Exclusive: Supermarket sold on new beef breed

AN ambitious long-term commitment by a small group of Yorkshire farmers to produce a new type of sustainable beef cow and bring a better class of steak to your plate has now paid off. Morrisons, whose policy is to sell only British beef, has signed up to a partnership deal with the group.

It's an encouraging endorsement for the project led by five beef producers in East Yorkshire. In 1996 they set up the Stabiliser Cattle Company having developed a new pedigree animal which is a mixture of two native breeds, Hereford and Angus, and two continental breeds, Simmental and Gelbvieh.

This new breed created by the Beef Improvement Group is called the Stabiliser because it aims to stabilise animal populations and offers uniformity in the meat. Richard Fuller, the technical director of the Beef Improvement Group, says the long-term outcome of their work is a sustainable suckler cow breeding programme.

"The Stabiliser has now firmly established itself as a breed capable of more than breaking even without the help of Single Farm Payment," says Mr Fuller. "This is of paramount importance for the future survival of suckler producers as we once again head towards CAP reform and the threat of reduced support to satisfy – among other things – the emerging anti-livestock brigade spurred on by the perceived threat to global warming from methane emissions from ruminants.

"This agreement with Morrisons/Woodheads builds on the Beef Improvement Group's original ambitions to establish a low cost, high value suckler system to improve the competitiveness of producers facing higher costs and reduced subsidy support."

Working on developing a new breed was one thing, getting it accepted by a big customer was another.

This is where the efforts put into recording data and backing up the animals' work performance traits, growth rates and muscle depth were key. Attention to detail, as well as the lure of low cost production and high quality product, played a part in winning a deal with a supermarket giant like Morrisons.

Their commitment to British beef means it's a major buyer in the livestock markets. It processes about 3,000 cattle every week at its three Woodheads abattoirs to supply its 420-plus British stores.

David Evans, the head of agriculture at Morrisons, said: "Morrisons' unique business structure, which includes owning our own processing plants, means we are the only major supermarket able to work with our farmers in this way.

"We will be looking closely at the progress of the project with the Beef Improvement Group. Partnerships like this may have the potential to significantly benefit the British beef sector, helping build a more sustainable future. We will be working in a number of key technical areas to help achieve supply chain efficiencies. This includes establishing a mechanism to improve eating quality, carcase yield and retail value and linking these to the genetic assessment of beef sires."

This deal is refreshing news at a time when a number of Yorkshire-based farmers with suckler herds have either reduced their stocking levels or in some cases gone out of beef production entirely.

Hill farms with suckler herds have been hit hard by recent government legislation and many have found that the only way to carry on their beef business is to de-stock.

There is also a school of thought that argues the direction of traditional suckler herds, with a strong Holstein influence in breeding cow populations, has been wrong. Holsteins are high yielding but also high maintenance. Herd profitability has been undermined through that and poorer fertility levels and soaring feeding costs.

Stabilisers, having started from scratch, are now common, with over 10,000 cows bred in the UK. The Beef Improvement Group believe the animals' strong points are high fertility, low calf mortality, shorter calving intervals, low cow maintenance costs, high growth rates and docility.

In Yorkshire, the Stabiliser Cattle Company also produces its own branded beef under the name Givendale Prime which was given a local launch in 2008 and has already built a significant reputation among smaller customers.

The Morrisons/Woodheads partnership will be announced at Beef Expo, the UK's annual national beef event, at Hexham next Thursday. The Beef Improvement Group sees the tie-up with Morrisons as a major breakthrough for this aspiring breed.

They believe that the close working relationship with the supermarket, who will be monitoring and analysing the performance of the beef, will further promote the breed across the UK.

CW 22/5/10