Sixty farmers attended the inaugural Panel evening organised by The Central and West Fife Agricultural Society which focused on Beef Production.   The panel included Robert Parker, a Nuffield scholar, who farms in Wigtownshire and is a member of the QMS (Quality Meat Scotland) board,  Murray Hardy, Procurement Manager for Scotbeef, and  Simon Broddle, Forage Manager for Nickerson Direct. 

Robert Parker farms a 190 ha Lowland Beef and Sheep farm near Stranraer in South West Scotland. The farm carries 150 Suckler cows and 520 Ewes:  "I use predominantly Hereford Angus crosses.  Charolais bulls are used as  terminal sires with about 60 of the calves sold store at 11 months old and the remainder finished mostly off grass.  I closed the herd two years ago, mainly for biosecurity reasons, and now breed all my own Hereford Angus replacements as my own experience had left me more and more disappointed with the quality of bought-in replacements." 

Mr Parker had travelled to Argentina, Uruguay and Australia as a Nuffield Scholar and based his talk on his experiences and lessons learned during his travels: "In many cases the UK farmer is focused on production, not profit.  This can lead to a situation where suckled calves top the sales every year, but herd performance is poor, with a low calving percentage and high replacement rates.   The majority of the cows used are either from dairy stock or have been home bred using continental bulls.  In both cases the genetics used have become extreme and the cow is a by-product of another system, rather than one built for the job." 

"British Beef - and especially Scotch Beef - has an excellent product image and quality expectations worldwide.  As producers of quality beef we must ensure that these reputations are maintained in the beef that we produce as we cannot compete in a commodity market.  We must use our full traceability and assurance standards to provide a premium product at a premium price.   

"We need to employ the latest technology to guarantee eating quality and supply markets that want guaranteed eating quality.  The industry needs to emphasise the traceability of UK beef .  If farmers would spend as much time looking after the consumer as they do playing the system, image problems would soon disappear." 

Mr Parker told producers that they needed to have a strategy for profitable high quality beef production:  "whether you are buying-in high health status replacements, or starting a breeding programme to produce your own, to maximise your profits you need to plan." 

"As I have just sold my last Charolais bull, I intend to put my money where my mouth is and go completely native. Some may think this sounds a bit eccentric, but I am convinced this is the right strategy for me. The expanding market for high health status breeding heifers looks appealing, although I have had a bit of consumer resistance on price!

"Following on from Mr Parker, Simon Broddle's presentation discussed forages in modern livestock systems, and covered the wide range of choices available to farmers, from grazed grass, silage and hay through to maize, fodder crops and wholecrop.   He told the audience that the secret was synergy:  synergy is a relationship between the breed and its environment; it is a relationship between the breed and its feeding, and a relationship between the individual forages.  

"When you are looking for cost effective forages, advised Mr Broddle, "always think of your forages together, and look for compatibility.  Pay attention to detail: in fertiliser use, in clamp management, in feeding use, and in processing."  In the current climate of high fertilizer costs consideration should be made to increase use of legumes.  It is important to note that the amount of nitrogen created by a legume is directly proportional to the amount of leaf structure above the ground.  He added as an alternative fodder ensiled Lucerne is one of the best feeds for a ruminant and can be produced at low cost.   

"Remember, quality forages drive DM intake - and DM intake drives your profit,"  Following the presentations a lively discussion developed where the point of producing a quality product was reinforced by Murray Hardy.