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Jilly and her husband Edwin are quality beef producers, farming over 500 acres in the Exe Valley, seven miles north of Exeter.  Based in the flood plains of the Exe and Culm, lush green river meadow covers large areas of the farm.  These meadows have defined their system of suckled beef production using the native South Devon and continental Blonde to produce high quality beef in the most natural way, happy and contented.  They have around 200 head of cattle and run a closed herd system, breeding their own replacement stock and running stock bulls with good growth rates, extra length through the rib and width on the loin.  Although Jilly and Edwin farm in a conventional way, they try to do this with balance and harmony for the wildlife and landscape.  They work with the RSPB in a Countryside Stewardship agreement on parts of the farm to increase the populations of cirl bunting, grey legged partridge and sky lark.  Jilly is Vice Chair of NBA South West.

This is an archive of Jilly's articles.

For her latest news, see her most recent article.

February 2010 - Reasons to be Cheerful!

January 2010 - 2010 Will Be The Year of Change

November 2009 - Challenging the Environmaniacs!

October 2009 - Disease Cost Could Reach £1 Billion

 

Reasons to be cheerful!

February 2010

Well it’s official then – farmers need to produce more food.   We are now in political favour!

Forgive me for a cynical swipe but I can’t help feeling it’s a bit rich for this shambolic administration to declare that farmers must ‘rise to the challenge of producing as much food as possible’ -  and here’s the catch – ‘as long as it meets demand and recognises the  need to protect and enhance natural resources’.   

So reading between the lines, our food producing skills could just as easily be switched off again should we squander our environment.  

While a small part of me applauds the bravery of the DEFRA U turn, coming to the same commonsense conclusion of the great British public, it is actually concerned consumers and an impending election which is driving political policy.  

The public are backing home produced produce with their purse and generally sympathetic to the farming sector and the many challenges we face.

Perhaps New Year glad tidings will come in three’s.  

For swiftly on the heels of the battle cry to produce more food, came the announcement of a supermarket ombudsman to keep a check on supermarket sharp practice.  The detail is a little thin but the howls of protest from the retail giants who continue to post record profits and increased margins are heart warming.   Justice at last!

For on the horizon is a glimmer of hope and potentially the third good news.  

Wales are leading the way in btb eradication and pressing ahead within existing legislation, with an intensive area action programme of badger management to stop the endless recycling of disease from badgers to cattle.   The limited cull will go ahead despite the judicial review lodge by the Badger Trust as the relevant legislation is already in place.  

In 2010 we hope for the same radical and necessary action, to halt the crippling 10 mile a year spread of this cruel disease, to achieve healthy badgers and healthy cattle.

Fingers crossed for some more ministerial and DEFRA driven commonsense and courage!

2010 Will Be The Year of Change

January 2010

With the New Year approaching, time for some forward thinking and how the South West beef industry might fare in the next 12 months.

Without a doubt, the prospects for the suckler and dairy beef sectors are more promising in the short and longer term.   A combination of continuing consumer demand, competition for quality cattle, cheaper wheat and a weak pound keeping imports out but generating some export trade, has brought a sustained increase to farm gate prices.  

Although the majority of suckler beef producers are still not achieving a margin above the cost of production, the sector is stable and beef producers are generally more positive.  Some are investing in new buildings and increasing numbers. 

We have good reason for optimism and price improvement for another year at least, as supplies remain tight, the weak pound continues and consumers back British or local.

2010 will not be challenge free but there will be change on four key issues. 

  • The spiralling cost of bTB cannot be justified or sustained and there will be radical action to eradicate the disease, including the need for consistent and clear communication to maintain public support
  • Margin for all in the supply chain, including supermarket and processor sharp practice will hopefully start to be tackled by a powerful ombudsman, to protect long term UK food security particularly in the dairy sector
  • Increasing consumer and political demand for honest food labelling will step up the pressure on retail, food service and public procurement for proper transparency
  • To counter the climate change ‘blame bandwagon’,  as an industry we will need to robustly promote the health and environmental benefits of grass based beef production,  the carbon lockup in grassland and moorland as well as the practical measures already taken to reduce methane emissions by 17% since 1990 and further action we will take in the future

Finally an event to look forward to and put in the diary.  Beef South West 2010 returns to the region on 29th September.  Organised by the National Beef Association South West, this one day biannual show will take place for the first time at Exeter Livestock Centre. 

Not only will the event showcase the very best in suckler and dairy beef production across the region, young beef producers, the very lifeblood and future of our industry, will be a major focus of the show.   For more information contact Lisa Vanstone, Beef South West 2010 on 01392 278801.

Challenging the Environmaniacs!

November 2009

The environmental impact of the beef industry has generated a war of words.  Until recently the lobby groups have dominated the debate but now leading beef producing countries are starting to hit back.

Furious beef farmers in Australia are calling activists who make false claims about the cattle industry’s environmental credentials,  ‘environmaniacs’.  They are frustrated at the misinformation being provided to school children on water use and methane emissions,  to encourage them to become vegetarians. 

Consumers are being routinely misled by exaggerated claims from groups ideologically opposed to the farming of animals.  It’s not just consumers who are confused, farmers are too.

Consider the assertion of one of the UK’s leading supermarket who claim to be producing the lowest carbon footprint beef in the industry.  They have developed a range of beef with a carbon footprint over a third lower than the standard 24-month suckler beef.

The scheme uses redundant dairy bulls, reared until slaughter between 9 and 11 months, then sold as low-carbon beef.  Technically classified as a by-product of milk production, the CO2 emitted by the calf is offset against the existing dairy farming process.  Because the animal is slaughtered so young it emits less CO2 during its lifetime than cattle reared up to 30 months of age. 

Yet pasture based production systems, the traditional methods of prime suckler beef, are sustainable, efficient in resource use and good for the environment.

The argument beef cattle are bad for the environment is wrong.  Over 60% of British agricultural land is grassland and much of it, particularly the hills and uplands, is totally unsuitable for other crops. 

Semi-natural pasture and improved grasslands play a vital role in locking up carbon dioxide and reducing the flow of rain into water courses.  

True there are efficiencies that can be made to reduce environmental impact, through improvements in fertility, mortality, forage crops, manure use and rations that reduce methane and ammonia emissions. 

Yet without suckler beef cattle, dairy cows and sheep, the landscape would change beyond recognition.   Those ‘environmaniacs’ who simplistically manipulate science to promote their own agenda, must be challenged.

 

Disease Cost Could Reach £1 Billion

October 2009

Reality is dawning.  The current English btb policy cannot continue.   It’s not working, the disease is out of control and the financials are frightening.   

Fast forward 5 years to 2015, the DEFRA cost of dealing with tb could climb to £1 billion.  No wonder there’s a seismic shift within opposition parties and civil servants that the whole charade is unjustifiable, economically wasteful and totally unsustainable. 

Currently the Government cost in England and Wales (excluding industry costs for testing and consequential losses) is approximately £100 million this year.   Given over 50% herd re-infection and new areas of outbreak, disease cost could easily double to £200 million in just 2 years time.  

Badger vaccination will have very little impact for 5 years or more.  In the hot spot areas, none at all, as it is too late.  The only benefit will be the training of local teams to deal with caged badgers and the inevitable cull.  Multiply this with record cattle slaughtering, up by 42% in 2008 over 2007, and you have costs that cannot possibly be contained and will only accelerate.

Hilary Benn’s political cop out in pursuit of a vaccination policy to preserve electorate votes has brought grim consequences.  With painful financial pressure on public services, Treasury top ups are highly unlikely. DEFRA will have to fund tb costs from existing budgets – or by farmers.

The long awaited recommendations from the TB Eradication Group this autumn is unlikely to bring much change from current policy, other than to help farmers trade more easily within tb restricted units, a beginning a least.  The group’s remit was tightly controlled from the start with Benn’s immoveable decision to vaccinate rather than eradicate. 

So could soaring cost be the catalyst for change?   We’re all in this together - DEFRA, farmers, smallholders, vets, wildlife groups, tax payers and politicians, to achieve healthy cattle and healthy badgers.  We know it cannot go on.  With the country and public bruised and battered from recession, current policy protecting infected badgers, no matter what the cost, is over.

www.nationalbeefassociation.co.uk

Words and photographs by Jilly Greed,  Vice Chair NBA SW

 


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