Living in a fantasy . . .

The first Fantasy Farming Beef League was such a success that plans are under way to organise a similar project next year, fattening different dairy breed crosses, said the organisers at Askham Bryan College.

By The Newsroom

Published 1st Jan 2010, 17:08 BST

Updated 1st Jan 2010, 17:08 BST

Thirty dairy and beef farmers took part in 10 teams, each running eight real hard-to-sell black-and-white bull calves for 12 months, through the National Beef Training Centre at the college.

The winning team, The Matadors, was Rob Rogers of East Heslerton near Malton (team captain) right; Dave Benson of Kelfield, York, left; and Jamie Leather of Green Hammerton, York, centre.

They came out 16 ahead of their nearest challengers on profit for their pen of calves and have won a trip to the Calgary Stampede in Canada next July.

Mervyn Lewis, head of the college's Rural Business Research Unit, said calf growth rates did begin to fall when they were switched to a cheaper feed. "However, the lower price of the diet counteracted this."

The highest average deadweight of 332kg produced a pen profit margin of 202.

York Malton