“Describe how a commercial suckler unit could introduce beef shorthorn to its current model in order todevelop a sustainable and profitable enterprise without support payments post Brexit. Illustrate your response where applicable with data in chart or table format. Utilize information from lecture notes and the AHDB Beef and Lamb and NBA websites”.
Award winning presentation Beef production in the UK has faced many challenges in the past 100 years, and in Brexit, it now faces a challenge which could be potentially the most significant change the current generation of suckler farmers has seen. Brexit has caused much uncertainty over the future of the beef industry, with the main threats being cheap imports of foreign beef into the UK, and potential removal of EU subsidy to UK agriculture. This means that the UK must develop a sustainable beef industry to remain competitive and sought after in the UK marketplace, and maintain a profitable enterprise independent of support payments. Therefore suckler farmers in the UK must become increasingly efficient in their chosen production systems, finishing cattle at younger ages and through the lowest cost production system possible. The use of native breeds is a key way to reach these objectives as they are specifically adapted to thrive in this climate and environment.
Beef Shorthorn is a native breed of the UK and is the first breed in the world to have a herd book. It was developed in the 18th Century by Charles and Robert Colling in Yorkshire (Beef Shorthorn, 2014). It is an early maturing beef breed, which thrives on grass based systems, is an efficient forager and also is a medium sized earlymaturing breed. In addition Beef Shorthorn cows are renowned for their docility, and maternal abilities such as calving ease, hybrid vigour, and milking ability. Beef Shorthorn has a higher percentage of intramuscular fat or ‘marbling’ than continental breeds of cattle which is essential for tenderness and flavour of the meat. The higher fat percentage means that not only is the meat more flavoursome but they require less feeding to reach the desired level of fat cover or ‘finish’ that the abattoirs want. This means that Beef Shorthorn cattle will finish sooner on average than continental bred cattle, reducing variable costs such as feed costs allowing for a larger net profit. Therefore it is an ideal breed for commercial suckler farmers to introduce into their current model. These factors have contributed to the number of Beef Shorthorn dams increasing from 25,000 in 2003 to 40,000 in 2014 (AHDB, 2015).
Beef Shorthorn is an ideal breed of cattle to integrate into any commercial suckler herd, to achieve a sustainable and profitable beef herd post Brexit.
A commercial suckler beef finishing unit could introduce Beef Shorthorn into its current model, by either investing in a Beef Shorthorn bull or using Beef Shorthorn artificial insemination straws. The bull should be selected by estimated breeding values (EBV’s), and by eye where possible. The ideal bull would have a good calving ease direct, low birth weight, high 200, 400 and 600 day weights, and a higher eye muscle area. It would also have good docility, mothering ability, milk yield and calving ease daughters traits, in order to produce replacement heifers.
Beef Shorthorn is an ideal suckler cow as they are docile, traditionally give birth to smaller calves and have greater ease of calving. This will in turn reduce calf mortality rates and also increase the likelihood of the cow getting back in calf quickly and maintaining a low calving interval. Bryan Wilson, farm manager at Glenarm Shorthorns in Northern Ireland found that on changing from Limousin x Friesian cows put to a continental bull, to Beef Shorthorn cross cows put to the Beef Shorthorn bull that the calving index of the herd decreased from 412 to 366 days (Wilson, 2017). As a medium sized breed, Beef Shorthorn cows are known for having high cow efficiency, with the potential to produce at least 50kg of calf per 100kg of cow put to the bull. In addition it has been found that medium sized bred cows such as Beef Shorthorn consume around 540kg less average quality silage over a 175 day winter period to meet maintenance requirements (NBA, 2014). This will significantly reduce forage costs on the farm. All of these factors will help to improve the profit margins of the farm business.
A main benefit of Beef Shorthorn cattle is the fact that they are able to be finished sooner than Continental bred cattle, which generally finish at around 24–28 months. The aim is to finish the Beef Shorthorn bred steers between 20 and 22 months (Hybu Cig Cymru, 2014) and heifers finishing at around 20 months. This is at least two months earlier than continental bred systems and will help to reduce the variable costs incurred by the cattle.
The Beef Shorthorn cattle have the potential to be finished off grass in the summer, when grass quality is at its peak. This will prevent the animal being kept for a second winter, which will decrease the winter forage and concentrates needed to finish the animal. For winter finishing systems, Beef Shorthorn cattle would finish more quickly on the same quality of silage as continental bred cattle. In addition they would finish on a lower amount of concentrate per day than continental bred cattle. Beef Shorthorn is a premium product. There are two schemes where Northern Irish farmers can send their beef animals and receive a premium price.
Morrison’s supermarket has a scheme in Great Britain called The Morrison’s Traditional Beef Scheme. This scheme will pay a premium of 25 pence per kilogram on top of the English base beef price which is currently around £3.62/kg (AHDB, 2017). This means that a Beef Shorthorn steer will receive £3.87/kg if it meets the appropriate specification, which is between 260–380kg carcase weight, and grading R or O+ and fat class 3 to 4 (Peedle, 2016). In addition the animals must be from a Farm Quality Assured farm, under 30 months of age and must be steers or heifers.
In Northern Ireland there is a local Beef Shorthorn scheme called Glenarm Shorthorn Beef. Glenarm pay 10% of the current Northern Irish beef base price which at the present time is £3.40/kg (LMC, 2017) amounting to around 34p/kg of a bonus. This means that an animal could receive £3.74/kg if it meets the appropriate specification, which is between 260–380kg carcase weight, and grading O+ or R, and be in the fat class 4. In addition the animals must be from a Farm Quality Assured farm, under 30 months of age and must be steers or heifers(Wilson, 2017).
Table 1 shows the potential differences in gross margin between continental bred steer beef and Beef Shorthorn steer beef in the Morrison’s and Glenarm schemes. This table shows that Beef Shorthorn cattle have a significantly higher gross margin than continental bred beef. This is due to reduced variable costs such as feed and forage and a higher output, due to the premium price received. It can be seen that Morrison’s provides the highest financial benefit with its gross margin being £44/head higher than the gross margin for the Glenarm scheme. Despite this however, the Glenarm scheme is the most feasible option for Northern Irish farmers, as putting cattle through the Morrison’s scheme would accrue high haulage costs to transport the livestock to mainland Britain.
Table 1: Showing gross margins of 24 month continental steer beef, compared to Beef Shorthorn bred steers through Morrison’s at 22 months old and Beef Shorthorn bred steers through the Glenarm scheme at 22 months old. Each steer weighs 334kg carcase weight and costs include the cost of keeping the cow.
(DAERA, 2016) (Gould, 2015).
This table shows that regardless of which scheme is chosen, Beef Shorthorn cattle have the potential to increase gross margin by around £190–£234/head. This is a significant amount of money for any farm business and shows that Beef Shorthorn is an ideal breed of cattle to integrate into current suckler beef systems to develop a sustainable profitable enterprise without support from subsidy.
To conclude, Beef Shorthorn is a breed renowned not only for its excellent breed traits such as docility, mothering ability and fertility, but for the quality of meat produced. It has been described as the ‘best steak in the world’ (Constable, 2012) and is included in the menus of many famed restaurants such as Hixter Bankside in London (Hix Restaurants, 2017) With such a demand for this breed driving an ever thriving market, providing farmers with a premium price for their produce, Beef Shorthorn is an ideal breed to integrate into current suckler beef systems to ensure a sustainable and profitable farm business without reliance on support payments post Brexit.
References
AHDB (2015) Which breeds are influencing beef supply? Available at: >http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/market-intelligence-news/whichbreeds- are-influencing-beef-supply/<
(Accessed: 4nd February 2017).
AHDB (2017) Deadweight cattle prices, Available at: >http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/markets/deadweight-price-reports/deadweightcattle-prices/< (Accessed: 4nd February 2017).
Beef Shorthorn (2014) History of the Shorthorn Breed, Available at: >http://www.beef shorthorn.org/index.php/the-breed/beefshorthorn/breed-history< (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Constable, D. (2012) Ssshhh... I’ve Found the Best Steak in the World!, Available at: >http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/david-jconstable/the-best-frickin-steak-in_b_1853651.html< (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Gould, N., Beef Technologist, College of Agriculture Food and Rural Enterprise, Greenmount Campus, Personal Conversation 25th November 2015.
Hix Restaurants (2017) Hixter, Available at: >http://www.hixrestaurants.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2015/11/HIxter-Bankside-ALC.pdf< (Accessed: 4nd February 2017).
Hybu Cig Cymru (2014) Beef Finishing Systems, Available at: >http://www.google.co.uk/urlsa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0ahUKEwiS65Xqx4PSAhXELcAKHTaNBo4QFggxMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhccmpw.org.uk%2Findex.php%2Ftools%2Frequired%2Ffiles%2Fdownload%3FfID%3D4872&usg=AFQjCNHaZpEhk6HORoB7rofVKwsCWEH91g< (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Keatley, P. (2016) Farm Business Data 2016, 1st edn., Northern Ireland: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Livestock and Meat Commission, 3rd February 2017, Automated Text Message.
National Beef Association (2014) The importance of mature cow weight in UK suckler beef production, Available at: >http://www.nationalbeefassociation.com/workspace/technicalpdfs/MatureCowSize-SParryDec201423012015120921.pdf< (Accessed: 4nd February 2017).
Peedle, A. (2016) Morrison’s Beef Shorthorn Scheme 2016, Available at: >https://issuu.com/acstededesign/docs/morrisons_shorthorn_leaflet_2016b< (Accessed: 2nd February 2017).
Wilson, B. Farm Manager at Glenarm Shorthorn Beef, Personal Conversation, 8th February 2017.