Where the Buffalo roam

Josephine Laing visits an award nominated smallholder with unusual but productive livestock

- Josephine Laing

I was lucky enough to sit down and talk to Claire Llewellen a little while ago, and I asked her how she and her partner Steve became involved with Water Buffalo, how the business has progressed and what they are doing now. For some time I have been impressed by Claire’s work ethic, her no nonsense attitude and her ability to overcome adversity. She also has a tremendous empathy with all of her animals, pets and livestock alike. I’ll let her tell you the story of how their business “Mattwellyn” came into being:

“Born on a smallholding in Staffordshire, I have always loved the outdoor lifestyle. My parents had pedigree Southdown and Suffolk sheep when I was young, but sadly lost them to the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth. This had a massive impact on their lives and they were very reluctant to let me farm. Despite this I bought a handful of pedigree Southdown ewes from the Stoneridge flock. Upon meeting my partner, Steve, nine years ago we combined his commercial ewes and my Southdowns to form our current flock of around one hundred and thirty breeding ewes.

In 2016 we were looking to expand our little enterprise and were looking for another animal to add to the smallholding. Being soft and easily attached to my animals I wanted to find something that could stay with us long term as well as generating an income. I looked into a number of species but decided that Water Buffalo were ideal for us. I travelled around the UK meeting buffalo farmers (they’re very helpful), to gain knowledge and experience. I was then invited onto a training course in Italy by the International Buffalo Federation for which I am now the UK delegate.