Ugandan Beef for your lunch ....anyone?

I do what I do and to the best of my ability .... but reckon that chlorinated chicken and hormone beef will be here asap ! Average Joe Blogs doesn't give a sh1t , as long as it's cheap !! Cynic , or what ??!!?? I'm FABBL etc , but seriously wonder why I bother in greater scheme of life ...... It's all rubbish to Gov.UK in reality ..... Now we're supposed to be planting more trees ....BPS is quietly stuffed .... Environment schemes for the 'better good' ...... Guess Chris Patten will be in on that one !
 

An Gof

Member
Location
Cornwall
I do what I do and to the best of my ability .... but reckon that chlorinated chicken and hormone beef will be here asap ! Average Joe Blogs doesn't give a sh1t , as long as it's cheap !! Cynic , or what ??!!?? I'm FABBL etc , but seriously wonder why I bother in greater scheme of life ...... It's all rubbish to Gov.UK in reality ..... Now we're supposed to be planting more trees ....BPS is quietly stuffed .... Environment schemes for the 'better good' ...... Guess Chris Patten will be in on that one !

Do you mean Chris Packham? Chris Patten was the last Governor of Hong Kong
 
I wouldnt wet your pants just yet , uganda only produces 211,000tons of beef in total and its taken them over five years to get there from 190,000 in 2011. Boris was just waving a carrot to woo them, africa is up for grabs.
Yes you have a point, he will be doing FT deals with the “whole of Africa” if he can, and whilst this offers plenty of opportunities for exports of UK non Ag produce, he’s made it clear who will be sacrificed in return.
The cheap sh1t is already on shelves here, doesn't matter whether it comes from Brazil, USA, Poland or Uganda. Shouldn't make any difference to the market for our grass fed, fully traceable, properly butchered, high welfare beef.
So whilst they can’t compete
with the quality of our “grass fed, fully traceable, properly butchered, high welfare beef” I’m afraid the price and availability of “the cheap sh1te” does affect the price of that high quality British beef. After all most meat goes via food service without “labels” accept the one with the price, and price is key - don’t forget we live in a society where the police are called when KFC run out of chicken. And yes we do already get “the cheap sh1t”, but most is controlled by quotas and tariffs - I didn’t see Boris mention those in his speech.
We are where we are, this risky situation was well known 4 years ago, nothing’s changed accept its about to be reality. Time to knuckle down and prepare for what is coming, however hard a pill that maybe.
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
Mrs Cow and Serengetti 100% grass fed apart from the odd carrot 100% traceability available for export as long as no one tells the wife or kids. Not Ugandan but close enough to make no difference. I will accept offers from any leading supermarket. They would go nice with Beans or Broccoli.
20200123_074634.jpg
 

Ukjay

Member
Location
Wales!
The cheap sh1t is already on shelves here, doesn't matter whether it comes from Brazil, USA, Poland or Uganda. Shouldn't make any difference to the market for our grass fed, fully traceable, properly butchered, high welfare beef.

To stand a chance of winning the battle - then you need to make sure your product is of the high quality that you are implying and repeatedly so.

Who the hell wants to continue chomping down on a tough piece of alledged quality product, when the alledged inferior produce coming in often eats better and tastes just as good if not better (sorry to say).
For me, one should not have to slow cook an alledged high quality piece of meat to make it tender and not resemble a piece of leather with all the grissle etc that spoils the enjoyment.

Tin hat on!
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
To stand a chance of winning the battle - then you need to make sure your product is of the high quality that you are implying and repeatedly so.

Who the hell wants to continue chomping down on a tough piece of alledged quality product, when the alledged inferior produce coming in often eats better and tastes just as good if not better (sorry to say).
For me, one should not have to slow cook an alledged high quality piece of meat to make it tender and not resemble a piece of leather with all the grissle etc that spoils the enjoyment.

Tin hat on!

I agree entirely.
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Need to get paid on eating quality then. If you go to a Australian beef restaurant you can see marbling score of slaughtered animal on menu.

Somebody needs to create a brand that produces consistent eating quality. Standardise, finishing ration, breed of animal and treatment of carcass post slaughter. Until somebody does this i agree the quality of beef here isn't up to scratch.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Need to get paid on eating quality then. If you go to a Australian beef restaurant you can see marbling score of slaughtered animal on menu.

Somebody needs to create a brand that produces consistent eating quality. Standardise, finishing ration, breed of animal and treatment of carcass post slaughter. Until somebody does this i agree the quality of beef here isn't up to scratch.

See the US Black Angus brand for an excellent example.
 

Smith31

Member
Have eaten beef in Mexico, Argentina and parts of Africa whilst on holiday. I can honestly say it tasted just as good as British beef. I would go as far as to say beef in Argentina was better.

We produce lean butchers quality beef which is profitable, but has lost its taste.
 
Have eaten beef in Mexico, Argentina and parts of Africa whilst on holiday. I can honestly say it tasted just as good as British beef. I would go as far as to say beef in Argentina was better.

We produce lean butchers quality beef which is profitable, but has lost its taste.
And why would the beef in Argentina be better? My experience out there, and what I've read, suggests it's because they use and continue to develop the genetics we sold them 50 plus years ago. Hereford and Angus mainly, in common with most temperate beef-producing countries (most of which have higher beef consumption than us).
 
The cheap sh1t is already on shelves here, doesn't matter whether it comes from Brazil, USA, Poland or Uganda. Shouldn't make any difference to the market for our grass fed, fully traceable, properly butchered, high welfare beef.

I know you say cheap sh1t, but with regards to the US – is their system all that different to ours in practical terms? in the US there are a large number of cow-calf operators (sucklers) which rear beef cattle for most of their lives on grass across the prairies of the mid-west and throughout the US and are then placed in feedlots/finishing units for the last 60-90 days on a grain/waste product/forage based diet in fairly intensive conditions. They will have a select number of producers finishing beef just off grass for a premium, but, relatively small market. Is the UK much different – apart from more beef from the dairy herd?

I get there will be a large number of farmers finishing cattle extensively/forage based, but how many cattle do they actually finish in comparison to finishers, finishing upwards of 1000 cattle in a 60-90 day period relatively intensively? 80/20 rule would suggest that 80% of beef comes from 20% of farmers…? I'm all for high-welfare grass-fed beef, but it has got to be grass-fed for it's whole life to differentiate itself in the market and command that premium. Otherwise its just another commodity competing on price.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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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