Weird News

[xoxoxoBruce]

I'm unfamiliar with the British Blue breed. Their website has a pdf extoling the breed's virtues.



It would seem to be a beef breed, but they refer to "Dairy Bred Carcase" and "Dairy Bred Heifers" which would lead me to believe they're dual purpose. Milk for a couple years then meat.

[Griff]

I think they're breeding beef British Blue bulls to dairy cows for ease of birth and I assume putting weight on fast.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Could be, but this has been an established breed since 1982. Seems funny to crossbreed.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I'm unfamiliar with the British Blue breed. Their website has a pdf extoling the breed's virtues.



It would seem to be a beef breed, but they refer to "Dairy Bred Carcase" and "Dairy Bred Heifers" which would lead me to believe they're dual purpose. Milk for a couple years then meat.

I don't have an agricultural background, although I do have friends in farming and have absorbed a little of their world through osmosis, so to speak.

Having said that, I do not recall ever hearing of a British Blue, although I know that the Belgian Blue has become increasingly popular here in recent years.

My neighbours, who manage two farms on a local estate, withdrew from beef farming some years ago. I was talking to Mrs Farming Friend a few days ago and she said that while a finished beef animal would probably fetch £1200 ($2000) the input costs were too high for them to end up with much of a profit. Also it wasn't unknown for them to suddenly depart this life.
As she said, they now concentrate on arable and dissuading sheep from discovering ever more inventive ways of committing suicide.

Anyway, next time I see either of them, I'll ask about the British Blue. Watch this space.