The developed world is consuming more beef. Asian countries (China, Japan and South Korea in particular) seem to be leading this due to economic growth and an increase in affluence - some Middle Eastern markets have also started to chow on cow a bit more than before. Asia, in particular tends to look towards it’s most immediate neighbours for any additional supply and more meat produce than ever is finding its way to these growing markets from Australia and New Zealand via nearby Indonesia.
Couple this with the current Euro/Sterling rate being approximately 1.12 and you can see why beef exports to Europe from the UK are also on the rise. Meat has never been more available to, or affordable for so many people and whichever way you look at it this means more cattle are being eaten and therefore more cattle need to be reared to meet the demand.
So, beef prices in the UK are on the up as a result showing an increase of about 7.5% over the last year for prime finished animals. The trade for animals older than 30 months has seen even greater rises. (More on this another day). This is obviously good news for native beef farmers and goes some way towards mitigating the increase in farm running costs over the year; fuel, feed, straw etc. In theory, there should be a reduction in certain feed costs in the near future due to a bumper crop of Russian wheat hitting the market a few weeks ago but it remains to be seen as to how or when this will be passed on to farmers.
Ending this segment on an even higher note and pertinent to all of this is the fact that we sent a barren cow off to Ashford market on Tuesday to go in the OTM (Over Thirty Month) beef sale. We got our highest ever price for such a beast. She was 7 years old and had given us 4 healthy calves up until this year and the buyer didn’t get much change out of a grand. Cheers Nora!
Making the cut
We finally cut our silage on the 14th July. Luckily, this was just before our most recent massive downpour which could have screwed the crop if we were a day or so late. We normally cut it three or four weeks earlier around mid June but due to the very dry spring we left it longer. This can be tricky, as you need to cut with the optimum level of nutrients still in the grass and with sufficient moisture to allow the grass to essentially pickle itself into silage. We will see how this pans out...fingers crossed. Anyway, we got 24 more bales than last year, partly due to cutting it a bit lower and partly due to leaving it to grow after the rainy spell. We have a total of 284 bales as well as some recently acquired barley straw and pea-hay I acquired for mixing in here and there to stretch the main feed a bit. We also have 6 bales of silage I bought from my neighbour to tide me over until this year’s crop “goes off”. (You need to leave silage alone in the bags for at least 6 weeks before it is safe to feed). Grass growth is slow at this time of year compared to spring and so we have to rotate the grazing carefully to tide us over until the grass grows back in the silage fields we have just cut.
On another note, we have already started muck-spreading. Believe it or not, this is one of my favourite times of the year. The farm air has an even healthier tang of rotting cow sh*t about it than usual, particularly on fresh dewy mornings. We always spread in late summer - it signals that we are a certain way through the farming year and I find myself reflecting on what has been achieved; a fairly harsh winter was dealt with, calves have been born and are growing well, silage has been cut and bagged and we still have a few more months of grazing where the animals get the chance to roam and chew to their hearts content against the backdrop of our beautiful countryside. Its a time to relax a bit and take stock, much like everybody else at this time of year- happy holidays everyone!
P.S. Does Robin the bull look slightly Chinese in this picture, or what?
