Morrisons looking to British breeds to beef up meat range

The Morrisons announcement follows a Yorkshire Post story which said the supermarket’s move could change the look of the average field of cattle.

Farmers will be paid extra for supplying animals sired by native bulls rather than fast-growing and low-fat Continental breeds originally selected for their strength as draught animals which nowadays supply most supermarket beef.

Morrisons abattoirs are paying 10p a kilo above the standard deadweight rate for any of 19 British native breeds, or crosses from a native sire, and 20p for Beef Shorthorns and first crosses, which are the supermarket’s first choice, following experiments on its own farm, in Scotland.

Echoing the message spread by the likes of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver, Morrisons said in a statement last night: “The commonly used beef cattle in the UK are of French origin. In contrast, the native British breeds, such as Shorthorn, Hereford and Aberdeen Angus, selected by Morrisons, are slower growing and smaller and, due to evolving in a British climate, developed a ‘marbling’ to their meat (with the primary aim of keeping warm). This marbled texture delivers a greater depth of flavour and tenderness to the beef.

“The beef premiering in stores this month is the culmination of over three years of work at the Morrisons Farm at Dumfries House in Scotland – a joint venture between the company and HRH The Prince of Wales – and heralds the start of Morrisons’ commitment to nurturing and popularising British breeds.”

Morrisons said its formula for high eating quality included finishing the cattle on cereals, rather than cheap alternatives, and maturing the butchered meat on the bone for 21 days.

Andrew Loftus, farm operations manager for Morrisons, based at Colne, Lancashire, said the natural cereals in Morrisons’ special diet helped the animal to lay down a little extra fat– important because most of the flavour is in the fat.

All of Morrisons fresh meat is British.

It expects demand for the new range to add 10 percent to its existing order, meaning another 16,000 British cattle a year.

One question is whether its bonus offer is enough to get farmers to switch from rearing the offspring of big Limousins, British Blues (originally Belgian Blues), Charolais and Blondes (descended from Blondes d’Aquitaine).

A Yorkshire beef farmer said: “A standard Limo-cross will easily get you 350-400 kilos deadweight in 30 months while a native breed might only kill out at 280kg after the same time.”

Mr Loftus commented: “When you take feed input into account, a native breed does not necessarily cost more per kilo to produce.” Morrisons is buying in the weight range 280kg to 380kg.