Bully for British beef
Worldwide meat production has been cited as a significant contributor to global warming and pollution. However, grass-fed British beef is an exception,
Producing beef is around 10 times more damaging to the environment than any other form of livestock farming – that was the conclusion of a study published by the US National Academy of Sciences in 2014. A vociferous lobby also insists that it’s unforgivably wasteful to feed grain to animals that could be eaten by humans. According to PETA: ‘Cows must consume 16lb of vegetation in order to convert them into 1lb of flesh.’
But before we ditch the steak, it’s worth considering just how applicable this devastating charge, so heavily based on US data, is to the beef that we buy in Britain.
Almost all – 97 per cent – of US beef is produced on ‘feedlots’, where thousands of cows are packed into dusty, grassless yards and fed lots of grain to fatten them in record time for slaughter at 12-13 months of age. This system is notorious for the mountain of polluting wastes it generates, and the vast amount of grain that is required.
Happily, it’s a better picture in the UK. Unlike the flat North American prairies, two-thirds of British land is pasture that is too wet, hilly or poor to grow food crops for humans. However, it is good for grazing livestock. This grassy pasture captures and stores carbon, so that less is released into the air. The majority of the UK beef herd spend 20 months outside on grass in much smaller, more environmentally sustainable numbers than in the US. This is followed by another three months where they are ‘finished’ (fattened up) for slaughter on fibrous foods, such as conserved grass, and some grain at around 23 months of age.
There is a faster-track system, mainly producing beef for supermarkets, called ‘barley beef’, where faster-growing Continental breeds graze on pasture for nine months, then spend a further seven indoors being fed fibrous crops and cereals. Tom Fullick, livestock adviser at the National Farmers Union, is adamant that in both systems, ‘cattle only eat cereals that wouldn’t make the grade for human consumption’.
However, British beef farmers are increasingly finding that it can be more profitable to rear their cows on grassland than on cereals. The Pasture-Fed Livestock Association recently published research showing that pure pasture farming can work anywhere in the UK, and that farmers can prosper when they kick the cereal habit. As Philip Lymbery, director of Compassion in World Farming, puts it: ‘With its rich green pastures, Britain is perfectly placed to lead the way in grass-fed beef, and an enthusiastic band of farmers is already doing just that.’ • Joanna is a judge for this year’s BBC Food & Farming awards. Visit for more information.
‘In the US, cows are packed into dusty yards and fed lots of grain’