The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Cattle => Topic started by: Castle Farm on October 07, 2013, 12:36:34 pm
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Cattle breeding has come a very long way in the last 50 years, but there comes a time when you have to ask is this far enough?
Meet the Super Cow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmkj5gq1cQU#)
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That is one of the most revolting things I've seen. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should!
Sue
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Visited Belgian Blue breeding farm in Belgium a few years ago .... they admitted all births were caesarian!
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I think our grand-children will look back on this as the Frankenstien era. When grain actually costs what it should cost (as oil rises) and cattle are back on grass where they belong, all the trad breeds that kept us fed for thousands of years will be back.
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The thing is that some people will see this as 'progress' which is very sad.
All for the sake of quantity, rather than quality !!
I agree with Factotum - just cos we can, doesnt mean that we should and doesnt make it right!
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Poor coos. They can barely even lift their heads.
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is that part of the film where giles conran eats a steak from a belgium blue, completely tasteless!
these carcasses grading E are paid the most, because of the volume of meat, but its all only fit for the mincer! why bother.
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Like you, I hate the appearance of these animals, especially the ones which can barely walk, but they have gained in popularity, along with the other double-muscled breeds, because of the other extreme end of farming - to cross with the skeletal ultra high - yielding Holstein and other dairy breeds in an attempt to produce something resembling a beef animal which can be sold as a suckler cow. Of course in the beef stakes, no commercial beef farmer cares about the taste of the meat they produce - all they care about is what they get paid for an animal, which is governed by the EUROP grid (developed in Europe to favour the extreme conformation of continental breeds of cattle). While this system persists, our native breeds that our forefathers developed to suit our dreadful climate and fed us for generations are discriminated against! (You can tell I feel strongly about this!) I have to say though I think the British Blue breeders are doing their best to address all the breed's problems. I hope that one day our native breeds will stage a comeback, but the general public are so obsessed with cheap meat in supermarkets and so brainwashed about the dangers of fat, that I fear they will remain a niche market for restaurant chefs and well off people who care about how their meat tastes!
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The Comeback of the Natives is well on its way already.
Morrisons, gawd love 'em, pay a premium - 20p / kg deadweight - for any beast sired by a pedigree native breed bull. That bonus has trickled right through the industry and a native store beast being sold with documentation for the pedigree sire will command a higher price than one with no sire documentation.
Some environmental schemes pay a supplement for using pedigree native breed cattle for conservation grazing. Our scheme requires outwintered cattle on some rough ground, no hard feed allowed and no silage, hay can be scattered only, so that effectively forced us to get some native breed cows.
Our local mart, Hexham, has been running special monthly Native Breed Store Cattle sales for two years now, with an annual Show and Sale in October each year. This year one of our bullocks was Reserve Champion, the Champion was a half-sister to our Angus bull.
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That is why I grow my own meat!!!
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It's not good bring back the old breeds UK had
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Like you, I hate the appearance of these animals, especially the ones which can barely walk, but they have gained in popularity, along with the other double-muscled breeds, because of the other extreme end of farming - to cross with the skeletal ultra high - yielding Holstein and other dairy breeds in an attempt to produce something resembling a beef animal which can be sold as a suckler cow. Of course in the beef stakes, no commercial beef farmer cares about the taste of the meat they produce - all they care about is what they get paid for an animal, which is governed by the EUROP grid (developed in Europe to favour the extreme conformation of continental breeds of cattle). While this system persists, our native breeds that our forefathers developed to suit our dreadful climate and fed us for generations are discriminated against! (You can tell I feel strongly about this!) I have to say though I think the British Blue breeders are doing their best to address all the breed's problems. I hope that one day our native breeds will stage a comeback, but the general public are so obsessed with cheap meat in supermarkets and so brainwashed about the dangers of fat, that I fear they will remain a niche market for restaurant chefs and well off people who care about how their meat tastes!
For all the faults of the US cattle system one thing they do do is grade on taste as well as on confirmation. Wish they did that here, would level up the playing field and make for fewer disappointing dinners for consumers that put them off risking the price of steaks etc.
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Of course in the beef stakes, no commercial beef farmer cares about the taste of the meat they produce - all they care about is what they get paid for an animal, which is governed by the EUROP grid (developed in Europe to favour the extreme conformation of continental breeds of cattle
that is a very narrow minded, naive way of thinking and I would strongly disagree. If a beef farmer produces tasteless, fatty beef, the processor will not accept future beef from that farmer and his success at market will also be reflected, so taste is extremely important. Same with lamb and pork... I rear my own orphan lambs and the reason friends and family come back to me for more lamb the following year is the taste- my lambs are all commercial lambs from large farms, not native breeds.