The Castle Belties that are taking social media by storm

Little did he know that, a few years later, his herd of ‘Belties’ would have grown to 200 with their meat travelling all around the country and the cattle themselves becoming minor social media celebrities.  

The Wainwright family has been farming for four generations, rearing dairy cows in Cheshire before Neil’s parents moved to Castle Farm, in Low Hesket.  

However, after milk prices collapsed in 2015, Neil diversified into managing an estate which grows grass and wheat, providing fuel for a large anaerobic digester in Penrith which produces power for the national grid.  

He also bought a small number of Belted Galloway cattle to keep. 

When the pandemic struck in 2020, Neil’s daughter Connie returned to the family farm from London - where she worked in the pharmaceutical industry.  

“I kept in contact with colleagues down in London,” says Connie.  

“They were really interested in what was going on on the farm and so I started the Castle Belties Instagram for our Belted Galloway cattle and the following just grew from there.” 

One particularly successful Instagram reel featured Neil scratching a bull’s back accompanied by Thin Lizzy’s The Boys are Back in Town. The video garnered 250,000 views and helped grow Castle Belties’ Instagram audience to around 4,800. 

The social media following on Facebook and Instagram spawned enquiries from people asking if they could buy the meat and the family began fulfilling orders up and down the country in December 2020. 

Connie says posts which seem to resonate particularly well with their target audience include those about animal welfare.  

"We try to farm as naturally as possible, by having grass fed stock which are well looked after in the winter," she says.  

"I think the main thing is showing that we farm in an ethical way. There's a lot of misinformation about farming in general, which is inaccurate, or based on US production systems. We really get the message across about how we farm in the UK, how we're passionate about our livestock and that you can really care for and respect your livestock and still eat them at the same time. 

"Knowing what your end customer wants to see is really important. Knowing your audience drives what videos and pictures you share.  

“I always make a mental note of what people are interested in when we show them around the farm and then that’s all good content for the future.” 

Connie says native Belted Galloways take longer to grow than some other larger commercial beef cattle, but that this gives them a richer and more distinctive flavour.  

She says the quick growth of the business over lockdown was also driven by people having more disposable income as they were dining out less, as well as the growing interest in buying meat from local sources as supermarkets experienced shortages and long queues. 

“I think it helped catalyse people into trying it for the first time and then they became repeat customers,” says Connie. 

The family farm 400 acres across two farms, Castle Farm and Wragmire Head Farm. 

Neil and his son Henry oversee the management of the cattle on the farms, alongside working as contract farm managers producing crops for the anaerobic digester.  

Demand for the meat has seen the number of cattle increase from around 30 to 200 and last year the family also began farming Saddleback pigs crossed with Tamworths (in keeping with the ‘Beltie’ theme) and selling pork alongside the beef.  

“Dad was tasked with finding some on-brand pigs,” says Connie.  

The animals are slaughtered and then butchered within Cumbria to fulfil orders once a month, with Kirkup Butchers, in Longtown, making sausages from the pork. 

As with the cows, the family is focused on farming the pigs as ethically as they can, keeping them in large pens with lots of space and loose straw allowing the pigs to root. They are currently considering adding local food waste to the pigs’ diet to increase the sustainability of the operation.  

The meat is bought by everyone from individual customers in London, to a butcher’s shop in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and, on one occasion, a butcher in Hong Kong. 

Connie still works in the pharmaceutical industry, although she is in charge of marketing and sales for Castle Belties in her spare time. 

Mum Claire also contributes ideas and marketing support, alongside working as a fitness instructor and managing her own property business.  

"We're currently looking at how we can grow the business and have more opportunities for local supply,” says Connie.  

“We would also consider working with another butcher as well and we’re interested in more wholesale opportunities. 

"The customers have got to know us as a family and as a business and they know what the quality of the meat is and that's why they're coming back to us. It’s the taste that people really love.”