1

Morrisons Shorthorn

Beef Scheme A sustainable farming initiative

The Morrisons Beef Shorthorn

Society Partnership

2

Turriff,

Aberdeenshire:

Cattle and Sheep

Colne, Lancashire:

Cattle, Sheep and

Pigs

Spalding, Lincolnshire:

Cattle and Pigs

Morrisons Meat Processing Sites: Woodhead Bros are

strategically located across the UK.

3

Morrisons is one of the UK’s biggest supermarket chains and the only major

retailer to own and operate its own meat processing company, Woodhead

Bros. With three large and efficient abattoirs, the company processes over

10% of the UK’s farm livestock, with the vast majority purchased direct from

the farmer.

Morrisons and The Beef Shorthorn Society:

WWoorrkkiinngg IInn PPaarrttnneerrsshhiipp

Morrisons and the Beef Shorthorn Society have been working together since 2010. We are generating a sustainable partnership towards developing the Traditional Beef Brand which is currently available in Morrisons store under the Morrisons Signature brand.

Furthermore, we are aware that Beef Shorthorn is globally renowned for its eating quality. The beef is characterised by marbling which influences its consistent great taste. Overall the Beef Shorthorn is one of the best placed breeds for the future of British food production: their carcase performance, meat quality, alongside their on-farm benefits, makes the Beef Shorthorn an attractive breed.

Ultimately, we aim to launch a Shorthorn Beef Brand supplying premium branded Beef Shorthorn beef with guaranteed eating quality.

To achieve a consistent supply of high end quality product, Morrisons is

sourcing Beef Shorthorn animals from farm assured holdings with excellent standards of animal welfare, traceability, and nutrition to produce beef of consistent eating quality

paying a premium on in-spec cattle sired by a registered Beef Shorthorn and supplied to Woodheads from its approved farm assured finishers

This booklet is designed to share our ideas of the partnership and what the

future looks like.

4

The Beef Shorthorn’s unique traits have positioned it to be numerically Britain’s fastest growing native breed.

The Beef Shorthorn has a long and distinguished history having evolved over the last two centuries from Teeswater and Durham cattle found originally in the North East of England. In 1822, the first pedigree herd book in the world was published – for Beef Shorthorn cattle. Since then, Beef Shorthorn genetics have been used globally in the development of over 40 different breeds.

Native breeds came under increasing pressure in Britain following the invasion of Continental breeds throughout the 1960s and 1970s, however after three decades, they found themselves back in vogue, and the Beef Shorthorn has witnessed a major turn-around.

Breeders have carefully selected for specific maternal performance traits and at the same time retained the Beef Shorthorn’s native characteristics; consequently the Beef Shorthorn is enjoying resurgence and meeting market demand primarily as a functional suckler cow. Demand has been further accelerated since we launched the Morrisons Traditional Beef Scheme which attracts Beef Shorthorn cross steers and heifers.

Why the Beef Shorthorn?

5

Developing a robust supply chain is critical to our success at Morrisons, and developing our Shorthorn Beef Scheme is no exception. We are actively engaging with pedigree breeders, suckler producers and finishers along with our abattoirs and butchers to develop a premium quality brand.

Breeders

The supply chain starts here. Registered pedigree bulls are supplied to suckler producers by a network of breeders each with a common focus – to breed a functional suckler cow suited to a low input forage based sustainable system.

Breeders are committed to improving the Beef Shorthorn’s performance using some of the most progressive tools. An increasing number have adopted the ABRI Breedplan performance recording register enabling them to select more accurately for maternal traits including milk yield, calving ease and gestation length. In 2015, the Beef Shorthorn Society introduced a type classification scheme designed to enable members to further accelerate breed progress.

The Beef Shorthorn Society is exemplary in being the first UK breed organisation to insist that all animals sold at official society sales were blood tested for BVD, Lepto and IBR, apart from cattle from herds already accredited by a Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS) scheme.

Taking the supply chain forward

6

Suckler Producers

The Beef Shorthorn is providing a solution for suckler producers who are

seeking a functional cow following the demise of quality replacements

sourced for many years from the dairy sector. With trends towards developing

closed herds for biosecurity and health reasons, the Beef Shorthorn fits well

into herd replacement strategies.

The Beef Shorthorn combines its natural maternal characteristics with

performance and ease of management. Beef Shorthorn females excel at:

Whilst Beef Shorthorn cross heifers are retained for herd replacement

purposes, steers – previously a by-product are now in demand for Morrisons

Traditional Beef Scheme.

Calving ease: low birth weight

Easy care

Docility

Milk Yield

Fertility

Hardiness

Feed efficiency: excellent foraging

ability

Suited to low input systems

Taking the supply chain forward

7

Finishers

Morrisons is helping to develop a network of finishers with farm assured

holdings and excellent standards of animal welfare and traceability. The

supermarket’s objective is for continuity of supply of high quality cattle. These

animals are generally steers, newly weaned and purchased either at the

annual autumn store market auctions up and down the country or direct from

suckler producers at the farm gate.

We are always searching for producers to deliver into our supply chain, either

to one of our approved finishing units whereby the suckler producer retains

ownership, or selling Beef Shorthorn through a dedicated native breed store

sale.

If you are interested in putting cattle on an approved finishing unit or

becoming a Beef Shorthorn supplier please contact

Jim Holden on 07831555076.

Taking the supply chain forward

8

Development Programme

We launched the Traditional Beef Scheme for finished cattle sired by a native British breed in 2011; it singled out Beef Shorthorn for a special premium. Now our objective is to grow that supply of Beef Shorthorn sired cattle, until we have gained sufficient numbers to launch in store Beef Shorthorn branded beef product. The end goal is in sight:

We are currently developing the supply chain with a high end product Moreover we are planning to pilot Beef Shorthorn beef in selected

Morrisons stores from 2017. Our ultimate objective is to have a 100% Beef Shorthorn product range product for our Morrisons customers, offering consistent eating quality.

Developing the Beef Shorthorn Brand

9

Quality Product

Tenderness, followed by flavour, which is influenced by intramuscular fat, are the most important attributes that our customers want from beef. Beef Shorthorn beef has already been successfully confirmed as a quality product using tenderness testing and trained taste panels. At the Morrisons Meat Quality Centre in Spalding we are always testing our product to ensure that it is of the highest quality. Over time with these facilities we aim to build results that indicate the target tenderness and fat levels to provide customers with a high level of confidence that the Beef Shorthorn eating experience is consistently high quality and value for money.

Developing the Beef Shorthorn Brand

10

Specifications and premiums for Morrisons Traditional Beef Scheme and

Morrisons Shorthorn Beef apply to cattle that are registered from an approved

supplier and hit the below specifications:

Breed Beef Shorthorn, Beef Shorthorn Cross, Shorthorn, Shorthorn Cross,

Whitebred Shorthorn, Whitebred Shorthorn Cross.

Sex Steers & Heifers

Carcass weight 260 – 400kg

Age Under 30 months

For cattle that meet this spec a premium pence/Kilo over Woodhead’s base

price is paid for cattle grading out on the below grid:

1 2 3 4L 4H 5L 5H

E 23 23 23 23 -3 -13

U+ 18 18 18 18 -8 -18

-U 10 27 27 27 Base -23

R Base 20 20 20 Base -30

O+ -10 12 15 10 -28 -40

-O -35 -35 -55 -60

P+

-P

The table shows the percentage of cattle in spec for Traditional Beef scheme

in 2015, based on the below parameters:

Age 98.5% Source: Morrisons, 2015 Cold Carcase Weight 95.6% Grade 96.8%

Specifications

& Premiums

11

For more information on how you can benefit from Morrisons Shorthorn Beef Scheme for efficient and sustainable production, please contact a member of one of the below teams. Beef Shorthorn Society on 02476696729 or www.beefshorthorn.org.uk Woodheads Livestock Team or www.morrisons-farming.com

Get Involved

12

Morrisons Beef

Shorthorn Scheme

For premiums of up to 20p/kg