Laura Pollock
Monmouthshire
Livestock (mixed)
MIXED LIVESTOCK FARM, MONMOUTHSHIRE: Laura and her partner Matt run a 114-acre (46-hectare) mixed farm of sheep, pigs, cows and laying chickens. In addition, they have “pets”, including goats, geese, highland cows, Shetland pony, rheas, and Valais Blacknose sheep, which are used to host on-farm experiences and events.
Farm experiences range from a Highland cow experience or a private farm tour, usually aimed at adults, to a Mini Farmer experience usually run for children. The Mini Farmer session includes feeding, bedding up, grooming and more. The couple also offer Pick your Own pumpkins in the autumn and Farm Feast evenings at which a local chef showcases their produce.
Neither Laura or Matt are from farming families. Laura is an occupational psychologist, and was working full-time for a psychometric provider specialising in self-awareness, team development and leadership. Then, introduced to farming by a former partner, she started doing part-time lambing and milking, and eventually decided she wanted a career that combined her occupational psychology work with farming. She moved to working part-time in her previous company so that she could build up the farm event business and set up a farm shop. The shop, which sells the farm’s meat and eggs, as well as other goods from small local producers, opened in April 2025.
Laura now manages the farm’s finances, marketing, social media, meat sales and events., and gets involved with the day to day farming whenever she can. Alongside this she still works for her previous company, facilitating workshops and supporting clients. She believes the skills learned in her corporate role support her with the diversification of the farm.
Laura loves the feeling that, by producing food, she is doing something that makes a significant impact on our everyday lives. She also enjoys the fact that no two days are ever the same, and that there are always things to learn and skills to develop. She is keen to farm in a ‘regenerative’ way that promotes biodiversity and enhances the farm’s soils.
But she admits she struggles with the uncertainty of farming. “I am used to working in environments where things can be planned, and when employed was used to having a steady income each month. In farming, whilst you can plan to an extent there are a lot of factors outside of your control. I’ve had to learn to become resilient when setbacks occur, like the weeds going crazy on the pumpkin patch after rain.”
Laura enjoys riding her horse Rosie and is also a keen CrossFit athlete. She has recently taken up growing vegetables and set up a community vegetable garden.
Talking Point
Having set up her own farm shop, Laura is keen to encourage shoppers to buy locally as a way of supporting their local farmers and finding out where their food is from. She wants to demonstrate the effort it has taken to get food to that stage, and why it needs to be the price it is – which includes high welfare and environmental standards. “We are keen to show the high welfare standards that we uphold at the farm, and opening it up to the public allows us to do this. We want to show how our practices actually boost and enhance the environment rather than depleting it and believe we can do this by allowing people onto the farm so that they can learn and experience things for themselves.”