Outwintering cattle can have major benefits for farm finances, livestock health, time management and soil productivity.

This includes a significant reduction in supplementary feed and straw and associated machinery costs.

However, as 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year Stuart Johnson from our mentoring team writes, farmers must ‘earn the right’ to enjoy full value from the practice.

“Although outwintering can save money in the short term, these savings can be wiped out if the ground is damaged.

“Anyone can outwinter feeding silage and sacrificing fields, the art is doing it in a way that doesn’t necessitate copious amounts of fodder making, along with all the time and costs associated with repairing and reseeding fields.”

With hot, dry conditions hitting much of the UK this spring and summer, we invited Dr Allen Williams to join Grounded: The regenerative farming podcast to discuss how healthy soil can build resilience to drought.

Allen, who leads our mentoring team alongside Gabe Brown, is one of the most well-known figures in the world of regenerative farming.

He says through thoughtful use of adaptive grazing and observing the principles of soil health, farms can not only survive periods of drought but thrive.

“You've got to pre-plan and assume dry and droughty conditions are coming,” says Allen.

“If you're caught unprepared in the middle of a drought you have far fewer options and choices.”

If you are looking for reasons to be hopeful, there are few better places to go than Groundswell. 

Regenerate Outcomes have had a stand at Groundswell - the regenerative agriculture festival - since 2023. It has been truly inspiring to see it get bigger and better each year, reflecting the growth of our own team and the number of farms we work with.

Last week over 8000 people came to Lannock Farm, where we laid out our stall next to our mentoring partners Understanding Ag. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Understanding Ag co-founder Gabe Brown, author of Dirt to Soil  and one of the biggest names in regen.

Profit, productivity, biodiversity and soil carbon were just a few of the subjects up for discussion at Regenerate Outcomes’ Soil Health Workshops.

Nearly 100 attendees from all over the UK came to our workshops in Perthshire, the Cotswolds and Lancashire earlier this month.

Alongside the many farmers were also ecologists, lecturers, journalists, scientists and food industry professionals, all interested in exploring the benefits of building healthy soil.

The Soil Health Workshops were led by Dr Allen Williams, who founded our mentoring partners Understanding Ag alongside regen pioneer Gabe Brown.