High Fell sits at 1,100 feet on the southern lip of Wensleydale, where the limestone breaks the surface and the wind is the loudest neighbour. Tom Ainsley took the tenancy from his father in 2009 and switched the whole herd to mob-grazing the following spring.
The herd of 84 beef shorthorns moves to fresh ground every 24 hours. Behind them the grass is allowed a full 60 days to recover. The result is a sward that holds water through August and still has clover in October.
Tom finishes his cattle slowly. Most are 32 months at the point of slaughter, which is twice the supermarket norm. He says the extra months are what give the fat its yellow tinge and the meat its deeper flavour.
“If the grass is right, the meat is right. Everything else is just paperwork.”