Archived News

4th October 2020

I am pleased to announce that Manor Farm Belted Galloway Beef has become ‘Pasture for Life’ certified.

The Pasture-Fed Livestock Association brings together British farmers committed to producing high quality food in a more natural way.

More meat and dairy products are being promoted as grass-fed.  However, until now the term has not been clearly defined and can be applied to virtually any farming system where grass forms just part of the animal’s diet.  Therefore, the Pasture-fed Livestock Association is pushing hard to establish a legal definition of grass-fed to mean 100% grass-fed for the entirety of the animal’s life.

 

Healthier benefits of Pasture fed beef

·        lower total fat levels

·        higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and a lower, more balanced, healthier ratio of omega-6 to omega-3

·        higher vitamin and mineral levels than meat from grain-fed animals. Particularly rich in vitamins A and E, and minerals such as calcium and magnesium

·        higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which supports heart-health

 

The Wotton herd of Belted Galloway cattle are naturally reared on pasture in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). 

This native breed suckler herd comprises of cows, heifers and a bull.   The calves are born and bred on the farm and remain at their mother’s side for nine months feeding on their nutrient rich milk, as well as beginning to graze alongside the herd.

The Belted Galloways graze on herb-rich pasture and downland throughout their life and therefore grow at their own steady pace whilst undertaking important conservation grazing; they are not rushed with grains and soya in the way other more commercial breeds might be.   

It can be said that our pasture raised beef has its own unique ’terroir’, with our ‘Beltie’ beef full of flavour that reflects the qualities of the herbs and plants they eat and the soil beneath their feet. 

The Certification Standards ensure that animals must be able to eat a natural diet, to graze pastures when the grass is growing and can be given conserved pasture in the form of hay and haylage, with just a few other agreed forms of forage such as home produced beet. Belted Galloways are a sturdy breed, used to out wintering in the Highlands and converting what would be classed as ‘poorer’ grassland into well marbled beef, so they are well suited to the conservation grazing they undertake on the North Downs helping to maintain that rare habitat with its unique flora and fauna. 

The Belted Galloways turn grass and pastures that we cannot eat, into well flavoured dry-aged beef that we can eat.

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