Grass fed Sussex beef

Robin Hall

Keeping a bull that is a beef breed on a dairy farm is, or has been, common practice for a long time. The use of such a bull means that some of the cows will produce sturdy beef-cross calves which can be kept or sold for finishing elsewhere. Winston, our Sussex bull, will be 10 years old in August this year. During his time here he has sired nearly 200 calves, many of which have been raised here on the farm.

Those calves that we choose to keep will receive fresh whole milk for 12 weeks, either from a nurse cow or a teat bucket. When they are weaned off the milk they will receive some oats for a couple of weeks to help them transition to solid food. These calves will eat hay made on the farm from an early age and also get around 9 litres of milk daily. This gets them off to an excellent start in life and they continue to grow steadily.

“Grass-fed” is not a novel idea, and the bulk of the diet of UK beef is grass based. Ruminants did not evolve to eat large quantities of cereals and the practice of feeding such rations to cattle in beef production is largely driven by a desire for faster growth, heavier animals and quicker returns from them.

At Plaw Hatch, we finish around 12 of these animals annually and after the weaning period they will receive no cereals or supplements and their diet is entirely grass, with pink rock salt available at all times.

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