Grass fed butter

Re: Grass fed butter

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 09:10:43 GMT

Thanks

Wynne

Re: Grass fed butter

Fable — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 08:50:07 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

I'd say it's worse in NZ than here.

[/quote]

I would also disagree with this. The majority of dairy cows and all beef animals in the area in which I practice in NZ are grazing, which does not necessarily mean their welfare is inherently better but, as others have commented, seems more natural. In my (albeit short time) time here so far I have found dairy farmers much more willing to call us out to look at sick animals than the farmers in my previous jobs. This is possibly related to the fact that the dairy industry here is currently more profitable (whether this may change with the drop in payout has yet to be seen).

I have encountered a few questionable practices - the main one being the induction of late calving dairy cows, which will no longer be allowed from 2015 onwards - but otherwise I would say that animal welfare standards are on a par with the UK.

Re: Grass fed butter

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 08:45:45 GMT

I hadn't realised that.

Wynne

Re: Grass fed butter

Thomas Johnson — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 08:43:40 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

Having said that, buying British will both reduce pollution from transport, and hoipefully lead to higher prices for our farmers, and therefore higher welfare standards. One can only hope.

[/quote]

The trouble is it's not as simple as that, for example the carbon footprint of tomatoes grown in greenhouses in the UK is higher than for tomatoes grown outdoors in Spain and shipped to the UK. There's also an argument that New Zealand lamb has a lower carbon footprint than UK lamb as they feed less concentrate, and that includes shipping it half way round the world.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1553456/Greener-by-miles.html

Having said that I still prefer to buy British to support our farmers.

Re: Grass fed butter

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 08:31:33 GMT

At least NZ produce isn't a FMD risk. When I was a child (pre 1966 epizootic, and Northumberland report) Argentinian beef was the source of regular FMD. How it was ever permitted to import that is a total mystery to me!.

Having said that, buying British will both reduce pollution from transport, and hoipefully lead to higher prices for our farmers, and therefore higher welfare standards. One can only hope.

Wynne

Re: Grass fed butter

Sammy82 — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 18:31:38 GMT

Good! Can't see the point of importing foods that can be produced in the country or at least in neighbouring countries. I hate to see New Zealand apples, lamb or south american green beans in British supermarkets.

Re: Grass fed butter

Bob Russell — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 18:08:12 GMT

I tried to feed grass to the butter at home! Didn't eat any!

Anchor in the UK is part of Arla Foods UK and contains British cream not New Zealand. That is why it does not say New Zealand butter any more!

Re: Grass fed butter

Yantha Smyth — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 16:30:37 GMT

+1 for anchor. not that i am biased or anything

Re: Grass fed butter

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 16:01:05 GMT

I too have worked in mid Wales. I found welfare standards there good for sheep,but appalling for suckler cows - we didn't have any dairying in the practice. It is difficult to know which nationality of butter/cheese to buy so as to support best practice.

Wynne

Re: Grass fed butter

Virginia Campbell — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 15:37:32 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]How does animalwelfare in a typical Irish farm compare with that in a typical British one?[/quote]

Having worked in mixed practice- albeit 8-12 years ago- in Northern Ireland, the Republic and in mid Wales- I would say about the same. I didn't see any zero grazing herds then and not many with >150 cattle; but things may have changed - in fact if you google "zero grazing" an Irish site is one of the first things that comes up.

Not that zero grazing is necessarily bad I suppose - if they're going to be in all winter anyway I suppose what difference if they're in all the time - but it just goes against the grain for me (just gut feeling rather than any belief that it's scientifically provable that they're less happy).

It's pretty wet in a lot of Ireland so the cattle would be housed for longer than the drier bits of England (no getting around this - the ground would be completely wrecked if they weren't in for long enough in the winter).

Growing up on a dairy farm, the welfare aspect that bothered me the most was the day old calves being taken off their dams. I know that farms exist where they do a restricted access suckling thing where the calves get to stay with their mums for some of the time but I don't know if there are any of these in Ireland.

Re: Grass fed butter

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 12:55:37 GMT

Thanks. There's an article in todays Daily Mail "The real price of your 22p pint of milk. Cows that never see a field, 10,000 farmers out of business. The countryside changed for ever" I'd really like to know if Irish standards are better, so that I can buy the most welfare friendly butter/cheese.

Wynne

Re: Grass fed butter

Lucy Fleming — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 10:34:11 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

I'd say it's worse in NZ than here.

[/quote]

I would disagree. I think, the same as here, there are good farms and bad farms, I don't think there's much innate difference in welfare between the systems (having worked in both).

Re: Grass fed butter

Catherine Williams — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 09:19:13 GMT

The other day I saw someone trying to debate that a grain-free complete dog food was surely not grain-free because the chicken in it must have been fed on grain.....decided for the sake of sanity not to get drawn into that debate!

Re: Grass fed butter

Hannah Wynne Richards — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:52:00 GMT

How does animalwelfare in a typical Irish farm compare with that in a typical British one? Serious question. Does anyone know the answer? I'd say it's worse in NZ than here.

Wynne

Re: Grass fed butter

Lucy Fleming — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 08:41:42 GMT

[quote user="karen jones"]on facebook I've just read a thread saying that we should eat kerry gold butter as its produced from grass fed cows and so there will be no wheat allergens in the milk to cause problems. The mind boggles

[/quote]

If that was actually the case, they'd be better off with Anchor. As an aside, when I was practicing in New Zealand my mum used to buy Anchor butter in case I had touched one of the cows that made it!

Re: Grass fed butter

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 22:19:18 GMT

*snigger*

Even the Irish grass boys need to feed some concentrate. If you really want to support their industry buy more Baileys............