Easy enough to get a black and white into the weight bracket...
Finished weight lowered,
- Thread starter nelly55
- Start date
Timbo
Member
- Location
- Gods County
How many times does it need saying? As it stands, compared to a good continental- *most* native breeds are sh1t at food conversion- there is NO way they can turn a profit. It would need a huge alteration of the Europ grid to make it work for the producer, and if it did, the processor would then make a loss and/or the supermarket would have something they couldn't sell.
Do you think that's going to happen????
Woolless
Member
- Location
- Berwickshire, Scottish Borders
Your first point: I'm sure that you're right if the food you are converting is barley/cake. But grass or fodder, particularly moderate quality? Natives will do better on that surely and I'm convinced that's the way red meat production should be heading.
Second point: Has there not been discussion about changing the grid and including an element of meat quality? USA grades on meat quality and relies largely on AA, Herefords etc. and has beef consumption well ahead of us. Also Argentina, Australia. Coincidence??
Supermarkets are looking for smaller carcasses. Public pressure is on to reduce the carbon footprint of beef production. Grass-based production utilising largely native genetics will do both and will increase eating quality at the same time.
Timbo
Member
- Location
- Gods County
They don't kill out well enough purely on grass IME, and take a bloody age to get there.
Woolless
Member
- Location
- Berwickshire, Scottish Borders
Nonetheless, that's the way things are heading. We need to identify the best performing lines on that type of system.
- Location
- Fife
The day of the native dawns (again).
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Yep and that will be the case for a few years and then when everyone is doing small native cattle the supermarkets will then decide they want 420 kilo carcasses again and so the merry go round carry's on.
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
100% true
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
Bit like Angus...when that was a niche product...now it isn’t
gone up the hill
Member
- Location
- Devon
Yea and the trouble is that every type of cow is being put to the angus bull and the quality of the angus cattle coming out is going to pot.
The quality of cattle from native breds like the Angus/ Hereford these days is far removed and much poorer than they were 40+ years ago when native cattle breeds like this were the only breeds about!
- Location
- Fife
Is there an English equivalent of Farmers Fresh for beef?
Its in the hands of the beef farmers so get together and buy some shares you will need an abattoir . F Fresh showed it could be done and a handful of farmers got together in a golf club in Mid Wales 20 years ago and got it off the ground.I was in that meeting. I have said before we collectively sit on billions of pounds worth of assets are we getting a return on that?? Not interested in saying it cant be done because it can for sure
michael N123
Member
And wagyus that are mostly half Holstein
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Argentinian....
- Location
- Scot Borders
iirc in the program he visited big feed lots feeding loads of maize and he then went to traditional grass fed Angus farms and the conclusion was that the traditional beef was far better eating. Their avg carcass weight was around 280/300 kg .
They can easily get there if done right and not just turfed out and expected to grow well set stocked on old pasture.
livestock 1
Member
This has only cropped up because there’s plenty off cattle about, they have managed to keep the price down with their Brexit intervention beef and cattle (mainly cow meat) killed due to drought and previous bad winter so they have decided that they will steal more free beef by dropping the weight. Nothing else comes into it. They are doing it because they can.
- Location
- Cumbria
I’m sure I have read that Jerseys or Holsteins often win the blind taste tests for beef, and I have also read Richard Fuller over the years raving about how good corn feed beef is.
The only reason Americans and others use native British cattle is because they can calve them at massive scale on extensive systems and then cram them in to inhumane feedlots thanks to anti-biotic growth promoters to make up for lack of natural genetic potential to grow. It’s sod all to do with taste and everything to do with unethical and inhuman production efficiency.
The best steak I have eaten was from a Charolais in a restaurant in Lyon, the second best was a restaurant in San Malo in France, the third best was probably cooked at home from Cranston’s. None of these were native. I do often buy an aged Angus or Hereford steak and I am often disappointed.
The only reason Americans and others use native British cattle is because they can calve them at massive scale on extensive systems and then cram them in to inhumane feedlots thanks to anti-biotic growth promoters to make up for lack of natural genetic potential to grow. It’s sod all to do with taste and everything to do with unethical and inhuman production efficiency.
The best steak I have eaten was from a Charolais in a restaurant in Lyon, the second best was a restaurant in San Malo in France, the third best was probably cooked at home from Cranston’s. None of these were native. I do often buy an aged Angus or Hereford steak and I am often disappointed.