ON THE FARM WITH ADAM
Do you know what goes into the cow-feed behind your favourite beef?
o, what’s your beef? That’s not me picking an argument, it’s a real question. Grilled, barbecued or boiled, we Brits love our beef. It’s no wonder that the good old Sunday roast is considered by many to be our national dish.
But not all beef is the same and, just like fine wines, British beef is sophisticated and varied. The beef producers of the British Isles provide us with some of the best meat in the world, thanks to the variety of breeds we rear, their distinct characteristics and our diverse landscapes providing a range of crops and grazing.
We also benefit from the goodquality feed derived from the UK’s breweries, distilleries and flour mills. For generations, farmers have fed cattle a mix of grass and these manufactured supplements made up of grains, oils, soya for protein and added essential vitamins and minerals – especially in winter when the fields are bare.
SALL-GRASS REVOLUTION
This is how I feed my herds of rare breed and native cattle at home and it’s what my Dad did before me. Now, however, a rising number of farmers and meat-lovers insist that beef cattle raised solely on grass, year round, are miles better. I’ve seen herds of pedigree Herefords in herb-rich Cotswolds meadows, beautiful Red Polls used for conservation grazing on a key wildlife site in the Stroud Valleys
Adam Henson feeds his longhorn cattle a mix of grass and supplements – but is all-grass the future?
and lovely, dumpy Belted Galloways on hillside pasture in mid-Wales. The impressive sight of these hungry herds is matched only by the enthusiasm of their owners for an all-grass system.
John Price is a first-generation tenant farmer at the western end of the Brecon Beacons. His black-and-white ‘Belties’ are out on the rough moor grass all summer until the wet winter months, when they’re brought in and fed only hay or silage.
“It’s more profitable for us purely because we sell the end product,” John said as we scattered hay for his cattle. “We need to make profit no question, but it’s about producing that high-end product.”
John is a member of the ‘Pasture For Life’ scheme, which awards a certification mark for herds fed exclusively that way. He’d be the first to say there’s evidence that a diet of grass and flower-rich hay produces meat that’s higher in vitamin E and lower in saturated fats when compared to grain-fed beef.
CONSUMER CLARITY
This can all be confusing for the consumer, who often just wants a tasty steak or affordable roasting joint. There’s a lot to consider. Meat labelled ‘grassfed’ can still have come from animals raised on concentrate feed for some of their life; it’s not the same as ‘free-range’ and it may or may not be ‘organic’.
There are also the ethical arguments over the use of foreign-grown soya in some cattle supplements and the extent to which large-scale soy farming is responsible for the destruction of forests such as the Amazon. And another judgement has to be made, and it’s the best test of all: how does pasture-fed beef taste? In my experience, it has a distinctive sweetness and a certain tenderness. The class of pasture definitely makes a difference to the flavour.
‘Pasture For Life’ is eager to promote transparency and traceability. It’s a passion I share. There’s room in the market for all feeding systems, types of beef and prices. What’s most important is that the shopper knows what they’re buying and can make an informed choice at the meat counter.
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