Sustainable Westcountry Beef

Jackov Altraids

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
What does the title of this thread bring to your mind?


I'm imagining native cattle on the moors, cows and calves on the clifftop's or sucklers in meadows.

So I'd be interested in people's views on this;

1628501553524.jpeg



A brilliant piece of marketing for all the dairy calves that aren't now allowed to be culled?
 
Last edited:
Location
Devon
And am i reading that correctly that they had just over 1 ton cake head and it only cost £176 head in cake costs.

Were Harpers really selling cattle cake at £176t delivered on farm for the period july 20 to April 21 let alone rolled barley delivered on farm at £176t in the same period?
 

Jackov Altraids

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
I'm not sure if he is saying you can only buy calves from a dairy farm with a zero carbon balance sheet or that only dairy calves have a zero carbon balance sheet?...
 

Jackov Altraids

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
And am i reading that correctly that they had just over 1 ton cake head and it only cost £176 head in cake costs.

Were Harpers really selling cattle cake at £176t delivered on farm for the period july 20 to April 21 let alone rolled barley delivered on farm at £176t in the same period?

And the calfpride gold milk replacer was free?....
 

Jackov Altraids

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
NBA-itis?

Well he hasn't mentioned anything about cattle ages.

Maybe he's relying on the Harper tax that he/ the NBA suggested to government to make the sums add up. It will 'pay' to feed to avoid £100 tax after 27 months.

I'm still not sure the 'sustainable' adds up until he states exactly what the ingredients are from all his rations and where they come from.
 

primmiemoo

Member
Location
Devon
Are you suggesting that Bill was behind the NBA's claim , that beef finished under 24 months , was more sustainable ?

In my opinion the NBA should represent suckler beef , not dairy beef.

No, I doubt that he was to do with that. At the time it seemed that the errors were from within the small committee, and that wider membership weren't consulted.

What he seems to have done is to take the NBA "findings", and, not unreasonably, apply the reasoning to his business ~ along with (I'm purely guessing) the current indicators that the national suckler herd is on the way out, leaving dairy bred cattle for beef. Lots of beef because of more calves reared.
(The PGI doesn't stipulate suckler only, does it? )

Nothing wrong with dairy addressing its carbon footprint, but is pushing stock really a best way?
 
Location
southwest
"Sustainable" is just another word that seems to be flexible as to meaning these days. Dictionary definition is "can be maintained at a certain level" but it now seems to be used to infer low environmental impact/good for the planet/uses no external inputs etc etc.

Other words multiple meanings or really becoming meaningless include:
Assured
High Welfare
Eco friendly
low impact
Carbon neutral
Certified
etc etc.

So woolly as to be virtually meaningless, but look good on a packet
 
Last edited:
Location
Devon
I'm not sure if he is saying you can only buy calves from a dairy farm with a zero carbon balance sheet or that only dairy calves have a zero carbon balance sheet?...

I think he is implying that as the calves are from a dairy farm they would be shot unless they go onto this beef scheme he is trying to set up so that means they can be called zero carbon!

Of course taking the truck and trailer to pick them up will have a carbon footprint but Bill seems to be ignoring little facts like this in his marketing of the scheme!
 
Location
Devon
And the calfpride gold milk replacer was free?....

Apparently according to Bill in the above article not only was the milk replacer free but also the silage/straw that the calves were fed on from when they were bought untill they were turned out 10 months later!

Let alone the cost of meds/ calve losses/ bedding straw/ machinery costs for bedding up/ cleaning out and so it goes on!

Anyone can make anything pay if you are like Bill and ignore nearly all your costs and the only cost you include is the cake bill and even then put that in at £60/80 tonne ( at least ) less than Harpers are actually charging their other customers for the same mix delivered in..
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Only untill they were 3 months old @neilo

After that age he makes no mention of if they were or were not fed on soya but i think we all know they were/are!

I expect there was a bit of poetic licence used in the article, but the rearing ration is stated as a 50/50 mix of rolled barley and a ‘22% balancer’, which could be made without soya I suppose?

The £176/hd feed cost clearly doesn’t add up though, and must only have been for one stage of the rearing?
 
Location
Devon
I expect there was a bit of poetic licence used in the article, but the rearing ration is stated as a 50/50 mix of rolled barley and a ‘22% balancer’, which could be made without soya I suppose?

The £176/hd feed cost clearly doesn’t add up though, and must only have been for one stage of the rearing?

The way he has written the article it makes it clear they were only fed on a non soya diet for the first 3 months.

The £176 head is written and reads as the total cost of cake from when they were bought untill they went out onto grass 10 months later.

He says they were fed just over 1 ton of cake head so he is putting the cake in at less than £170 ton and yes that is partly barley but that will then need extra minerals/ protein etc.

A few weeks ago harpers were quoting about £195 ton for unrolled barley delivered onto farm!

His figures in the above article really are sky in the pie rubbish!
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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