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Bred to be the new name in beef
Years of breeding went into the Yorkshire launch of a new beef brand this week. Chris Berry reports on why it should mean a better steak on your plate.
There are too many breeds, and the consistency within the beef industry isn't good enough. This is the view of a man who has pursued perfection in cattle for many years – and his solution? Another breed of cattle.
Richard Fuller is farm manager for JSR farms at the 1,200-acre Givendale Farm, near Pocklington in the East Riding, where he manages both arable and livestock. This week, he launched a
new brand – Givendale Prime Beef.
Beef, and the production of premium quality stock, have been Richard's passion for many years, but such is his belief that he has now hit the right mark that there are now 10,000 cows bred in the UK to what is known as the Stabiliser breed.
Richard developed a system using and breeding Charolais bulls going back to the 1980s, and, in conjunction with two other farms, set up a beef improvement group which turned its attention to cows. Their policy involved moving away from the traditional method of using Holstein dairy cows in the beef breeding cycle.
"It occurred to me that the industry desperately needed a more efficient cow," says Richard. "The Holstein was undermining the beef industry's profitability through a combination of poor fertility levels, higher feed costs and all of what was associated with it being a very high-energy-using animal.
"It has a very high metabolic rate, much higher than a Hereford, for instance, because it is built to produce 12-15 gallons of milk a day. That means it has a huge liver, which takes a lot of driving. Costs were getting really out of hand and calving difficulties were coming in.
"It was when BSE hit that we were really triggered into action. I said at the time that what we wanted was a sustainable suckler cow breeding programme. Having developed the Charolais as a terminal sire, I then switched our market focus in order to produce a more efficient
beef cow."
One by one, each of the three members of the Beef Improvement Group, including Birdsall Estate and Limestone Farming Company, in Lincolnshire, offloaded their Charolais herds.
"We decided that if we were going to make a good job of it, we needed to focus totally on what we were setting out to achieve – and get rid of everything else."
The Stabiliser breed is so called because it stabilises animal populations and produces consistency, both live and dead.
"It produces uniformity in terms of the meat. It is made up of 50 per cent native breeds – the Hereford and Angus – and 50 per cent of continental breeds through the Simmental and Gelbvieh.
"They all have traits that they bring to the party to make a much more efficient breeding animal. It is now a fully recorded pedigree breed and there are presently 160 farmers throughout the UK involved in breeding 10,000 cows in the programme. It is growing at the rate of 30 per cent a year and is marketed as Givendale Prime Beef. On your plate the meat is very consistent and very tender. It is succulent and has a high marbling content."
Economic benefits equals reduction in input prices, and that's exactly where Richard feels the breed will score.
"What differentiates it from other breeds, too, is that it uses grass as its main ingredient, making it a free-range, grass-fed product that produces a better eating experience. We have trialled it with various butchers and we're getting more and more buyers as they come to recognise its quality."
The aim of the launch, at the Hare & Hounds, in Burton Leonard, near Ripon, was to demonstrate to chefs and butchers the consistency of the product and create a supply chain.
One of Richard's local butchers is Bill Burton, of Pocklington. He has been selling Givendale Prime for the past five years.
"Richard sent me the first cattle he had, to give them a try," said Bill. "Immediately we started with it, I thought we had something different, something special. Five years ago we were doing three bodies a week, now we're up to five. The quality never varies, it is always exceptional."
Ursula Taylor, who has recently joined Richard as supply-chain manager, says, "We have clusters of breeders in North Wales, Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire, south-west Scotland, Aberdeenshire and the south-west of England. The support and tasting feedback from the chefs has been very encouraging."
Robert Rook, who farms at Weighton Wold on the side of Market Weighton hill, is one of the three shareholders in the Stabiliser Cattle Company, which includes JSR Farms and Birdsall Beef.
He says: "If my sons had wanted to carry on with the cattle we were producing under our original breeding programme, I doubt that we would have still been in the beef world now.
"What we have today is an animal that produces far better quality meat and is very much a premium product."
Robert Smith, of Sykes House Farm, near Wetherby, also attended the launch
this week, and said: "We are a catering supplier, with 10 vans delivering all over Yorkshire. I have been looking for a beef farmer
who can produce decent beef for us to butcher and supply to restaurants for some time.
"Hopefully, we will be Givendale Prime's catering supplier very shortly."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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