baaa
Member
That might be what the abattoirs still want but what I see now is a push for dairy cross beef. Supermarkets want consistent pieces of meat to fit in the plastic trays.
I think it's the first step towards an integrated supply chain like the pig and poultry job. Dairy farm has contract to supply so many calves, ex suckler farmers like us are contracted to rear so many calves a year up to a certain weight by a certain time to sell to a finisher for a contracted price. Mr Tesco/Asda / whoever has beef that comes into their shops in a consistent way they know about and can budget for. There will be major penalties for not meeting targets and the beef price can be controlled from the top. There will be no winners in this apart from Mr Tesco/Asda/whoever. But that's the way it's going to go.
I tell friends and people I know that the future of eating and food supply is to know who grows it and who raises it. Visit the farm, see how it lives, and buy local and direct from the farmer. Now I can add buy local from someone holistically managing their grazing and save the planet. I just hope it catches is on, maybe if we all did it ....
Amazingly my new fencing unit is reaching the top of the tester and keeping the sheep where I want them. I am hoping they will remember the sensation when I move them across the road to a battery powered unit later this week. We have been setting up fences in every spare hour in the last few weeks, and have finally achieved the goal of having 8 one hectare paddocks in my largest parcel, and a track around the outside for riding around to check the sheep. ( Green transport!) I have had woofers to help. I showed them Allan's Ted talk today, so now they know why we were going to all the effort.
I have not yet set up a water system so I just deliver it everyday. Following my sheep shearing lesson a couple of weeks ago, I sheared my first 4 sheep today. They belonged to a neighbour who had left them for several years without shearing. Let's just say I won't be putting my shearer out of a job anytime soon!