About Us
The family farm since 1703, Trefranck sits on the edge of the moor high on the North Cornish hills. Our directors Matt & Pippa Smith, farm 700 Red Deer and 1000 Romney Sheep, on a pasture focused diet with mixed herbal lays and rotational grazing methods. We are passionate about farming sustainability and having a positive impact on the environment whilst ethically producing high quality Venison and Lamb.
By farming our venison in a perfect environment, with outstanding husbandry and without scientifically proven stressful traveling to dispatch, we guarantee a less variable, more consistent meat in terms of eating quality, making it a sound year-round choice for any consumer, chef or kitchen looking to serve the finest quality venison on their table.
Our deer herd is majority English red deer and some Romanian x English Reds. Trefranck is a high health status farm, we have incredibly low drug use, choosing to select and breed from our animals which have a natural resistance to diseases, building us a strong and healthy herd with minimal need for intervention. We can trace each deer back to its birth and genetic line, this gives us the unique ability to provide full provenance and traceability for all meat sold through West Country Premium Venison. The unique benefit of being farmed deer is that we are able to process all year round, we are not dictated by season, this allows us to slowly grow our animals and process them at their optimum time, averaging around 24 months old. This means as a customer, you will recieve a consistent and quality product in every single order you place.
In the interest of animal welfare, how the animal is treated before death is incredibly important to us. With most wild animals being shot in the chest, the brain will remain functioning for up to six minutes – this is not in the best interest of the animal. During these six minutes, the animal is aware of the scenario that is about to take place, increasing the stress hormone cortisol which contributes to tainting the meat and reducing the meat shelf life. Furthermore, to be fully confident in the traceability and knowledge of where an animal has been, you would need 24hr surveillance. Something which would be impossible to provide in the wild.