BEEF IN BRITAIN

The word 'beef' is derived from the French word 'boeuf', meaning an ox, but the history of beef as a food dates back thousands of years. Domesticated cattle are known to have been kept in Babylon as long ago as 5000 BC. The ancient Egyptians also left evidence of beef eating; beef ribs that were discovered in the tombs of the dead were meant to provide sustenance on the journey to the next world.  Until the last 200 years or so, cattle were important as draught animals to pull ploughs and carts. They were only slaughtered at the end of their working lives and consequently most beef was of very poor quality. In the poorer countries of the Third World cattle are still used principally as draught animals with milk and meat as a secondary income. The manure produced by cattle is important for use as fertiliser and fuel.  In the eighteenth century, Robert Bakewell, a Leicestershire farmer, began 'selectively breeding' his sheep and cattle. He only mated the animals that grew best and improved the size and shape of his stock. His aim was to produce animals with a deep body and a large rump and hind legs. Bakewell's cattle were the predecessors of the modern beef breeds which grow quickly producing good quantities of meat. The rise of beef in the eighteenth century was aided by the introduction of turnips and clover in crop rotations which provided nutritious foods for livestock in the winter. Lighter machinery meant that horses took over much of the draught work previously done by oxen. Breeding Beef Cattle Some breeds of cattle are known as 'dual purpose' because they are suitable for producing milk and beef. But modern farming divides cattle into either beef or dairy breeds aiming at high productivity through specialisation. British beef breeds include Hereford, Galloway, Beef Shorthorn, Aberdeen Angus and South Devon. A recent trend in the UK has been the introduction of large Continental breeds such as Charolais, Limousin and Simmental. The dairy industry needs cows to calve once a year in order to maintain milk production; each cow produces an average of four offspring in her life, thus creating a surplus of calves. In theory only one of these calves needed to replace the cow when her milk yields starts to decrease. This means the remaining three calves are available for meat production. Dairy farmers plan in advance which calves will be reared for beef and cross the selected cows with a beef sire, ie a bull from a beef herd. The resulting calf will have 50% beef characteristics and 50% dairy characteristics and will yield far more meat than a pure dairy animal. Thirty-six per cent of meat is from specifically beef cows which are concentrated mainly in the uplands of Britain. These cows are usually crosses of other breeds and chosen to meet the farming conditions. For example, the thick weatherproof coat of the Galloway is especially useful in the wet conditions of its native west of Scotland. Many cows are mated using artificial insemination (AI). This allows farmers to choose the best animals to breed. One sample of semen can be used to mate 1,000 cows. A bull would be mated to 3-40 cows. In 1995 there were 2.6 million breeding dairy cows and 1.8 million beef cows. Rearing Beef Cattle New-born calves from dairy cows receive colostrum within the first six hours of life and for the first three days. Colostrum is the first milk a cow produces and contains essential antibodies, vitamins and minerals which protect the calf during its life. The calves from the dairy herd are reared on milk replacer diets until they are weaned onto solid food at six weeks. The dairy cow continues to produce milk which is used for human consumption. Calves in the beef herd remain with their mothers for the first months of their life until they are separated for rearing. Such calves are known as suckled calves. The beef herds are usually called suckler herds. Young female cattle are called heifers; males are called bulls. Some males are castrated which makes them less aggressive. These animals are called steers or bullocks. Bulls grow the fastest, heifers the slowest and steers between the two. There are several methods of rearing beef. Some animals are housed all the year round while others are housed in the winter when the grass has stopped growing. Housed animals are fed a variety of foods. Grass is fed either dried as hay or preserved as silage. Other types of plants, such as maize, are fed. The diets are supplemented with other ingredients to produce more nutritious foods. These supplements can be cereals such as barley or protein feeds such as beans. Cattle diets use feeds which humans cannot consume, eg by-products from cotton spinning or margarine production. Beef animals are slaughtered at any age between one and two years. Generally, animals that graze take longer to reach slaughter weight than those fed on concentrates or cereal-based feeding. The average weight at slaughter for steers and heifers is approximately 300 kg. The dressed carcass that ends up at the butcher's shop weighs about half of its live weight. Beef animals are slaughtered in a modern abattoir when the conditions are strictly supervised and every effort is made to ensure that the operation is humane. The meat is then cut up into various types of joint and the offal, such as liver and the kidneys, are separated for sale. Some calves are reared for veal, for which they are ready at 16-22 weeks old. All British veal calves are reared in large groups in straw yards with natural lighting. This welfare friendly system rears approximately 4,000 calves a year in the UK. Nutrition Like all meat, beef and veal are very high in protein. They also contain significant quantities of 'B' vitamins and minerals such as sodium, potassium and phosphorus. Offal, particularly liver, is rich in Vitamin B12, A, C and D, folic acid, iron and riboflavin. Consumption In 1995, beef accounted for 23% of the meat eaten in the UK. The average consumption per person per year was 15 kg. Cattle are often fed supplements as pellets of combined feeds. These are called concentrates or cow cake. Cattle used to be fed meat and bonemeal from animal by-products. Government regulations to control the animal disease, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), banned these ingredients in 1989.

In:  http://www.foodandfarming.org/ adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa