Traditional Herefords drive grass-fed beef

Traditional Herefords bring a number of advantages to first generation farmers and butchers, the Francis brothers.

A passion for quality meat, native breeds and regenerative agriculture has been the driving force for first generation farmers Jon and Nick Francis.

Running Paddock Farm shop in Brailes on the border of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, the retail outlet takes its name from the small paddock at the Francis brothers’ parents’ home where they ran their first two pigs, along with a goat, while growing up. The business began with the brothers breeding, fattening and directly selling Tamworth pigs to restaurant customers. As the viability of this operation became apparent, Jon and Nick took on a butchery unit at a local farm, used by the previous owners to supply farmers’ markets. This registered cutting room came with one part-time butcher, which six years on has increased to eight fulltime staff.

At the same time, Jon and Nick secured a farm business tenancy on Lord Northampton’s estate, sub-let by an arable farmer, and stocked the ground with pigs to be used as a break crop in the rotation.

Jon explains: “We have totally funded our business off our own backs and bank loans. We weren’t very secure in our position as tenants but Lord Northampton was very supportive and interested in our holistic approach to farming. “A lot of people could have questioned our methods of keeping outdoor pigs on Warwickshire clay, and we are very grateful to Lord Northampton for the opportunity to do so. The first thing we wanted to do to create a naturally grown pig.” Jon explains the Tamworth is related to the original English wild boar with a lot of intramuscular fat and a dark meat. Extensively run on grass, the brothers' pork was popular with chefs.

Nick Francis (centre) and the Paddock Farm Shop butchery team

The pride Jon and Nick take in the growing, hanging and cutting of their pigs has earned them places on wellknown chefs’ menus, including Raymond Blanc’s, where Paddock Farm supplies the breakfast sausage, and Heston Blumenthal is also a regular customer. “With the beef, we are capturing sunshine through photosynthesis to grow grass, catch carbon and produce high quality meat which is all positive. We want to be custodians of the land to improve its fertility and quality,” he adds.

“There is sometimes a huge knowledge gap between chefs and farming and livestock production”

Jon describes that over time he and his brother realised there was also a market for high welfare beef. The addition of an extra species though presented its own challenges to these first generation farmers.

Jon explains: “When we were keeping just pigs, we were keeping solely monogastrics, but when we introduced the cattle, we were dealing with ruminants for the first time. Contrary to the pigs, the cattle do not need to be fed concentrates. Regenerative farming, a buzz word of the moment, refers to the practice of farming with biological principles, and the brothers follow these methods, which continue to gather increasing momentum.

Now tenants of 49 hectares (120 acre) occupying part of Aylesmore Farm, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, Jon and Nick have worked hard to build their customer base. A lot of the ground the Francis brothers rent is ‘ridge and furrow’, an ancient method of land management which is common in their corner of the Cotswolds. Some of these ridges are six feet high.

Nowadays, 50 restaurants are supplied each week (around 80 in total), and the shop’s van heads to London twice per week laden with produce. The brothers endeavour to try and educate these chefs and customers about their farming practices, and welcome visitors in this regard.

Jon comments: “There is sometimes a huge knowledge gap between chefs and farming and livestock production, and it is in our interest as farmers to try and bridge this.”

Having a market place is so important, he says, while also creating employment. The shop is promoted through a newsletter which goes out every other week and Jon says this is a really effective tool. After six years of shop and butchery, the business now employs seven butchers along with a cook while the farm occupies two other members of staff.

reputation and quality creates repeat purchases,” he comments. Jon himself learnt how to butcher from those he has employed over time, and has now subsequently taught others and is a great supporter of apprenticeship schemes.

Market aware and future conscious and in response to the current questions which hang over the environmental impact of beef production, the brothers aim to grow 100% grass-fed beef, but Jon says to do so they require the correct genotype. Over time, a number of beef breeds have been trialled but they are now confident they have found what their system and market require. He says: “We have had many breeds here, but Herefords, and particularly the Traditional, suit our system the best. The more modern Hereford tends to have a larger frame to finish. The Traditional, with its smaller frame size and easy-fleshing ability makes it easier to take to finish and carries the ideal characteristics for us with sufficient back fat cover, and instramuscular fat.”

Jon says in his experience, the Traditional Herefords only weigh slightly less than the more modern type, but adds the weight is carried in the right places. He explains: “Our restaurant clientele requires an eight ounce steak with a good thickness. To achieve this, we want something with a smaller eye muscle area, contrary to modern breeding.” Jon states that if he was selling deadweight, he would seek a bigger carcase, but for their butchery, a 300kg carcase is ideal, although hard to obtain. Cattle are being sent to kill at 550kg, and visual assessments are made to ensure a sufficient fat cover. One beast is sold through the shop each week and cattle are brought off-farm for the restaurant. The brothers have also been sourcing Kiwi-cross Hereford stores.

Jon is excited to get stuck into building up his Traditional breeding herd. He says: “Because I am not taking over anyone else’s herd but starting from scratch, we are starting with a completely blank canvass.”

Plans now are turning to keeping solely Traditional Herefords as Jon says that is the only way he will be able to guarantee his beef is totally grass-fed and says he is looking to breed the ‘ultimate grass convertor’. Although members of the Pasture Fed Livestock Association, they are not yet certified and are still looking to develop their grass-fed system. With the need to be an effective grass convertor, Jon is very confident the Traditional is the most suitable animal for their system and adds, out of the mix of breeds currently in residence on the farm, the Herefords are certainly the best for docility.

This reduced stress, he says, helps to keep a favourable pH level of the meat, thus aiding the setting of the carcase. Unset carcases won’t age well as the water content is too high limiting rigor mortis and resulting in a darker meat, he explains.

Jon adds: “You can only hang an animal with good amount of fat cover.”

Farm facts

• 49 hectares (120 acres) rented permanent pasture, 25 hectares (62 acres) temporary grass leys • Total of 110 cattle, including 65 pedigree Traditional Herefords and 21 Hereford-cross Kiwi style dairy • 40 sow breeding herd – equalling 300 pigs • Killing 12 pigs per week

“We have had many breeds here, but Herefords, and particularly the Traditional, suit our system the best”

Steak meat is hung for 35 days and carcases for 21 days, and the farm shop benefits from access to a local abattoir just five miles away.

The shop stocks Hereford beef

To produce their grass-fed beef, mob grazing has been adopted and Jon has become a great advocate of the practice and regularly keeps up with other likeminded farmers on a mob grazing Whatsapp group.

Taking a non-selective grazing approach, cattle are kept at a high density per acre, with cattle therefore maintaining competition to graze.

“We want cattle to eat the whole plant and using this method, they will graze thistles, nettles, docks. We have a plate meter, but it won’t measure a high enough sward for what we are doing here,” he says.

When mob grazing, paddock sizes vary through the year which eliminates selective grazing, and cattle graze to a lower cover. Jon says they will eat all plants ahead of them and wants cattle to flatten the paddock either by trampling or grazing to improve soil structure with the addition of organic matter.

“In the summer we are running 90 cattle on 0.6 acres per day, working through a 45 to 70 day rotation. If animals are grown on 100 per cent grass they won’t get over fat under 30 months,” explains Jon.

Jon says there is an interesting future with livestock as part of the arable rotation. Renting ground off an arable farmer as part of arable rotation to increase the ground’s phosphorus levels, the brothers work as part of a team with the land owner and their agronomist.

“We monitor cattle health on performance but also via the muck produced. I look for a nice layered cow pat with a dip in its middle. This means the animal is receiving enough protein and fibre.” Straw and muck from the deep beds is composted and windrowed in the spring and the muck is turned when it reaches 50ºc, as measured by a thermometer. A muck heap which is too big won’t get hot on the edges, he says. This is then used on the shop’s market garden and is utilised as compost and not manure as the nutrients will then be more stable, minimising leaching. Cutting 24ha (59ac) each year of haylage, fields are taken out of the rotation and grazing platform for mowing, and different fields are chosen each year. Jon says: “Working with nature is chaotic and keeps changing. We have a low cost of production therefore low input while creating a high-value product using a native breed, doing what it does best. “I would like to see UK beef production to get to a point where grass-fed beef does not need to attract a premium over grain fed beef to make it viable.”

Chickens

The farm is also home to 250 chickens which follow the cattle through the rotation, cleaning up any parasites. Three days behind the cattle, they will pick fly larvae to eat and reduce fly burden while also scratching out manure, which goes into the ground, resulting in a clean pasture.