Foggage farmers in Sheffield

Hi.

I am trying to follow a food plan where all my meat and dairy comes from farms that are TOTALLY grass fed.

Ideally I want to buy from Sheffield and surrounding areas, but also would love to find farm shops and supermarkets locally that sell this too. Does anyone know where I could start, please?

The process is known as "Foggage" farming, but the internet is riddled with false alleys to other parts of the country :-/

XGlenys

Hi.

 

I am trying to follow a food plan where all my meat and dairy comes from farms that are TOTALLY grass fed.

 

Ideally I want to buy from Sheffield and surrounding areas, but also would love to find farm shops and supermarkets locally that sell this too. Does anyone know where I could start, please?

 

The process is known as "Foggage" farming, but the internet is riddled with false alleys to other parts of the country :-/

 

XGlenys

This is an interesting question; I'd love to know more about your reasoning for considering shifting to meat and dairy that is totally grass fed? (Are you going on a palaeo diet?)

I will make a few points in relation to the topic though:

- Foggage is the long grass grown after a cut for hay/silage has taken place; it's usually higher in roughage (stalkier) than the younger grass and can be use to overwinter animals. However, it isn't generally used as such in the UK (aside from sheep) because of the following factors:

a) Foggage is not as nutritionally dense as alternatively grass-based over-wintering - i.e. silage/haylage/hay; this makes maintaining body condition in the animals more difficult

b) There is often a need for supplementary feeding to allow the cattle to tolerate the colder and windier temperatures (there's very little economic wiggle room for this)

c) Maintaining a reliable, liquid water supply can also be difficult during particularly cold winters

d) Having animals (particularly heavy cattle) on very wet soils is incredibly bad for them. It causes a compaction layer which increases runoff and flood risk; it also increases foot and hoof diseases; it also decreases the productivity of the field in producing a reliable grass crop. These are the main reasons why I would always oppose a totally grass-fed system, in reality.

e) The amount of wastage in foggage fields is high, because the animals trample or squash a lot of the grass in the wetter conditions; the only way around this is to utilise 'row' grazing to graze one strip of a field at a time (again, this requires additional cost and manpower)

The reality of the situation in the UK is that we are far better than the US and the majority of our beef and lamb is grass-fed (although not necessarily always 'in field' and 'in total' - often supplemented with grains and/or beet), with very few concentrated animal feeding operations (some dairy is straying towards this).

A lot of the 'hype' around grass-fed comes out of the American systems; in reality, we are still far more traditional (and better) in our approach here in the UK. I understand that vitamin and mineral concentrations are typically higher in grass-fed cattle, as well as omega-3 and CLA concentrations (although with people typically trimming all of the fat for super-lean meat, this is a bit of a moot point), but these nutritional benefits can be obtained from a) eating grass-finished meat (a large proportion of UK beef and lamb is) and b) eating a varied, balanced diet. A further reality is that we wouldn't be able to feed the world's growing population if all of our ruminants were exclusively grass-fed.

Having said that, the closest thing to a certification that I know of (although I could talk to you all day about the positives and negatives of certification schemes) is the 'Pasture for Life' scheme. See https://www.pastureforlife.org/ [but be aware that there is inherent bias in the information on their website!].

My personal preference is to try and eat locally-reared meat, without stipulating that they need to be totally grass-fed. The average cow spends c. 200 days per year on grass anyway in the UK, higher in organic systems. Soil Association stipulate at least 60% grass-based feed. Ensuring that cattle or sheep are 'finished' well is more important to me than them being exclusively grass-fed, and I appreciate that the pressure on our soil systems from extensive grazing needs to be reduced, not increased. As such, my preference leans more towards http://www.freerangedairy.org/make-the-pasture-promise/

For pursuing local food, a good starting point could be this list: http://www.wildsheffield.com/node/3946

Hope that helps...

HJL shef has said in about a thousand words: foggage doesn't really work in a UK winter, farmers bring animals in and feed forage/fodder for a mix of welfare, economic and environmental reasons.

Posted from Sheffieldforum.co.uk App for Android

This is an interesting question; I'd love to know more about your reasoning for considering shifting to meat and dairy that is totally grass fed? (Are you going on a palaeo diet?)

 

I will make a few points in relation to the topic though:

- Foggage is the long grass grown after a cut for hay/silage has taken place; it's usually higher in roughage (stalkier) than the younger grass and can be use to overwinter animals. However, it isn't generally used as such in the UK (aside from sheep) because of the following factors:

a) Foggage is not as nutritionally dense as alternatively grass-based over-wintering - i.e. silage/haylage/hay; this makes maintaining body condition in the animals more difficult

b) There is often a need for supplementary feeding to allow the cattle to tolerate the colder and windier temperatures (there's very little economic wiggle room for this)

c) Maintaining a reliable, liquid water supply can also be difficult during particularly cold winters

d) Having animals (particularly heavy cattle) on very wet soils is incredibly bad for them. It causes a compaction layer which increases runoff and flood risk; it also increases foot and hoof diseases; it also decreases the productivity of the field in producing a reliable grass crop. These are the main reasons why I would always oppose a totally grass-fed system, in reality.

e) The amount of wastage in foggage fields is high, because the animals trample or squash a lot of the grass in the wetter conditions; the only way around this is to utilise 'row' grazing to graze one strip of a field at a time (again, this requires additional cost and manpower)

 

The reality of the situation in the UK is that we are far better than the US and the majority of our beef and lamb is grass-fed (although not necessarily always 'in field' and 'in total' - often supplemented with grains and/or beet), with very few concentrated animal feeding operations (some dairy is straying towards this).

 

A lot of the 'hype' around grass-fed comes out of the American systems; in reality, we are still far more traditional (and better) in our approach here in the UK. I understand that vitamin and mineral concentrations are typically higher in grass-fed cattle, as well as omega-3 and CLA concentrations (although with people typically trimming all of the fat for super-lean meat, this is a bit of a moot point), but these nutritional benefits can be obtained from a) eating grass-finished meat (a large proportion of UK beef and lamb is) and b) eating a varied, balanced diet. A further reality is that we wouldn't be able to feed the world's growing population if all of our ruminants were exclusively grass-fed.

 

Having said that, the closest thing to a certification that I know of (although I could talk to you all day about the positives and negatives of certification schemes) is the 'Pasture for Life' scheme. See https://www.pastureforlife.org/ [but be aware that there is inherent bias in the information on their website!].

 

My personal preference is to try and eat locally-reared meat, without stipulating that they need to be totally grass-fed. The average cow spends c. 200 days per year on grass anyway in the UK, higher in organic systems. Soil Association stipulate at least 60% grass-based feed. Ensuring that cattle or sheep are 'finished' well is more important to me than them being exclusively grass-fed, and I appreciate that the pressure on our soil systems from extensive grazing needs to be reduced, not increased. As such, my preference leans more towards http://www.freerangedairy.org/make-the-pasture-promise/

 

For pursuing local food, a good starting point could be this list: http://www.wildsheffield.com/node/3946

Hope that helps...

What a GREAT answer/semi answer to the question, informative and concise, I learnt something today. Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me if not all of us.

Well it's fair to say that this forum informs you of things you have never heard of. Helped and worked on farms for many years (a good while ago) but still learning it seems.

Angel1

the whirlow hall farm send all there animals away for slaughter then have them returned to the farm shop for sale,dont know if this helps.

What a GREAT answer/semi answer to the question, informative and concise, I learnt something today. Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me if not all of us.

I agree - it's a real breath of fresh air to see a post from someone who so clearly really knows what they're talking about.

Thank HJA, that is going to give me something to think about and some great pointers.

I am wanting to move away from grain fed as I want to go on a low sugar, high fat diet to increase my LDL quality, and have heard myself about the omega 3 in saturated fats. And also the vitamin K in the dairy.

So far I have only found Kerrygold butter on the supermarket shelves, but would love to be able to support a local farm who produce at least a similar, if not better product. And similar with the meat.

When I was younger I had a bit of nutrition conflict in the family. I had an older step dad who used to make me eat meat fat, as it was "good for you", and then my mum who joined weight watchers, but would have a low fat diet (but never lost weight). Myself, I had an EXTREMELY sweet tooth, and got very chubby and (now I realise very close to diabetes) as a child. through "Mother's Love" being an icecream every day and chips cooked in Sunflower oil (the new health food of the seventies) every other day :-/

Now I am 53, pre-diabetic and with non alcoholic liver disease, so naturally I am jumping at the chance to turn it all round whilst I can! I am so glad that the truth about vegetable oils and inflammatory omega 6's has been made known publicly at last :-), and even happier that I learned to love red meat fat as a child.

Thankyou again for the links :-)

XG