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Author Topic: Taking it to extreams  (Read 4789 times)

Castle Farm

  • Joined Nov 2008
  • Hereford/Powys Border. near Hay-on-Wye
    • castlefarmeggs
Taking it to extreams
« on: October 07, 2013, 12:36:34 pm »
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?


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Factotum

  • Joined Jun 2012
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2013, 02:39:32 pm »
That is one of the most revolting things I've seen. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should!

Sue

Backinwellies

  • Global Moderator
  • Joined Sep 2012
  • Llandeilo Carmarthenshire
    • Nantygroes
    • Facebook
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2013, 02:47:57 pm »
Visited Belgian Blue breeding farm in Belgium  a few years ago .... they admitted  all births were caesarian!
Linda

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Stereo

  • Joined Aug 2012
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2013, 04:42:51 pm »
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.

marka

  • Joined Dec 2012
  • Moray, NE Scotland
  • www.facebook.com/WellsideCroft
    • Facebook
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2013, 07:19:08 pm »
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!
Castlemilk Moorit sheep and Belted Galloway cattle, plus other hangers on.

Min

  • Joined Apr 2013
  • Edinburgh
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2013, 08:04:36 pm »
Poor coos. They can barely even lift their heads.

domsmith

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • sanquhar, dumfries and galloway
    • sunnyside farm
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2013, 09:12:18 pm »
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.

Cowgirl

  • Joined Aug 2013
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2013, 05:58:44 pm »
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!

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #8 on: October 11, 2013, 02:44:03 am »
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.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Cactus Jack

  • Joined Oct 2013
  • Tortosa catalunya
    • stevel100
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #9 on: October 11, 2013, 06:28:35 am »
That is why I grow my own meat!!!

Victorian Farmer

  • Guest
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2013, 10:21:41 am »
It's not good bring back the old breeds UK had

lachlanandmarcus

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2013, 12:35:47 pm »
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.

twizzel

  • Joined Apr 2012
Re: Taking it to extreams
« Reply #12 on: October 11, 2013, 05:33:12 pm »
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.

 

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