Is this the competition?

[Saffy]

It says British Beef, it says slaughtered in the UK, it doesn't say what breed. I will eat it and let you know what its like!

Cannot remember what it was but there was something that was Duchy Originals in Waitrose before Christmas...country of origin was Holland!

Stephanie

[Saffy]

The texture is very good, quite fine and tender but it is lacking flavour.

So I don't think its Dexter, although the texture is similar to Dexter the flavour isn't quite there but VERY nice! I'm not ruling it out...has anyone else tried it?

Are we competing with this?

Should we be competing with this???

Anyone got any thoughts?

[davidw]

We are probably not competing with this although I think that we should be. As I see it, we have two main challenges. One is supply. A group of Dexter owners in the Midlands are organised, prodded and cajoled by Mike Bancroft to supply 3 or 4 Dexters each month to a traditional meats butcher in Coventry. I know that Mike has to do a lot of work to arrange to supply just this one butcher's shop - the work involved in providing a regular supply to a large supermarket is a whole different scale of operations.
The other challenge is consistency. I visited the cold store of a major catering butcher - again in Coventry. It was noteable just how consistent the sides of beef were. Every one was identical. Dexters and their owners are individuals, not identical.
The Irish Dexter owners have done a deal with Aldi, so it can be done, but unfortunately the current issues at the society office are diverting attention away from marketing our beef.

[Saffy]

Some very good points there.

To clarify the one point, do you think some of us are over finishing and some of us under finishing our cattle?

[Boofarm]

The texture is very good, quite fine and tender but it is lacking flavour.

So I don't think its Dexter, although the texture is similar to Dexter the flavour isn't quite there but VERY nice! I'm not ruling it out...has anyone else tried it?

Are we competing with this?

Should we be competing with this???

Anyone got any thoughts?

Looking at the steak I am not surprised it lacks a bit of flavour - it looks to me as if it is a bit on the lean side. Supermarket steak was the motive force behind us buying Dexter Cattle although I am not sure that my mrs had 25 in mind when she agreed to get them.

I don't think we are competing directly but yes we do have to compete in the sense that our marketing is that we offer a quality product and if we market on that basis that is what we need to deliver.

Some very good points there.

To clarify the one point, do you think some of us are over finishing and some of us under finishing our cattle?

If you go to an abbatoir then in general the animals there will either have been drawn by a fieldsman trained in what the buyer(s) want or bought live by a retained buyer trained to the same standard and buying for several killing lines, it is not surprising that there is probably more consistency there than obtained by a variety of (largely) hobby farmers and smallholders. N.B. I am not seeking to denigrate anyone here since I include myself.

We also notice a good deal of variety in the store dexters we have bought - a range of 180 to 240Kg clean on the same feeding regime and at the same age indicates a good deal of variety in genetic potential and /or early growth rates.

[bjreroberts]

Rarely by Duchy originals products, especially the veg as it is often foreign. I think they are stretching the brand too far
My preference is for local, seasonal