Animal magic

Charles Martell’s Gloucester cows

Octavia Pollock talks to Charles Martell about learning to make Stinking Bishop cheese and driving his Gloucester cows

GLOUCESTERSHIRE is lucky to have Charles Martell. On his farm in Dymock, he has Gloucester Old Spot pigs, West of England geese and Jubilee Game Fowl chickens, all rare breeds. Most famous of all are his Gloucester cows, the source of cheeses such as Stinking Bishop, Double Gloucester and Slack-ma-girdle.

In the early 1970s, Mr Martell, a founder member of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, learnt that there was only one herd of the cattle left (‘The men who saved the Gloucester cow’, September 21, 2016).

‘It prompted me to take an interest— there were only 68 left in the world. They are bred for cheese, so I decided to make it to create demand. I’d never had a lesson in cheesemaking in my life.’ After being featured on the BBC’S Taste

of England in 1973, Mr Martell was inundated with requests for cheese from all over the world. He now exports to 32 countries, although he refuses to sell to supermarkets. ‘I’m frustrated by homogenisation. France and Italy are better at recognising their regions.’

The one tonne of cheese produced a week comes from just 12 milking cows, all of which are named, as befits pedigree beasts. ‘We call them in by name for milking. It’s idyllic, really.’

Some male calves go to a nearby farm to be raised for beef, but others are trained to the yoke. At first, Mr Martell used twoyear-old steers, which was ‘really exciting’, but now he starts handling them as calves. ‘I learnt by trial and error. They’re very intelligent—not like horses,’ he reveals. ‘To work with oxen, you need to never have used horses. Oxen hate being petted and you don’t want to lead them or you’ll end up pulling them and the plough.’ Instead, he uses voice commands: ‘Don’t hassle them, let them think.’ Only size is important: ‘We need them to be evenly matched, but they’re all good-tempered.’

Mr Martell drives six at once, walking behind with a long hazel stick. They’re named in pairs, currently Troy and Trojan, Saul and Sampson, Neb and Noah. ‘Always have the single syllable on the left.’