Membership vital to suit buyer needs
Membership vital to suit buyer needs
MEMBERSHIP of FABBL is essential for one Herefordshire beef finisher to market his cattle to Assured British Meat (ABM) registered abattoirs, who deal with major supermarkets.
New to beef finishing, having sold his milking herd of 145 cows in October 1999, Bill Wallis of 344ha (850 acre) Treworgan Farm, Ross-on-Wye, has recently joined FABBL.
Registration became inevitable when he realised he was unable to market his 140 stores – mainly Continental crosses – through his buyer at Meadow Valley Livestock until they had FABBL status.
Along with an increasing number of buyers, Meadow Valley Livestock deals with abattoirs who only take farm assured stock.
Although Mr Wallis is concerned about the increasing amount of paperwork already involved in cattle rearing to meet traceability standards, he sees the benefits of FABBL membership.
"To sell animals to their best commercial advantage on domestic and world markets, we have to be aware of farm assured standards, which the customer demands."
Mr Wallis believes gaining FABBL status is not difficult for sound farmers who already follow good husbandry, office procedures and welfare standards. But he advises reading the producer manual before inspection, which highlights specific FABBL requirements.
"I did not realise that stock have to be on farm for at least 90 days before they can be registered and that dog wormers must be included in the medicine book," he says.
Since registration, Mr Wallis has covered a heap of straights to make feed storage bird proof and keeps a written record of staff training. *
FABBL SCHEME
• Premium price received.
• Specific records required.
• Annual registration.