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Farmers are often told to consider adding value to their produce and to focus on key areas of potentially profitable business development resulting in more and more farmers looking to add value and sell direct to the consumer. It has been stated that if farmers want to gain back the revenue and profitability they once held then they must take control of the purchasing and selling power currently in the hands of the abattoirs, meat processors and supermarkets (David Hill, Chairman, Triple S Ranch, SAOS Conference December 2000). However, this is not easy and there are a number of key issues that need to be considered.
Developing a business is expensive; it requires real commitment and hard work to establish a
good name. Remember consumers are more sophisticated and are often looking for a shopping
experience.
For more information please contact: Ceri A Ritchie, Food Business Management Economist,
Agricultural and Food Economics Department, Management Division, Craibstone Estate, Aberdeen.
These prices may seem ludicrous but they are being achieved on SAC’s farms at Edinburgh. To
achieve them we have added value, or retained ownership of the animals by selling direct to
the consumer. In both cases the finished animals are slaughtered in the normal slaughter
house for which we pay killing charges less the value of the fleece/hide. We then pick up
the carcasses and transport them to a commercial cutting plant where they are professionally
cut up and vacuum packed. The vacuum packs, for both lamb and beef are then stored at the
cutting plant for three weeks to mature them before we pick them up.
The lamb is packed in boxes, each one containing half a lamb, i.e. a mix of both high value
hindquarters e.g. leg of lamb and lower quality forequarters e.g. shoulder of lamb. The boxes
are sold directly to customers on the basis of a complete half lamb or nothing.
In comparison the vacuum packed beef is sold conventionally at a set price for fillet steak,
sirloin, mince etc.
What advantages have SAC got in marketing lamb/beef?
The simple answer is no more than many other farms. Both products are entirely home produced
and will have grazed for at least part of their life. So far all the lambs which have been
slaughtered have been pure Blackface wethers but the four steers, killed so far, have all
been Aberdeen Angus cross.
How did SAC find its customers?
Where the SAC farms at Edinburgh do have an advantage is that they are based in an estate
where several other research institutes have their main offices e.g. Moredun Research
Institute, Dick Vet School etc. In addition SAC has its own website, accessible only to SAC
staff. The way the meat was originally advertised was through an advert on the SAC internal
website and posters pinned up on the boards of other research institutes. However since the
first animals have been sold, new additional customers have mainly heard about the meat by
word of mouth.
Can other farms develop a similar market?
Other farms might well have more advantages in terms of branding a distinct product and hence
even possibly achieve higher prices compared to SAC. However with the majority of farms
being more isolated two major differences might have to be how potential customers are
identified and how the meat is delivered to them.
The best way to determine whether there is a market open to you is to develop your own,
simple website. While this might frighten people of my age, to the younger generation
producing a website is only a two or three hour job. Once the website is up and running you
can then see how many “hits” it receives. (A hit is one person who has searched for and read
your website.) If after two or three weeks you have received no hits then either nobody is
interested in the meat you might produce or more than likely the website is badly written
particularly in terms of key words. If however you have received several hits then it is a
good indication that people would be interested in purchasing your product via mail order.
Another benefit of producing a website is that you have to clearly think how you will market
your product as a distinct, high value item. However perhaps the most important benefit of
doing trial advertisements via your own website is that it only costs around £250 for the
necessary software and two or three hours of your children’s time.
Is it worth the bother?
With our simple scheme at Bush we take a finished steer who might be worth around £600 if
sold conventionally deadweight, invest just under £150 in having it professionally killed,
butchered and vacuum packed to enable us to double its value to around £1,200, three weeks
later.
Footnote: By marketing directly to the consumer we are beginning to get information back on how well the animals eat i.e. eating quality. Initially this is suggesting that 18m cattle are more tasty than intensively finished cattle. If these comments continue we may well stop finishing steers at 12 months old – to maintain/increase our customer base. In time perhaps we could begin to breed for eating quality?!?
The answer is yes. Many supermarkets such as Marks and Spencers gross over £2,000 for each
steer they sell. As a consequence there is no reason why finishers selling directly to the
public could not exceed this gross income as obviously they would be selling a unique, high
quality product.
To see what this means we can take the example of a 600kg steer slaughtered at around 18-20
months of age (to maximise its eventual eating quality). We might expect it to yield a 330kg
carcass of which perhaps 235kg can be sold as meat. To achieve a gross income of £2,000 this
needs to be sold at an average of £8.50 per kg. This could be achieved by selling fillet for
£23 per kg and mince at £5.50 per kg.
If you feel these prices are unrealistic then prove me wrong – go down your local supermarket
and check what they are currently charging. If it is close to the figures above think –
Subsidies are completely under the control of politicians and hence it is impossible to be sure how they will change in the future. However, politicians are continually dropping hints to journalists on how they would like them to change in the future. Some pointers drawn from recent press reports give an indication of how politicians are thinking and hence how subsidies might change in the future.
WARNING
While the above comments summarise comments published by the political journalists, all them
are dependent on politicians! The only time producers can be certain what politicians want
and will pay for is when we receive the “book of rules” in black and white.
Consider that you are the owner of a major meat plant in New Zealand. You open the paper and
look at lamb prices across Europe and see:
| France | 335p/kg dwt | Ireland | 256 p/kg dwt |
| Spain | 265 p/kg dwt | UK | 165 p/kg dwt |
There is no doubt that New Zealand will try and sell as much lamb as possible into the
highest priced European markets. This is likely to mean less New Zealand lamb coming into
the UK this winter and potentially an increased market for home produced lamb. It is
unlikely that this will mean very high lamb prices this winter, if it does then New Zealand
will simply switch shipments to the UK, but at the suggested prices for “government funded
lamb disposal schemes” it could still leave a large margin. With the surplus of grass on
many farms this autumn is it an option worth considering?
WHEN EVERYBODY IS GOING WEST THE BEST GO ????
With the current availability of good grass over much of the country, it is likely that some
farmers who would normally sell their lamb crop are now thinking about retaining at least
some as stores. This has certain health advantages over the producer who purchase store
lambs. Not only do the lambs avoid the stress of marketing, transportation and mixing, with
all the attendant health risks, but the previous treatment history of the lambs is already
known by the shepherd - which is often not the case when buying-in stores. This should avoid
any unnecessary and costly treatments.
Those who do not normally fatten their own lambs must consider the preventative health
measures they wish to take. Lambs need to be free from gut worms and liver fluke if they are
to perform well. Infectious diseases such as pasteurellosis or clostridial infections can
quickly eat into profits if a number of lambs die.
With tight margins likely to apply there is an obvious temptation to make savings by stopping
preventative treatments, although this usually carries a degree of risk. For example,
savings made by cutting back on the use of anthelmintics can quickly evaporate if lamb growth
rates suffer. The logical approach here it to have lamb dung samples checked for the
presence of worm eggs. If six or more lambs are sampled and their pooled dung sample is free
from parasite eggs, then it is very unlikely that worms are having a detrimental effect on
lamb growth. However when even low worm egg counts are found, treatment is required.
The vaccines commonly used in store lambs are those against pasteurellosis and the
clostridial diseases. Outbreaks of these diseases can lead to significant numbers of deaths,
and the use of a combined vaccine should be considered particularly if losses from these
diseases have been suffered in past years. One false economy is to give a single dose of
vaccine to lambs when the manufacturers recommendation is for two. This is a complete waste
of money – which costs half the price of effective vaccination, but provides absolutely no
protection to the lambs.
If you decide not to vaccinate then it is essential that sudden or unexplained losses amongst
the lamb group are investigated in order to establish cause death. Once a diagnosis has been
established, advice may be offered to reduce further losses. Unfortunately the costs of
unexpected deaths can easily add up to more than a course of vaccine.
Lambs seriously deficient in copper, selenium or cobalt will fail to thrive. However it is
certain that many lambs receive trace element supplementation unnecessarily. If you know
that your area is deficient in one or more of the trace elements, or if a deficiency has been
diagnosed in previous batches of lambs, then the use of supplements is fully
justified. Likewise if a batch of lambs is failing to thrive, a trace element investigation may be
called for. Blood samples from half a dozen lambs may be checked for trace element levels,
and at the same time there could be a check for worm eggs (and where necessary fluke
eggs) to make sure that's not the problem. Although these tests may call for money up-front, they can
often save much more cash by preventing unnecessary drenching or injections.
After a cold, very late spring, grass growth has been exceptional in many parts of the
country. As a consequence suckler cows are generally much fitter than normal. Obviously
however where movement restrictions have forced higher stocking rates cows might well be
leaner than normal. The important point for autumn calving herds is to check the condition
of your cows now.
Cows fitter than normal
The main problem will be an increased risk of calving difficulties due to cows being over fat
this autumn. The solution is to consider delaying weaning until no later than three weeks
before calving is due to start or, to wean on the normal date and to stock dry cows very
heavily on the poorest, barest pastures possible. If the decision is to delay weaning, still
check cows regularly for signs of summer mastitis. It is not unusual for early calving cows
to dry themselves off, even though their calf is still running with them.
The other consequence of calving fat cows is an increased risk of metabolic disorders,
particularly milk fever. The solution is to check the medicine cabinet to ensure good stocks
of calcium/magnesium for injecting and to ensure cows are put onto a magnesium supplement
immediately post calving. Should milk fever be a bigger problem than normal, consider making
magnesium syrup through licks to the dry cows.
Another possible problem will be cows calving down with too much milk. Although newly calved
cows should be moved onto “clean” pastures as soon as possible after calving, try not to move
them onto too much grass until the calves are about a month old. If you are tempted to strip
any excess milk from the cows try and do it in the first two days after calving and store the
milk as a source of home produced colostrum in the deep freeze. Remember however that the
more milk you draw off, the more milk the cow will be encouraged to produce.
Herds leaner than normal
If you have been forced to summer more stock than normal resulting in the cows now being
thinner than normal, the above problems are unlikely to occur. The main problem will be
getting the cows back in calf later this autumn. To do that it is essential that rations are
increased, and supplementary feed started much earlier than normal, to avoid calved cows
losing any more condition. In extreme cases it might even be necessary for the cows to gain
condition.
Unfortunately such units are also likely to be short of homegrown forage eg silage.
Nevertheless it is still essential that lean calved cows are fed at least 20% more than
normal if they are to get back in calf successfully. If necessary, and movements allowing,
all other stock should be marketed as quickly as possibly i.e. normal finishing cattle sold
earlier as stores etc, to ensure sufficient feed for the cows.
These are not as important in cattle as they are in sheep where examples include lamb
dysentery and pulpy kidney disease. However, on some farms clostridial diseases can be a
particular problem in cattle. Clostridial bacteria found on all farms in the body of
animals and the soil, where they can survive as very resistant spores, cause clostridial
diseases. They enter the animal’s body by being eaten or through wounds and if conditions
are favourable multiply rapidly and produce large amounts of toxin causing disease. A
feature of all clostridial diseases is that they are severe and run a very rapid course such
that often animals are “found dead” (except tetanus) or if seen unwell treatment is usually
too late to save them. Thriving animals on a high plane of nutrition appear most
susceptible. A range of diseases is seen depending on the species of clostridia.
“Black leg” : The commonest clostridial disease of cattle usually seen in cattle aged six
to 24 months at grass. Often sudden death is the first sign, but occasionally cattle will
be seen very stiff or lame before dying a few hours later. A range of different muscles
becomes black and swollen and the associated toxaemia kills the animals rapidly. Bruising in
the affected muscles gives rise to favourable conditions for the clostridia. Prevention is
by vaccination which is even worth considering in the face of an outbreak when antibiotic may
be given at the same time. Particular farms often have persistent “black leg” problems where vaccination of all young cattle should be completed as routine.
“Enterotoxamia” : The cattle equivalent of pulpy kidney disease is uncommon and in G.B. is
generally seen as sporadic sudden deaths in calves or rapid death after development of acute
often bloody scour. Herd problems are rare so although vaccination or antitoxin (see below)
can be used for prevention this is rarely adopted in practice.
“Black disease” : The liver is damaged by liver flukes making conditions favourable for the
clostridia which multiply rapidly causing blackening of the liver and death. Although
“Black disease” is uncommon affected farms benefit from vaccination and liver fluke control.
“Tetanus” : The clostridial bacterium establishes itself in the body through a puncture
wound or other injury and the toxin produced causes generalised muscle stiffness often
causing “lock jaw” and bloat. In cattle cases tend to be sporadic and vaccination is not
generally used routinely. Very rarely outbreaks are seen with many animals affected.
Response to treatment is poor once signs of disease are present, however, antitoxin (see
below) can be given to other unaffected cattle at risk as a preventative measure.
There are other rare clostridial diseases of cattle not covered here (e.g. botulism).
Multivalent vaccines that give protection against several clostridial diseases are available.
Where vaccination is carried out it is important to follow the data sheet instructions which
usually indicate that two doses of vaccine are required three to six or more weeks apart to
give full protective acquired immunity. One “black leg” specific vaccine claims to give a
degree of protection after the first dose and could be used in the face of an outbreak of
“black leg”. “Antitoxin” can be used in the face of an “enterotoxaemia” or “tetanus”
outbreak; this gives immediate but short-term passive immunity. Always consult your vet
for specific advice on control of clostridial diseases for your particular farm.
Johnes disease is a chronic wasting disease of cattle caused by infection with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. One of the routes of infection of the calf is ingestion of colostrum from an infected dam, as colostrum contains the causal agent of the disease. The calf will then go on to develop the disease later in life, usually at above 2 years of age. If colostrum from an infected cow is added to a pooled colostrum store the potential for spread of infection to a number of calves is much increased. Measures that may be taken to reduce the risk of pooled colostrum spreading Johnes disease are as follows:-
If the herd has a recognised problem with Johnes disease, do not use pooled colostrum.
Collect and store colostrum from the younger cows in the herd, as these are less likely to
have clinical Johnes disease.
Do not store colostrum from any cow judged over-thin or which has scour, as these are
recognised signs of Johnes disease.
Clean and dry the udder and teats prior to collection as faecal contamination will greatly increase the numbers of Johnes-causing organisms in the colostrum.
We have just received a query from a producer who has traditionally outwintered his spring
calving cows on a hill. Last autumn he housed 33 of these cows in a new woodchip corral in
December with the remainder still being outwintered on the hill. Calving started on 6th
March. When he contacted us 21 of the 23 cows outwintered on the hill had calved with no
problems apart from one set of twins with one born dead.
In comparison 29 of the 33 cows overwintered in the corral had calved with again one set of
twins with one born dead. However five cows had breach births and of these one calf was born
dead, two died after a couple of hours and the remaining two have survived. His question was
what caused this high number of breach births?
A real breach birth is when the calf is presented backwards with its hind legs flexed under
the body and is extremely rare. What we normally call breach births are simply posterior
presentations ie the calf comes out hind feet first.
There is no scientific explanation for calves being born backwards, the general opinion being
that it is simply a matter of chance.
The position of the calf is fixed by around the end of the 7th month of pregnancy when
approximately 95% are in the correct position – head first. Earlier than this the majority
of calves are posteriorly presented. A true breach birth occurs when in these 5% of
pregnancies in which the calf is posteriorly presented the calf fails to extend its hind legs
during the first stage of labour. Some old stocksmen, particularly shepherds believe that
exercise in late pregnancy is a key factor helping to ensure the calf is in the correct
position for a natural birth, and this could explain the much higher incidence for the
cows overwintered in a corral compared with those up the hill. However there are millions of cows
all calving successfully which have been inwintered at even higher stocking rates compared
with the cows wintered in the corral.
Some bulls have above average rates of posterior presentation in their calves. This could be
due to the large size of their calves giving them less room to turn around or due to them
fathering a subnormally developed foetus which results in less foetal movements etc.
The other possible reason for a high incidence of malpresentations would be a nutritional
factor, reducing the uterine tone in the cows. One example of this would be a low calcium
intake in late pregnancy which we know reduces uterine tone. However feeding high levels of
calcium to pregnant cows will also cause problems with a high incidence of milk fever!
Any stress during the first stage of labour disrupts the birth process and can result in
dystoria. This is why it is recommended that calving cows are not moved or interfered with
unless absolutely necessary. (This might explain true breach births – where the legs have
not been fully extended during the first stage of labour but will not turn a normal anterior
presentation into a posterior presentation).
The query ended with the comment “the convenience of having the cows handy on the woodchips
is terrific and next year and I am tempted to consider having them all in corrals – provided
that the corral has not been a cause of this high number of breach births.” As you can see
from the above reply there is no reason to suggest housing pregnant cows in corrals will
increase the incidence of breach births. However if any other producer has had similar or
other problems calving cows on woodchip corrals we would be delighted to hear from them.
To minimise the risk of transmitting diseases, between the stock of host farmers and those of
visitors it is essential that a few basic rules are followed.
Host farmer
The host farmer should agree, prior to the meeting to:
sign an agreement allowing the group to visit.
provide a footbath with an approved disinfectant (see attached list) at the entrance of the steading for visitors to dip their feet both on arrival and when leaving.
provide washing facilities for visitors to wash their boots and their hands before dipping them when leaving the farm.
providing footbaths at the entrance of cattle sheds for winter visits is not essential but may be of benefit.
Visitors
Members of the group must agree to:
wear clean, clothes for the visit.
have a dedicated pair of wellingtons for visits which are not worn to work with stock. Prior to the visit these must be thoroughly cleaned paying particular attention to the tread, and then disinfected.
use clean private vehicles, not farm transport for attending visits.
wherever possible, park on the road rather than in the steading.
dip their dedicated wellingtons both on and off the farm.
FAILURE TO ACHIEVE THESE STANDARDS WILL DISQUALIFY THE INDIVIDUAL FROM PARTICIPATING IN THE VISIT.
When stock is to be handled during the visit
Additional precautions which must be undertaken if it is essential for stock to be handled
during a visit. Visiting farmers should wear either clean overalls which are placed in a
polythene bag and washed immediately on return home or clean waterproof clothing (not waxed
cotton jackets) which should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before leaving home and
sprayed with disinfectant on arrival at the host farm, and cleaned and disinfected before
leaving.
Organiser
The responsibility of the organiser of the visit is:
Following the mass cull of livestock during the on-going FMD crisis many farmers now have an
opportunity to prepare health plans for new flocks on what is effectively a clean slate.
This may be an unasked-for opportunity but an opportunity it is. For example farms where the
stock was culled in March or April may be thinking of re-stocking in the back-end. By then,
although not strictly "clean grazing", the burden of gut worm eggs on most pastures will be
greatly reduced. This will be especially true if the FMD cull took place before spring lambs
and calves ran on the ground, since this usually has the effect of multiplying the number of
worm eggs on grazing. Similarly, on farms where only the sheep flock has been culled,
pastures on which cattle have grazed since last autumn will be almost free of sheep worm
eggs.
One complicating factor may be where pasture has been allowed to grow unrestricted, without
the usual restraints on sward length provided by grazing livestock. In these cases it is
possible that a microclimate exists close to the ground, where constant temperatures and high
humidity may favour the survival of some worm larvae. This is of course much less likely to
occur if a cut of silage or hay has been taken from the pasture.
Any strategy for maintaining and enhancing this low worm risk status must include the use of
anthelmintic treatments on new arrivals at the farm. It is essential that newly arrived
stock are not allowed to contaminate pasture with worm eggs carried from previous grazing.
The best way to do this is the ensure that an ovicidal wormer (one that kills eggs) is used
on every new arrival on the farm - your vet can provide information on this. For worming to
be most effective sheep should be kept inside or on concrete for at least five hours after
dosing to give the treatment time to work so that no live eggs are shed onto pastures in the
dung.
Since most farms are unlikely to restock to pre-FMD numbers immediately there should be grass
to spare, making it possible to work out a highly effective clean-grazing system for the next
year and beyond. This may take a bit of planning with your vet but will be worth the
investment in time and effort, reducing greatly the need for worming treatments in the
future.
Our sincere sympathy goes out to those of you who have suffered the trauma of having your
pedigree flock culled as a result of the Foot and Mouth crisis. However, once the decision
has been taken to re-establish your pedigree flock, the possibility exists to turn adversity
into opportunity. Consider the following:
Genetics
It may be difficult to source sufficient stock at acceptable prices that meet all
specifications of health and genetic quality. Consider buying or leasing a small nucleus of
pedigree ewes possibly containing some of your original breeding, then using embryo transfer
technology to rapidly increase the size of the flock.
Embryo transfer facts
Health Status of the new flock
It makes sense to aim for the highest health status possible. Health problems to prevent
from entering the new flock include:
| Potential Problem | Precaution to take |
| Maedi Visna | :buy from MV accredited flocks |
| Enzootic Abortion | : vendor's vet health assurance |
| CLA | : vendor's vet health assurance |
| Johne's (Paratuberculosis) | : vendor's vet health assurance |
| Jaagsiekte | : vendor's vet health assurance |
| Scrapie | : buy from scrapie monitored flocks |
| Susceptible Scrapie Genotype | : buy stock that are genotyped scrapie resistant |
| Scab | : vendor's vet health assurance |
| Foot rot | : vendor's vet health assurance |
| Drench resistant internal parasites |
: treat all stock with an avermectin before they go to pasture. |
Important
Some pedigree breeders will be offering starter flock packages including recipients, where
pedigree stock is either leased or purchased. Embryo transfer would be carried out by EG on
the vendor's property at the appropriate time, and the stock held by the vendor until
movement restrictions are lifted.
The end result? A high-health, top quality pedigree flock lambing down at the correct time.
The new flock is now back in business with quality, high-health ram lambs to sell in 2002.
© The Scottish Agricultural College 2000 ISSN 0956 1900
Produced by The Scottish Agricultural College, Farm & Rural Business Division, Greycrook, St Boswells,
TD6 0EU
SAC receives financial support from the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department