US beef breeder – British beef needs to change direction
The UK beef sector needs to chase better eating quality rather than yield, because consumer satisfaction is everything.
According to influential US Stabiliser breeder Lee Leachman: “You should be worried you are not producing lovely steaks. As a beef consumer I would say that would be my concern in the UK. I am not saying it tongue and cheek. The UK should put a quality grid in place.”
Mr Leachman is the third generation of the USA Leachman cattle ranching family which developed the Stabiliser breed. He runs the Leachman Cattle company in Colorado which is now the third largest seed stock supplier in the United States, with a base of 12,500 fully performance recorded cows, and markets nearly 2500 bulls and 60,000 units of beef semen annually. He is currently on a tour round UK farms delivering talks on the composite breed.
Whilst acknowledging that consumers resist fat content in supermarkets, Mr Leachman advised the UK industry to produce better marbled beef to ensure costumer satisfaction. He said: “Marbled beef is getting a real premium in the US. Higher than any other time in history. Global and domestic demand for good beef is through the roof. A steer hitting the top ‘prime’ marbled grade is getting $2500 compared to $2000 for a less marbled animal.”
By John Sleigh / The Scottish Farmer
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