The main focus on the farm is the dairy herd. We have 45 MRI (Meuse Rhine Issel) cattle, with a few cross Ayrshire and Brown Swiss. We are a closed herd and all the ladies were born on the farm: mothers, daughters, nieces and grand-daughters. The oldest currently is Oakbark who is 12 years old and always the first in the queue for milking. The MRI have amazing horns and a temperament suited for our traditional farming. As we are a small farm we do not have sufficient grazing in the winter months and they are content to stay in the barns for 6 months of the year, though they do get a bit restless as Spring starts to creep in. They have lots of space and access to the yard outside which is very healthy for them. We cut our own hay and silage during the summer to keep them well fed in the barns (they consume an astronomical amount). During milking they are each given a scoopful of our home grown oats and some seaweed. It's not that they necessarily need it (concentrates in general unnaturally increases milk yield, which we discourage), it's just a great treat for them. Each year we artificially inseminate some cows with MRI to breed replacement heifers of which we keep about 6 a year. We run a Sussex bull (Bob) with the herd, a very docile breed, indigenous and excellent beef. We rear about 4 beef animals a year to supply to the shop.
Pigs are a great asset to any dairy farm which makes cheese. The whey is a great source of protein, that together with our oats and the odd treat from the garden is sufficient for them. We only have enough land to support 2 sows and a boar. 'Blackie' is a "pavement special" (lop eared Oxford Sandy & Black cross) which is evident in her litters of assorted colours, spots and stripes. Her daughter, 'Stripey', looks more like a saddleback. They are both fantastic mothers and have a lovely nature. Our boar, John, is an Oxford Sandy and Black rare breed, he pretty much just sleeps all day. These breeds are suited to outdoors and love to forage in our woodlands. They are great for turning the soil and regenerating the land. As the weather turns wet and cold we bring them into the barns where they habit with either the calves or the dry cows and spend their days foraging in the deep straw and cow muck so they are never bored.
Maintaining the grasslands by having sheep on is a bonus. We have a small flock which are relatively easy to handle (it's large flocks which are the problem!) and to a degree quite tame. We would like to have had only South Down Breed as they are quite rare (and really cuddly looking), but they do tend to have difficulties lambing. We have some South Downs, some Welsh Beulers, some Texel and now we have some cross breed replacement lambs of Lleyn and Dorset. 
Sheep like to graze short grass and are content with poorer quality that the cows might stick their noses up at. They are useful to follow on after cattle and clear up the pastures, including the lung worms. Our sheep are normally tupped in November and lamb in April outdoors.
No farm is complete without poultry. We have about 260 laying hens. They are housed in 5 different groups of free-range pasture, each with their own house and cockerel. They are fed on home-grown wheat and organic layers pellets. At the moment we buy them in as day old chicks and brood them ourselves. Our aim is to eventually have a group of our own incubated hens. Our free-range ducks, hens and Bantams, cats and dogs are not for any commercial purpose, but to complete the farm in it's entirety and to provide a wonderful environment for them to share with the rest of the animals.