Good Beef
Less, but better.
What is Good Beef?
Our ‘Good Beef’ range is from cows that have been born and raised on the pastures here at Eastbrook Farm. We have two dairy herds on the farm, approximately 300 cows in total. At the end of a productive dairy life, the cows are retired and allowed to rest and graze naturally before being sent off for beef.
Besides supporting a circular food system in line with our ethical aims, retired dairy beef (or Basque beef, as it is known when from Spain) is renowned for a serious amount of flavour and marvellous marbling of fat from a healthy active life on grass meadows.
But should we be eating beef at all?
Meat eating, and beef in particular, has been a hot topic in recent years. Our approach, in line with the Soil Association’s, is that it’s all about ‘less, but better’.
It is absolutely clear that we must reduce meat consumption on a global basis, and that industrialised animal systems should cease. Over half the grain and protein crops the world produces are fed to animals, and around 60% of the antibiotics too. (It’s worth remembering that the predictions are for antibiotic resistance to kill more people than cancer by 2050, if we don’t stop using them so profligately).
If we all eat as much meat as the Americans do, some 250g/day, we will destroy our chances of safeguarding the environment and nature. But in some places, people would benefit from eating a little more meat and dairy, as malnutrition stunts many children in Africa and elsewhere.
So our approach is that meat should be ethically produced, in systems which use grasslands and wastes that we cannot eat, and which regenerate soil fertility and biodiversity. Some grazing animals are part of the solution, not the problem. So if you wish to continue eating some meat, do make sure it comes from farms which are pioneering new and better approaches, as we are with our Good Beef range.