Building and maintaining a close, two-way relationship with our farmers. Only take cattle from specially selected British farms, with many of our producers having supplied us since the very beginning.

All producers must be registered members of the Dovecote Park Beef & Venison Producer Group, committed to raising livestock to the highest possible animal welfare standards.

We only accept prime steers and heifers under 30 months.

Within the procurement process, the fields team will visit the farms in person and will be responsible for the day-to-day relationship with the producers, whilst our auditors regularly monitor the farms to ensure Dovecote Parks standards and protocols are strictly adhered to.

The livestock team will also carry out extensive work in research and development, working alongside our business partners and universities, to conduct studies into topics such as genetics, feed analysis and environmental impact studies.

• All our farmers are Red Tractor assured.
• All producers agree to our Responsible Use of Antibiotics Policy and have completed an online training course.
• Livestock Team have completed Stronger Together course to understand Modern Slavery.
• All farmers will be completing a carbon footprint audit using Agrecalc (SURC)





All our cattle/deer must be fed a forage-based diet and graze grass for a minimum of one season. Where cereals are fed, they are home grown on the farm or sourced locally. Soya is not permitted in the rations of cattle/deer and has been eliminated since end of 2021. Palm oil use and origin is monitored, and we will work towards using only sustainable sources by 2025.

Pathway to Carbon Net Zero 2035
The main objective of this project is to collect the baseline data needed to develop a strategic pathway for Dovecote’s beef suppliers to be Net Zero by 2035. Previously, there have been government, levy board and academic work that has tried to develop the average carbon footprint for beef. However, this project aims to provide more detailed information for every producer in the Dovecote Park supply chain. It is the first time that a beef processor is aiming to collect farm emissions and carbon sequestration data from its entire supply base.

In August 2021, Dovecote Park started to collect carbon footprints via SRUC’s Agrecalc Carbon Calculator. The 1st year target was to collect carbon footprint data from 150 farms which represent 80% of supply, and the remaining supply base in years 2 and 3, repeating the process every 3 years to monitor change.

An individual action plan is produced for each farm that has been through the carbon footprint based on results found, a series of webinars and farm events have been developed to demonstrate best practice and drive change to achieve carbon goals on farm which will continue throughout the programme