Minette keeps busy promoting British beef

The past month has been has been varied – Brussels with the South West Regional Board, filming with Lynda Bellingham and Ladies in Beef for the NFU Beef Campaign www.greatbritishbeef.co.uk, plus getting confirmation of my London marathon entry accepted.

I can’t remember an autumn as mild as this one. We always try to hold off feeding cows until the end of October, and this year it looks like we may well get to the end of November before feeding starts. That said, I have little doubt that Mother Nature will correct the balance, with yet another cold spring.

With the store trade so strong, we decided to sell the last of our May 2010 heifers and steers. By my reckoning they were two months off being finished. They returned at an average of £960, which makes me think the decision to sell was right. With a further two months’ bedding and feed, we would have been no better off finishing them ourselves.

This leaves us with some suckler-bred Anguses. These will be finished under the Blade scheme. Blade is the brainchild farmer business of Richard Phelps. The strategy for Blade is simple: it started using dairy-bred Angus crosses which are contract finished to a consistent age and specification, thereby producing a uniform product which Blade can sell at a premium price into the food service sector. So in effect they have achieved that Holy Grail in marketing – turning a byproduct into a premium one.

Livestock farmer focus: Minette Batters