[Greenerlife]

I think that you are missing the point tizaala.  You are assuming that the populace is intelligent  . And also, religious organisations are not allowed to advertise on tv.  Whilst I share your opinions on the existence of a God, you would have problems proving that a God doesn't exist as much as proving there is one! (Devils advocate me.  Except I don't believe in him either...)

[Cavendish]

I find the slogans supermarkets are allowed to put on their meat products absurd, boasting that they are “outdoor reared” or “Farm Assured” etc, WTF does farm assured mean???
We the public are being sold products that are supposedly being produced in a natural way!, overly inflated in price with stupid slogans as if it is a new luxury item never before seen on the supermarket shelf, when in fact it is the way the world has been producing its meat forever, just not in the last  hundred years or so.

If people in this country truly want meat produced in a "natural way" then we should be prepared to cut back on the amount of meat we eat, and stop eating the crap that gets served up in the likes of KFC and McD's.

I doubt that will happen.

[tizaala]

The ad that makes my missus chuck things at the tele'  is " Have a happy period "  the copywriter that dreamed that one up must be a gay that never had any soscial contact with women......

[SallyintNorth]

“Farm Assured” etc, WTF does farm assured mean???

We are Farm Assured.  We spend money every year paying someone to assess our procedures and practices to tell us that we are still Farm Assured.  The supermarkets pay us a little bit more for our lambs because we are Farm Assured so that they can put the Little Red Tractor logo on the meat.

I am happy to tell you what we have to do to be Farm Assured (apart from pay for the annual assessment) in as much detail as required if anyone really wants to know.

[Cavendish]

Hi Sallyintnorth, sorry if my comment caused offence that was not my intention. I was trying to summarise the fact that there seems to be lots of different schemes assuring the public that meat has been reared / bred / fed / etc etc according to a set of standards, when the vast majority have absolutely no idea what those standards are, the advert that is being discussed is a case in point, it give a false inpression that joe public buy into.

I am of course coming from a view point of complete naivety regarding farming practises, please excuse my ignorance, but that’s why I am here to learn.

I would like to know what you have to do to be farm assured, please tell.

[SallyintNorth]

Cavendish, I didn't take offence a bit, sorry if I sounded as though I had!   

There may well have been a bit of a 'tone' in what I wrote - but aimed at exactly what you describe; we know the public has no real knowledge of what all these schemes are and even if they do think they do, in many cases the scheme as implemented doesn't in fact address the issues it was set up to address.  (Sound of me on one of my hobby horses.)

FABBL (Farm Assured British Beef & Lamb) is the scheme behind the Little Red Tractor logo.  It is supposed to give consumers confidence that the food they are buying is British, safe and has been reared and slaughtered to high welfare standards.

In fact, in the lifetime of the scheme, almost everything that was originally an additional requirement on the farmer is now part of the general legislation in any case, so that all FABBL really does is audit farmers rather more thoroughly and very much more frequently than Defra does in the first place.  (Note I am not au fait with Scottish legislation nor any Welsh specifics so can speak only for England really.)

Our annual FABBL inspection takes about 2 hours, sometimes more.  The inspector will check our animal handling facilites and accommodation, a random selection of animals for condition and identification, check that everyone involved in handling / treating the stock is suitably qualified / experienced, spend quite a bit of time checking through medicine records and the medicine cupboard, discuss some aspects of animal health with us (eg, lamb castration, calf de-horning) and check other procedures - for instance 'manure management' (where we do and don't spread muck and artificial fertiliser and when), broken needle policy - and equipment (eg trailer.)

Some supermarkets pay up to 5p / kg deadweight less for non-assured lambs.  'FA', 'SA' or 'NA' (for FABBL, Scotch Assured or Not Assured) comes up on the display boards in all our local marts.  Whether or not buyers don't buy or pay less for NA stock I really couldn't say.