Hammiton Light Beef
Understand the choices we are making with Light Beef
Younger Cattle
Normal premium beef cattle are sent to slaughter at around 30 months.
Hammiton Farm Light Beef is sent to slaughter at around 11 months.
This means that our Light Beef is much closer to rose veal than it is to the standard mature beef you might be used to. It has naturally lower fat content and a more subtle flavour than standard beef but is slightly more “beefy” than rose veal.
We do not slaughter our cattle before the 8 month point that would legally classify their meat as rose veal. We believe it is more important that our animals get to enjoy life on Hammiton Farm for as long as possible rather than chasing an arbitrary classification.
Choosing lighter meat
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Choosing lighter meat 〰️
Why 11 months?
The climate and soils of much of the West Country mean that most cows have to spend the winter inside large sheds. If left outside they damage our wet clay soils, the grass isn’t growing enough to feed them and they get unwell in the damp and cold winter weather.
Whilst in the sheds they need to be fed, watered and kept clean, healthy and happy all of which takes energy, diesel, feed and so lots of carbon. We also need to manage their manure which again creates carbon equivalents.
Our cows are born at exactly the right time so they are weaned and can go out onto our fields in the spring as soon as the grass is ready for them. They are sent to slaughter when the land is no longer able to support them, usually in late October when they are around 11 months old.
Choosing less time in sheds
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Choosing less time in sheds 〰️
Fewer Cows
Quite simply fewer cows means less carbon.
Our herd at Hammiton Farm is now tiny – just 12 cows. For comparison normal stocking intensity even with our low input regenerative system would be a herd of 60. Our tiny herd means not only less carbon but also much less pressure on the land leaving more space for nature and biodiversity.
A tiny herd unfortunately doesn’t mean all the costs of running the farm also become tiny. We price our Light Beef as keenly as possible but understand it isn’t cheap.
Our tiny herd also means that our Light Beef is extremely limited so if you do choose to support our genuinely carbon negative farming please reserve yours as soon as possible.
Choosing to pay a little more
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Choosing to pay a little more 〰️
Dairy Cross Cows
Hammiton Farm Light Beef comes from dairy cross cows.
In order to continue making milk the dairy industry needs to continually produce calves many of which are treated as a waste product. Rather than raise pure bred beef cattle we choose to give these animals that might otherwise go to waste a life on our farm.
Dairy cross calves’ mothers are always a dairy breed (ours are Freisian) but we get to choose what breed their father is. Hammiton Light Beef calves are crossed with British Blue beef cattle as these do very well on our specific low input pastures to produce the highest quality meat.
Meat from younger dairy cross cows is different from meat from older beef animals. Choosing Hammiton Light Beef prioritizes the positive environmental impact of your meat.
Choosing animal welfare
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Choosing animal welfare 〰️
Free to Graze
Whilst in our low input pastures our cows enjoy a varied diet of grasses, flowers and clovers – they also love browsing our various hedgerow trees. Our fields haven’t been re-seeded in over 50 years with the sward curated to include a wide variety of plants which our cows enjoy grazing.
We use a rotational grazing system but do not mob graze so our cows are free to graze and rest where they choose. We could use a more intensively managed grazing system which would produce more meat but these systems restrict our cows’ chance to be cows. We choose to give our cows the freedom to exhibit their natural behaviours.
Our cows are given some supplementary feed. They follow a bag of feed pretty much anywhere so this allows us to move them around without putting them under any stress.
Choosing quality
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Choosing quality 〰️
Lean Meat
Younger cattle naturally produce a leaner meat and we have chosen to prioritize this healthier aspect of our Light Beef.
Our cattle are not given rich supplementary feeds to encourage fat development. We do not chase a final finished weight or seek to maximise meat yield. Our cows simply remain enjoying our pastures until the time in the autumn when the land can no longer support them.
Standard beef, whether from your butcher or from your supermarket, has been produced to encourage fat development as this is where most of the “beefy” character comes from. Hammiton Farm Light Beef has not been subject to this fat development phase so may be distinctly different from the beef you are used to.
Choosing leaner meat
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Choosing leaner meat 〰️
Natural Variation
With a tiny herd and minimal supplementary inputs Hammiton Farm sees the impact of nature more than larger commercial operations. We embrace this return to traditional farming methods but it means that there is much more variety in our meat.
What goes into your Light Beef is sunshine, rain and soil which nature turns into grass, leaves and flowers which our cattle turn into meat. We are constantly improving the management of our soil and cattle but there is nothing we can do about the sunshine and rain.
It is possible to smooth out the impact of the weather through the use of artificial inputs such as fertilisers and diesel. These inputs would have a significant impact on our carbon footprint and on nature so we choose not to use them. If our meat varies year on year - so be it.
Choosing traditional methods
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Choosing traditional methods 〰️
Keeping it Local
We ensure Hammiton Farm Light Beef travels the shortest distance possible as this is better for our animals and better for the planet.
Our calves are born and raised on our neighbour’s dairy farm literally next door.
Our cattle are slaughtered near Sherbourne, 20 miles away, and we transport them there ourselves to minimize their stress.
Our meat is butchered in Bridport, 5 miles away.
We prioritize delivery to local customers but will deliver within England and Wales.
The vast majority of our partners and suppliers are in and around Bridport. Dorchester seems a long way away to us!
Choosing to support Dorset
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Choosing to support Dorset 〰️