Farming, food and the environment, a 20-year success story with Beef Shorthorn
Abbots Reading, Ulverston, Cumbria
400 acres, all in HLS, including some SSSI
50 purebred Beef Shorthorn cows and followers
10 Highland cows and followers
100 ewe flock inc Herdwick and Ryeland
Delivering public goods for public support - a future template
Tony Wood has living proof for over two decades that farming, producing food and managing the environment are complementary on his Cumbrian unit, and he believes that Beef Shorthorn has an integral role to play.
“Beef Shorthorn are hardy functional suckler cows and they thrive on forage on our low input unit which could be described as challenging. Whilst 70 acres are dedicated to silage to which we apply a minimal amount of fertiliser, the rest of the unit comprises a mix of peat, rushes, and rough grazing running from Morecambe Bay estuary to 500’; it’s wet, with an average 40” annual rainfall, and it’s all in an HLS agreement.
“We manage the farm as naturally as possible, and the way we produce beef should be carbon neutral; I firmly believe this is the way to farm this type of unit,” he says. “The farm attracts an abundance of wildlife, Egrets, Kingfishers, dragonflies, we’ve butterflies in abundance, an array of wildflower species and invertebrates, and Ospreys nest in two nearby locations.
“Rewilding is currently a bit of a hot topic focused on restoring land to its natural uncultivated state. Instead I believe, it is possible to farm, produce food and work hand in hand with nature - it’s something we’ve been successfully doing for more than 20 years.”
He continues: “I believe demand for Beef Shorthorn is going to continue to escalate, consequently from 2020, I’m going to bring a new focus to the herd in terms of pedigree breeding with the intention of selling more heifers. That means potentially starting to Breedplan record to help select more carefully for female traits and also introduce linear classification.”
Tony plans to continue to put the unit’s eggs in more than one basket in order to maximise market options. “I’ve crossed the lower end of the herd to a Limousin and we’re getting some cracking calves. We sell through the local auction and we’re finding them in real demand from repeat buyers - heifers as herd replacements and steers for finishing.”
The unit’s final string to the bow is a small Highland fold which is crossed to the Beef Shorthorn with progeny retained for finishing on a sole forage based diet at 24 months.
“I’m also intending to return to finishing some pure Beef Shorthorn steers at an average 400kg deadweight and market as branded Beef Shorthorn meat at the farm gate or in an on-line box scheme.
Beef Shorthorn make for ideal functional suckler cows at Abbots Reading; they are hardy, healthy, medium size, docile animals that look after their calves really well
Whilst I think people are going to eat less red meat, at the same time they are going to look for more of an eating experience and I’m confident that traditional forage reared high quality Beef Shorthorn with its characteristic marbling will be very attractive and fit the bill.”
Abbots Reading used to run a Continental cross suckler herd, selling the entire annual crop of Continental sired calves in the store ring and buying in heifer replacements. “Back in 1994, we agreed to invest in Beef Shorthorn in order to breed our own replacements,” he explains. “We decided to introduce a breed that would cope with the conditions on this farm.
“We had already been dabbling in Beef Shorthorn, and found they were hardy, healthy animals, medium size in the 600kg to 650kg range, and a lot cheaper and easier to keep. For example, we found we could keep the cows and followers outdoors until the end of November, after which they would winter indoors solely on forage and without any concentrate. We agreed they made for good functional suckler cows.”
Abbots Reading Hayley with her four month old heifer
For Tony, the rest is history, the last bought in female to arrive at Abbotts Reading was in 2000, and since then, he has focused on building the purebred Beef Shorthorn herd to current its size.
“Cows are easily calved - they just get on with the job, they are achieving an average 96% calves reared, and they look after their calves really well; if a cow isn’t milking then she goes. The great thing about Beef Shorthorn is the breed’s docility which is really important for us.” Farming is very much a family affair for the Woods - Tony’s 82-year-old mother, Carol helps to move the cows, whilst his wife, Sharon and children, Jake, 15 years old and Molly, 11 years all help out.
“We manage a small glamping enterprise so there are always visitors around the farm during the season; they come from towns and cities throughout the UK, and we enjoy talking to them about that we do, they seem to have a big appetite to find out more about the everyday things we take for granted on a farm and I think they’ll find our home reared Beef Shorthorn beef attractive too.
Four month old Limousin cross Beef Shorthorn calves
“We also run a farm education programme. Sharon has 20 years of teaching experience, and we organise 12 annual junior school visits. For the majority of these town children it’s their first visit to a farm. We talk through the food and farming chain, tell them our story and explain how we manage our farm, not just for cattle and sheep but also for wildlife.”
He adds: “Whilst we really don’t know what the future holds for farming businesses, we are aware that we at Abbots Reading can make more from our own resources with added value Beef Shorthorn farmed in a low input system, conducive to environmental schemes - the type the Government is currently badging as delivering public goods for public support.”