‘Belties of North Wind’
Hauke and Sissi Aye have been breeding Belted Galloway Cattle for nearly 30 years in Rantrum, North Germany. Their 3 foundation cows were from the Scottish herds Ardwall, Netherwood and Park. They started conservation grazing round about 10 years ago, grazing their Belted Galloway Bullocks on moorland conservation land. They strongly feel the conservation grazing helps to market the Beltie meat because people like to see cattle in this natural environment and they want to know how they are reared and fed. People trust them because they see them and their cattle regularly. They like to buy locally. Hauke has written about his experiences in beef production and marketing. He includes some interesting data material of his self marketing bullocks.
Marketing of Belted Galloway – Bullocks
Starting point:
– marketing of bullocks (only)
– castrate between an age of 9 – 12 month
– butchered between 2 ½ and 3 years
– butchered in April/ May (lost off winter fat)
– meat ripen between 12 – 14 days in cold store (better 18 – 21 days)
– marketing only privately
– selling mixed bulk package from minimum 10 kg upwards
– complete outdoor live
– fed only with hay or hay- silage
– summer time on conservation land
– winter time on dry ground with shelter
– whole time disposable of minerals and salt
– water in summer by pump out of fosse – winter- isolated drinker
– deworming 2 up to 3 times in a year (Cydectin, Ivomec- pour on)
– after summer grazing against liver leech (Fasinex with a drencher)
– against fly, louses and ticks with Butox (pour on)
Why bullocks?
Bullocks and heifers of extensive cattle races have a better meat quality then bulls,
especially when they are kept and fed on organic land and terms. This means feeding
without maisesilage and concentrates, only grass and hay (haysilage) from organic
pastures.
If bulls were kept under this terms, they couldn’t been finish to reach store quality. The
meat body of this bulls will be blue, they have to be finished with grain, maissilage and
concentrates to get a small white fat cover (minimum time 6 week feeding) .To finish the bulls, this causes extra money and work and this input is standing in no
relation to the output, because we have to market an extensive, small body cattle race.
Another plus to keep bullocks are the possibility of mixed population with female cattle, this saves in winter time, place and work. Also they are not as noisy as bulls, when been kept in neighborhood to cows or other cattle.
The negative point of keeping bullocks are the time to finish them, in relation to bulls. But in my opinion the low cost feeding and the quality of their carcase are in a good relation to compare them with bulls.
Data – material of self marketing bullocks
In the following table (last 7 years) you see, age, life weight carcase weight (after 10- 14 days of ripen in cold store) of our privately marketed bullocks. This follows into percentage between live and dead weight and finally the meat to sold (*) without bones, tendon and butchers blend (26 – 37 %). Not to forgotten the lost (water) in the weight, when they are ripen in cold store round about 10 kg.
| Born | Slaughtered at age in year | Liveweight | Deadweight | Percentage | Meat to sold (*) | Remarks Carve fee from deadweight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02/05/08 | 35 month (2011) | 570 kg | 309 kg | 54.20% | 109 kg = 35,27 % = 200 kg meat | Butcher fee 40 € |
| 04/05/08 | 35 month (2011) | 555 kg | 308 kg | 55.50% | 116 kg = 37,66 % = 192 kg | Carve fee 0,6 € x kg = 670 € |
| 16/05/08 | 35 month (2011) | 550 kg | 300 kg | 54.50% | 107 kg = 35,66 % = 193 kg | |
| 21/06/07 | 35 month (2010) | 565 kg | 303 kg | 53.63% | 79,6 kg = 26,22 % = 224 kg | Butcher fee 40 € |
| 12/04/07 | 36 month (2010) | 576 kg | 322 kg | 55.90% | 92 kg = 28,57 % = 230 kg | Carve fee 0,6 € x kg = 669 € |
| 27/04/07 | 36 month (2010) | 535 kg | 290 kg | 54.20% | 89 kg = 27,65 % = 201 kg | |
| 05/04/06 | 36 month (2009) | 475 kg | 251 kg | 52.84% | 77,2 kg = 27,85 % = 200 kg | Butcher fee 40 € |
| 10/04/06 | 36 month (2009) | 475 kg | 277 kg | 58.30% | 71,2 kg = 28,34 % = 180 kg | Carve fee 0,6 € x kg = 397 € |
| 05/05/05 | 36 month (2008) | 580 kg | 313 kg | 53.96% | 88, 39 kg = 28,24 % = 224 kg | Butcher fee 60 € |
| 24/09/04 | 44 month (2008) | 540 kg | 283 kg | 52.40% | 78,4 kg = 27,7 % = 204 kg | Carve fee 0,5 € x kg = 418 € |
| 10/05/04 | 36 month (2007) | 465 kg | 250 kg | 53.76% | 67 kg = 26,8 % = 183 kg | Butcher fee 60 € |
| 18/03/04 | 38 month (2007) | 505 kg | 252 kg | 49.9% | 68,5 kg = 27,2 % = 183, 5 kg | Carve fee 0,5 € x kg = 311 € |
| 27/04/04 | 23 month (2006) | 375 kg | 188 kg | 50.13% | 62 kg = 39,98 % = 122 kg | Butcher fee 60 € |
| 15/09/03 | 32 month (2006) | 430 kg | 222 kg | 51.63% | 70,5 = 31,75 % = 151 kg | Carve fee 0,5 € x kg = 325 € |
| 17/06/02 | 32 month (2005) | 420 kg | 222 kg | 52.38% | 75 kg = 33,8 % = 166,5 kg | Butcher fee 60 € |
| 20/02/03 | 24 month (2005) | 364 kg | 219 kg | 60.16% | 55 kg = 25,11 % = 164 kg | Carve fee 0,5 € x kg = 296 € |
| 05/03/03 | 24 month (2005) | 265 kg | 189 kg | 51.78% | 47 kg = 24, 86 % = 142 kg | BSE+Disposal = 160 € |
Meat products in reliance to weight of the bulk package
| 10kg | 15kg | 20kg | 30kg | 40kg | 60kg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mincemeat | 3.3 | 5 | 6.6 | 10 | 13.2 | 20 |
| Boiling meat | 1 | 1.4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Roast meat | 2.1 | 3.2 | 4 | 6.4 | 8 | 12 |
| Roll/ roulade | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1 | 1.6 | 2.4 |
| Beef & rump steak | 1 | 1.6 | 2 | 3.2 | 4 | 6.2 |
| Goulash | 1.7 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 5 | 7 | 10.5 |
| Liver | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1 | 1.6 | 2 |
| Piece of sirloin | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Soup bones |
Points of interest
– there is a difference in the taste of the meat in reliance of feeding, we found out that hay feeding is the best way to get the original taste, in our opinion if you fed silage (gras, maize) you will taste it
– the heaviest carcase is not always the best, mostly this one has some extra fat
– the meat to sold stands in relation to the deadweight, the fat quota and experience and quality of the butcher
– the working quality of the butcher, is an important point of meat to sold
– the quality of the meat gets better as longer it could ripen in the cold store – best about 3 weeks
– the price for the meat you could reach depends on income of the customers, education, place of residence (city or village)
– the best price you could get is to sell the meat seperate, vacuum packed
Hauke Aye,
Nicolaus-Bachmann-Str. 1,
25873 Rantrum,
Germany
www.belted-galloways.de