January 24, 2008

UK to develop beef market from male dairy calves to meet market demand

UK industry leaders, politicians and animal welfare advocates will support a scheme to develop a domestic beef market from black and white male dairy calves.

The initiative is expected to produce more beef from British cattle, lowering or eliminating the market's dependence on imported beef which reach hundreds of thousands of tonnes every year.

At present, the 482,000 dairy calves born in the UK each year are either killed or exported.

The forum concluded that slaughtering or exporting dairy calves was a waste of valuable resource which could directly increase farm incomes and inject more work into the economy.

The move will see calves enter the domestic supply chain in an attempt to address the current shortfall of about 250,000 tonnes each year in the UK beef industry.

Retailers including Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose participated in the forum, and have affirmed to push forward the development of a market for British male dairy calves.

This week, Tesco has announced that it has developed an initiative linking its dedicated dairy farmers with its beef suppliers to make it easier for calves to enter the supply chain.

Waitrose also developed a scheme to ensure that its dairy farmers have a useful purpose on the UK beef market.

The industry further hopes that more retailers will develop similar initiatives in rearing and finishing dairy calves, and eventually phase out imported beef.