Organic farmers are governed by the rules laid down by either the Soil Association or Organic Farmers & Growers. These standards are extremely comprehensive, covering all aspects of production from the farm, through harvesting, transport and storage, processing and retailing. Every stage of the process is subject to rigorous audit procedures by independent inspector.

These  standards are legally binding. Any farmer, producer or supplier who does not adhere to them, has not been registered and inspected by one of the approved bodies and does not hold a current registration number, is breaking the law if he tries to describe his product as "organic".

Central to good organic husbandry is the understanding that whatever is taken out of the soil must be put back, and that good health (whether of animals or the land) relies on respect. So whereas a conventional farm may grow the same crop in the same field year in year out, leaching all the nutrients and destroying the soil structure, organic farmers rotate their crops. Pigs may follow a wheat crop - rooting out docks and couch grass as they go. After that the field may be returned to grass for a while or allowed to lie fallow. Instead of applying tons of inorganic fertiliser - much of which washes straight off into the water courses - fertility is built up by spreading farmyard manure. Whilst the conventional farm produces vast quantities of watery rye grass, organic fields yield a sweet and varied mix of grasses and herbs for stock to graze. Instead of resorting to the spray, weeds on an organic farm are controlled mechanically by harrowing before planting and hoeing once the crop has established. Pests are held at bay by natural predators that live in the hedges and wild patches that are essential elements of an organic farm.

Pastures are grazed by different animals in rotation, breaking the life cycles of parasitic organisms by removing the host species. Stock are not reared in crowded unhealthy conditions, so rarely suffer from the ailments commonly associated with intensive livestock units, thus avoiding the need for routine, pre-emptive medication and heavy reliance on insecticide sprays and dips.

The inclusion of growth promoting antibiotics in all commercial pig and poultry rations and the use of all kinds of strange and unnatural feed items (newspaper, orange pulp and of course, the fateful meat and bone-meal) has become routine.

As organic farmers, we do not fill our animals with growth promoting antibiotics or alien and unnatural feedstuffs. Livestock rations are milled from organically grown grain and have never included animal by-products. But, whilst conventionally grown chickens take only 5 weeks to grow, ours take between 12 and 14 weeks, depending on the time of year and the weather. Intensively reared pigs are fattened in 12 weeks or so; ours take nearer 26 weeks. And we are hard pushed to finish our beef cattle within the 30 month period now allowed under the BSE regulations. But beware - much of the organic produce currently available in the UK is imported - and the standards for production, whilst better than conventional methods, fall a long way short of best UK practice - and so are inevitably cheaper than our meat which always comes from our own group of local producer farms.

In  the UK, 85% of all pigs and poultry are still reared in inhumane and unacceptable conditions. Layers are kept in artificially lighted battery cage, broilers in huge sheds and pigs in concrete bunkers on slatted floors. Sows are tethered and crated - no more than living milk bars  - and since the introduction of the new regulations that outlaw the worst of the cruel practices in this country, pig farmers are going bankrupt in droves as the supermarkets turn to cheaper imported pig meat from countries that do not produce to even these minimal standards! To protect them from their companions aggressive behaviour, teeth and beaks are clipped and tails are docked. None are able to indulge their natural instincts , to stretch wings, dust bath, rootle for grubs or

Animals on intensive farms have been specially bred to produce maximum growth from minimum feed intake and to be super lean. Animal reared for Swaddles Organic come from old fashioned English Breeds. They are hardy enough to live outdoors and graze on fine organic pasture.

Whilst animals from conventional farms may have to travel for many hours, (sometimes even days) to reach their eventual destination, our stock is in transit for a very short time, going only to small, family run slaughterhouses approved and registered for organic slaughter, where the welfare of the stock is paramount and subject to the same inspection procedures as all other organic operations to ensure the organic integrity of the meat.