Northern Powerhouse Farmer Stories: The Kelly Family

18 October 2022

Maggie Kelly

Supplying the Co-op with premium Hereford beef are the Kelly family from South Cumbria.

The Kelly family run one of England’s biggest Hereford herds, calving 300 pedigree Hereford cows plus followers with 750 in total on 900 acres of grass pasture land.

Noticing consumer demand for high-quality beef, the Kelly’s diversified into Herefords, a native English breed renowned for their quiet temperament and ease of calving.

Each year 50 two-year-old bullocks are processed by Dunbia, a red meat processor sourcing and manufacturing products for retail, commercial and food service locally, nationally, and internationally.

The beef is aged for 28 days to develop its rich flavour before it arrives on Co-op’s supermarket shelves.

Heifers are sold for breeding. Genetics and estimated breeding values are important to the business as the Kelly’s sell bull semen to dairy and beef farmers globally.

Every year, pedigree Hereford buyers travel from all around the UK to purchase 60 to 70 home bred bulls which the Kelly family advertise via social media.

To continue improving the genetics and carcases of their herd, they import semen and embryos from Australia and America.

Who do the Kelly family do business with?
Yearly, nearly one hundred local businesses are paid by the Kelly family for essential services needed to keep the farm business running efficiently.


Ask us a question about this page

Once you have submitted your query someone from NFU CallFirst will contact you. If needed, your query will then be passed to the appropriate NFU policy team.

You have 0 characters remaining.

By completing the form with your details on this page, you are agreeing to have this information sent to the NFU for the purposes of contacting you regarding your enquiry. Please take time to read the NFU’s Privacy Policy if you require further information.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.