each animal, not simply to raise it well, but to leave the breed better than it was found. It is easy for chefs, buried in the daily grind of running a business, to lose sight of where their ingredients actually come from. Trips like this bring it back into focus. We work hard for consistency, but we also work with real cattle, real landscapes, and real farmers, and that means every animal comes with its own shape and character. We work with chefs who understand this. Real produce was never meant to be cylindrical, never perfect on demand. The stuff that always looks the same is usually claiming to be something it isn’t. Stand next to a bull like that and you understand what none of this can be rushed.
  • It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of James Hall. James farmed high on the hills of Wharfedale, where he kept a flock of Swaledale &Cheviot sheep and rare breed cattle; Red Ruby Devons and Belted Galloways — on the kind of exposed, demanding ground those animals were bred for. The mutton that came from his farm was some of the finest we have worked with, the product of a man who understood his land, his breeds, and what it takes to do this properly. He was one of our longest-standing farmers, and ours was the kind of direct relationship that makes this work meaningful. We will miss him. Our thoughts are with his family.
  • A lot of our farmers are a long way from anywhere. Up in the hills, an hour or more from the nearest major town, and not especially bothered about it. That distance tends to produce a particular kind of farmer, less inclined to chase accreditations or certifications, less interested in being told how to do what they already know how to do. What they have instead is a deep knowledge of their land, and a quiet conviction that the old ways are usually the right ones. That conviction doesn’t always mean chasing volume. Lower inputs, lower turnover, but the margins tend to hold, just the same as if he were pushing harder for more. Better for the soil too, and the livestock. The food that comes out of these farms tastes like it should. Food these farmers would put on their own tables, feed their own families. The same product our chefs have built menus around, and that you cook at home. So this is a small hat tip to farmers like Ed Staveley, who farm the hard ways, just as the hills demand.
  • Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
  • We are firmly of the belief that our pork is as good as it has ever been, the breeding, the rearing, the dry ageing and of course the butchery. All of it functioning in harmony to provide us with some high-grade pork. Loin chops seem to be having their moment in the sun, currently a firm favourite amongst our restaurant community, and rightly so. A classic; the leaner eye meat enveloped by a lovely cover of fat, cut thick and cooked well, they are so, so good. A little less well known, but no less delicious, and a cracking option for sharing, our shoulder chops are a slightly different beast. We split our shoulders in half and age the so-called Boston butt, when ready, the shoulder chops are cut from this section. The eye meat is made up of the collar or neck fillet and has excellent natural marbling. You then get a little of the blade and the muscles that surround it, this is darker, more richly flavoured meat. You still get the cover of fat, which, once rendered, tastes incredible. All in all, a fantastic sharing chop and a slight point of difference from the loin chops. Both supremely delicious!
  • The process of developing a dish with chefs is a rewarding one, made all the more so when we have the chance to eat the end product. As was the case here upon a recent (ish) visit to @rambutan_ldn Conversations around the best steak to use for this dish began months ago and we were able to offer our expert advice as Sofia and her team fine-tuned the balance of flavours, spices and textures. A few different cuts were trialled, and, in the end, it was our rump steaks which triumphed! Their flavour and fat able to be carried by that rich and deep curry sauce, with brighter notes and acidity being offered up by the parsley temper and little pearls of onion. It is truly a triumph. A marriage of Yorkshire beef and traditional Sri Lankan flavours and we couldn’t be prouder to see it on the menu and being enjoyed by their lucky guests!
  • What salt should you use when cooking steaks and chops? Does it matter? Well, we have, in the past, taken some heat in the comments from people saying that we are using the wrong salt on our steaks. “You should be using fine salt!”, “flaky salt on steaks!! NO WAY!”, “It just falls off!”, to give you a few examples. So, to put the debate to bed we undertook an extremely controlled, scientific experiment to determine which salt is the best salt to use on your steaks. In a field, with a piece of goose skirt, a barbecue and two varieties of sea salt (that’s one important detail, to use sea salt, not table salt) and a desire to eat well seasoned steak. Poor us! Watch the video to find our conclusions, which will also feature in an academic journal soon – a seminal piece of scientific research. #sodiyum #flakysalt4life
  • A recent visit to see Ed Stavely’s pigs on the Swinton Estate, where a landscape not traditionally associated with pig keeping is slowly being reshaped through careful management and a willingness to do things a little differently. The pigs are largely native breeds, often crossed with Duroc to help them fare better through the long Yorkshire winters and the exposed conditions up on the estate. Hardy, slow-growing animals that seem to suit both the land and the philosophy behind the system. They are part of a wider effort to restore ground that had, in places, drifted too far from balance. Their rooting clears rougher areas, disturbs the soil naturally and creates opportunities for new herbal lays, healthier pasture and eventually species-rich hay meadows to return. There are certainly easier places to rear pigs, but it is difficult not to admire the determination to make this sort of farming work in a landscape like this, where the focus stretches beyond production alone and towards the long-term health of the land itself.
@swaledalebutchers
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Follow
A prize bull is an intimidating thing to see up close. It is also, in its way, awe inspiring. We recently took the team from @bavettebistro in Leeds, headed by @sandy_jarvis, up to meet one of the most prized Highland herds in the country at @andylambertfarmer. There is a particular kind of patience that cannot be hurried along by anyone’s convenience, least of all ours. Swaledale beef carries that patience in it. The cattle are given the time they need, nothing more urgent than the season allows, and that unhurried pace is not an inconvenience but the whole point. Years of quiet, careful work go into each animal, not simply to raise it well, but to leave the breed better than it was found. It is easy for chefs, buried in the daily grind of running a business, to lose sight of where their ingredients actually come from. Trips like this bring it back into focus. We work hard for consistency, but we also work with real cattle, real landscapes, and real farmers, and that means every animal comes with its own shape and character. We work with chefs who understand this. Real produce was never meant to be cylindrical, never perfect on demand. The stuff that always looks the same is usually claiming to be something it isn’t. Stand next to a bull like that and you understand what none of this can be rushed.
2 days ago
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It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of James Hall. James farmed high on the hills of Wharfedale, where he kept a flock of Swaledale &Cheviot sheep and rare breed cattle; Red Ruby Devons and Belted Galloways — on the kind of exposed, demanding ground those animals were bred for. The mutton that came from his farm was some of the finest we have worked with, the product of a man who understood his land, his breeds, and what it takes to do this properly. He was one of our longest-standing farmers, and ours was the kind of direct relationship that makes this work meaningful. We will miss him. Our thoughts are with his family.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of James Hall. James farmed high on the hills of Wharfedale, where he kept a flock of Swaledale &Cheviot sheep and rare breed cattle; Red Ruby Devons and Belted Galloways — on the kind of exposed, demanding ground those animals were bred for. The mutton that came from his farm was some of the finest we have worked with, the product of a man who understood his land, his breeds, and what it takes to do this properly. He was one of our longest-standing farmers, and ours was the kind of direct relationship that makes this work meaningful. We will miss him. Our thoughts are with his family.
2 weeks ago
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@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
A lot of our farmers are a long way from anywhere. Up in the hills, an hour or more from the nearest major town, and not especially bothered about it. That distance tends to produce a particular kind of farmer, less inclined to chase accreditations or certifications, less interested in being told how to do what they already know how to do. What they have instead is a deep knowledge of their land, and a quiet conviction that the old ways are usually the right ones. That conviction doesn’t always mean chasing volume. Lower inputs, lower turnover, but the margins tend to hold, just the same as if he were pushing harder for more. Better for the soil too, and the livestock. The food that comes out of these farms tastes like it should. Food these farmers would put on their own tables, feed their own families. The same product our chefs have built menus around, and that you cook at home. So this is a small hat tip to farmers like Ed Staveley, who farm the hard ways, just as the hills demand.
2 weeks ago
115
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Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
Sausages appear in great food cultures all over the world. We never tire of discovering them, and we always want to represent them properly. Which is why we love to make them in partnership with chefs, cooks, or true specialists in that cuisine, or passionate enthusiasts who know it from the inside. This is Kwa Ko — a Cambodian beef sausage made in collaboration with @barang_london , the project of @tomgeoffrey. Since launching his residency at The Globe in Borough Market, Tom has been bringing the fresh, vibrant flavours of Cambodia to London’s restaurant scene. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned to sausages. Cambodian sausage traditions are strong. What we’ve made together is genuinely distinctive: beef chuck and brisket with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, makrut lime leaves, white Kampot pepper and steamed jasmine rice. The rice is the detail that makes it, it gives the sausage a characteristic light sourness, another layer of complexity that sets it apart from anything we’ve made before. Available now, in limited numbers, so be quick!
4 weeks ago
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@swaledalebutchers
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We are firmly of the belief that our pork is as good as it has ever been, the breeding, the rearing, the dry ageing and of course the butchery. All of it functioning in harmony to provide us with some high-grade pork. Loin chops seem to be having their moment in the sun, currently a firm favourite amongst our restaurant community, and rightly so. A classic; the leaner eye meat enveloped by a lovely cover of fat, cut thick and cooked well, they are so, so good. A little less well known, but no less delicious, and a cracking option for sharing, our shoulder chops are a slightly different beast. We split our shoulders in half and age the so-called Boston butt, when ready, the shoulder chops are cut from this section. The eye meat is made up of the collar or neck fillet and has excellent natural marbling. You then get a little of the blade and the muscles that surround it, this is darker, more richly flavoured meat. You still get the cover of fat, which, once rendered, tastes incredible. All in all, a fantastic sharing chop and a slight point of difference from the loin chops. Both supremely delicious!
1 month ago
977
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@swaledalebutchers
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•
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The process of developing a dish with chefs is a rewarding one, made all the more so when we have the chance to eat the end product. As was the case here upon a recent (ish) visit to @rambutan_ldn Conversations around the best steak to use for this dish began months ago and we were able to offer our expert advice as Sofia and her team fine-tuned the balance of flavours, spices and textures. A few different cuts were trialled, and, in the end, it was our rump steaks which triumphed! Their flavour and fat able to be carried by that rich and deep curry sauce, with brighter notes and acidity being offered up by the parsley temper and little pearls of onion. It is truly a triumph. A marriage of Yorkshire beef and traditional Sri Lankan flavours and we couldn’t be prouder to see it on the menu and being enjoyed by their lucky guests!
1 month ago
775
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@swaledalebutchers
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Follow
What salt should you use when cooking steaks and chops? Does it matter? Well, we have, in the past, taken some heat in the comments from people saying that we are using the wrong salt on our steaks. “You should be using fine salt!”, “flaky salt on steaks!! NO WAY!”, “It just falls off!”, to give you a few examples. So, to put the debate to bed we undertook an extremely controlled, scientific experiment to determine which salt is the best salt to use on your steaks. In a field, with a piece of goose skirt, a barbecue and two varieties of sea salt (that’s one important detail, to use sea salt, not table salt) and a desire to eat well seasoned steak. Poor us! Watch the video to find our conclusions, which will also feature in an academic journal soon – a seminal piece of scientific research. #sodiyum #flakysalt4life
1 month ago
13315
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A recent visit to see Ed Stavely’s pigs on the Swinton Estate, where a landscape not traditionally associated with pig keeping is slowly being reshaped through careful management and a willingness to do things a little differently. The pigs are largely native breeds, often crossed with Duroc to help them fare better through the long Yorkshire winters and the exposed conditions up on the estate. Hardy, slow-growing animals that seem to suit both the land and the philosophy behind the system. They are part of a wider effort to restore ground that had, in places, drifted too far from balance. Their rooting clears rougher areas, disturbs the soil naturally and creates opportunities for new herbal lays, healthier pasture and eventually species-rich hay meadows to return. There are certainly easier places to rear pigs, but it is difficult not to admire the determination to make this sort of farming work in a landscape like this, where the focus stretches beyond production alone and towards the long-term health of the land itself.
A recent visit to see Ed Stavely’s pigs on the Swinton Estate, where a landscape not traditionally associated with pig keeping is slowly being reshaped through careful management and a willingness to do things a little differently. The pigs are largely native breeds, often crossed with Duroc to help them fare better through the long Yorkshire winters and the exposed conditions up on the estate. Hardy, slow-growing animals that seem to suit both the land and the philosophy behind the system. They are part of a wider effort to restore ground that had, in places, drifted too far from balance. Their rooting clears rougher areas, disturbs the soil naturally and creates opportunities for new herbal lays, healthier pasture and eventually species-rich hay meadows to return. There are certainly easier places to rear pigs, but it is difficult not to admire the determination to make this sort of farming work in a landscape like this, where the focus stretches beyond production alone and towards the long-term health of the land itself.
A recent visit to see Ed Stavely’s pigs on the Swinton Estate, where a landscape not traditionally associated with pig keeping is slowly being reshaped through careful management and a willingness to do things a little differently. The pigs are largely native breeds, often crossed with Duroc to help them fare better through the long Yorkshire winters and the exposed conditions up on the estate. Hardy, slow-growing animals that seem to suit both the land and the philosophy behind the system. They are part of a wider effort to restore ground that had, in places, drifted too far from balance. Their rooting clears rougher areas, disturbs the soil naturally and creates opportunities for new herbal lays, healthier pasture and eventually species-rich hay meadows to return. There are certainly easier places to rear pigs, but it is difficult not to admire the determination to make this sort of farming work in a landscape like this, where the focus stretches beyond production alone and towards the long-term health of the land itself.
A recent visit to see Ed Stavely’s pigs on the Swinton Estate, where a landscape not traditionally associated with pig keeping is slowly being reshaped through careful management and a willingness to do things a little differently. The pigs are largely native breeds, often crossed with Duroc to help them fare better through the long Yorkshire winters and the exposed conditions up on the estate. Hardy, slow-growing animals that seem to suit both the land and the philosophy behind the system. They are part of a wider effort to restore ground that had, in places, drifted too far from balance. Their rooting clears rougher areas, disturbs the soil naturally and creates opportunities for new herbal lays, healthier pasture and eventually species-rich hay meadows to return. There are certainly easier places to rear pigs, but it is difficult not to admire the determination to make this sort of farming work in a landscape like this, where the focus stretches beyond production alone and towards the long-term health of the land itself.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
A recent visit to see Ed Stavely’s pigs on the Swinton Estate, where a landscape not traditionally associated with pig keeping is slowly being reshaped through careful management and a willingness to do things a little differently. The pigs are largely native breeds, often crossed with Duroc to help them fare better through the long Yorkshire winters and the exposed conditions up on the estate. Hardy, slow-growing animals that seem to suit both the land and the philosophy behind the system. They are part of a wider effort to restore ground that had, in places, drifted too far from balance. Their rooting clears rougher areas, disturbs the soil naturally and creates opportunities for new herbal lays, healthier pasture and eventually species-rich hay meadows to return. There are certainly easier places to rear pigs, but it is difficult not to admire the determination to make this sort of farming work in a landscape like this, where the focus stretches beyond production alone and towards the long-term health of the land itself.
2 months ago
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