Rose Veal - the continuing story!

Pic c/o http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t0bv

Did you see Countryfile (on BBC1) this week?  If not, I'm sure it is available still on the Iplayer (here), so you can have a peek if you want.  I only mention it because they re-visited the issue of rose veal.  (Incidentally, is there a definitive version for the name "Rose" or "Rosé" veal?).


Since my earlier rant on the subject (see here), I have had cause to talk to many different people (thank you, one and all) who seem to be coming at the veal thing from lots of different angles and with lots of different viewpoints.  The amazing point about all this, is that everyone seems to have a differing view on where the veal situation is at in Great Britain.


It is staggering, to me, how many people who are supposedly working in the area of veal - in one way or another - have no idea about how the welfare standards for the production of veal in this country have improved.  So many of them still believe that veal is produced in the appalling crate system, which has been abolished in this country - and has been for years.  On the continent and if you're particularly looking for so-called "milk veal" or "white veal", then you can expect to find veal that has been produced in this barbaric way - although having said that, the welfare standards in some countries are fast following in GB's wake.

So if the people who are working in meat production/butchery/meat supply still believe that British Rose Veal is produced in this manner - is it any wonder that the public are still in the dark?  


This is why programmes such as Countryfile - that go out in a prime time evening slot and broadcast the good news about Rose Veal, are so important.


We have to get the message across to the general public that Rose Veal is as viable a product as any other meat product - and that the old (justified) reasons for outlawing it are over, provided you opt for British Rose Veal.


So let's take a look at what happens, currently - and as far as I understand it - to a male calf born to a dairy cow.


In some dairies, male calves are shot within days of having been born.  This is because of a) the understanding that it is uneconomical to produce these calves to an age where they can become meat producing, and b) the understanding (incorrect) that dairy breeds are incapable of producing enough musculature to make them viable for meat.

Now, personally, I would far rather these unfortunate calves are shot at an early age, if their only other alternative is to be shipped out to meat producers who might be some hours away - or even, God forbid, in another country.  The miserable conditions that calves often have to endure - and very often die on the way - in circumstances such as these would, I think, make anyone want to end their suffering before it happens.


However, this isn't their only alternative.


Now I do realise that not every diary farmer is able to do this - but I feel sure that those who, for reasons of space, or manpower, or whatever, can't keep their bull calves at home, with some co-operation between farms, should be able to send their calves a short distance to a farm that can keep them at home and produce them up to an appropriate age for the production of Rose Veal.  After all, it would seem that there are farms out there that do just that - take calves from dairies and produce Rose Veal, as their main source of income.

Ah, but - and you knew there was a "but" coming, didn't you - let's think about the calves' death.  Yes, I know, it's difficult - but if you're going to eat meat then how the animals die should be as much on your agenda as how they lived.


You see, this is where the supermarkets aren't helping matters.  It would seem - on the surface - that to be a veal producer for a supermarket would be a good thing.  Assured income for a steady supply.  However, look at the arrangements for converting the "on the hoof" veal to "in the polystyrene tray" veal and the rot begins to set in.  As a veal producer for a supermarket, you cannot take your calves to your local abbatoir (where you may very well know the workers, know their practices and be extremely happy that your animals will be respected and treated with care right through to an easy end) because said supermarket has a designated abbatoir which has been checked out by the supermarket as meeting all its requirements for animal welfare etc.  The problem is, that this designated abbatoir may very well be some six hours or more away from the farm.  Not good - not good at all.  Have you seen those diabolical multi-storey animal carriers?  I wouldn't want any veal calf of mine to have to travel to its end on one of those.  Call me a softie, but that's the way it is.  I just don't see why the veal can't travel once it has no pulse.


The obvious way around all this, it would seem to me, would be if more farms would be prepared to market and sell their own meat.  There would be multiple benefits to doing this, as from the animals' point of view it would cut down on the undesirable welfare issues I've set out above and from the consumer's point of view, it would cut out the middle men who consistently put their mark-up onto a piece of veal, until it reaches the astronomical prices being asked by the supermarkets - which would result in lower prices to the consumer.  From the farmer's point of view, it puts the money directly into their pocket with the added benefit of being able to provide the kind of life - and the kind of death - that the majority of farmers would choose for their animals.

c/o "Cows that Type" by Doreen Cronin

Now this all depends, of course, on how much it costs a farmer to take a new born dairy bull calf and produce it up to veal age.  On this subject, I've received no end of conflicting information - and again, it all depends who you speak to and what their angle is.  So, to get the true low-down on the subject, the lovely Louise Trowbridge of The Uncommon Pig has got in touch with me and offered to link me in on their project to raise two of their own dairy bull veal calves for a charity supper in November.  Louise is proposing to follow the costs of raising these two, from which I hope we'll be able to have a fairly (allowing for differences in cost across the country) definitive view of just how much it is likely to cost a farmer to raise a calf for veal.


I find this whole question of veal to be enormously interesting and filled with more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie novel.  As such, this story is by no means over and I think you can expect to find more blog posts appearing that deal with veal as Louise and I establish a method to work together  - but I also hope that you'll find your curiosity piqued by the insight into how the meat producing machine works in the U.K. - as written by a relative newbie to the whole process!

.

Rose veal - rant alert!

As of this morning, I am officially cross.  Now, if you know me, you know that getting me cross isn't so easy to do - as I am one of life's easygoing sorts.

However, purely by coincidence, yesterday we attempted - unsuccessfully - to lay our hands on some rose veal.  Lo and behold on the same day, there was a programme on the t.v. where Jimmy Doherty was trying to get Tesco to accept rose veal in some shape or form.

First of all, let me explain what rose veal is, for those who haven't a clue.  Rose veal is the meat of a male calf.  What happens is that because dairy cows have to have a calf from time to time to keep producing milk, naturally, male calves are born as well as female.  The females have their future already mapped out in that they simply join the milking herd.  For male calves, however, the future is bleak.  The majority - note that, the MAJORITY - of them are shot within hours of being born, because there is no market for them.  They are as much a by-product of the dairy industry, as by-catch is of the fishing trade.

Shooting a day old calf has to be one of the biggest crimes that farming isn't speaking about - and it happens every day, somewhere around the country, simply because there is no market for their meat.

Veal calves in a particularly poor, substandard situation

Yet - and get this - supermarkets like Tesco are busily importing German veal, "because the consumer wants it".  *blink*  So why the hell are we importing veal from Germany - where the welfare standards are so much lower than in Britain - when we are shooting our own veal calves?

Now I understand the reticence that people have, towards eating veal.  However, because of the improvement in the legal welfare standards in Britain over the past few years, veal calves are no longer kept in crates (which they are on the continent), in the dark, in inhumane conditions.  Rose veal calves are put out to grass for the first few weeks of their life - with a gang of other calves of the same age - then they are brought in and kept in pens (still with their little gang) with room to frolic and play while they put on the muscle required for good veal.  Yes, they have a short life - but so much better a life than being shot at birth!

Veal calves being raised for rose veal in the UK

So it seems that a number of people either haven't bothered about how their veal is produced, or alternatively, have come around to veal again in the knowledge that welfare standards have improved the lot of the veal calf.  They're probably happily buying Tesco's German veal, with no idea that they're supporting the inhumane veal production still in force on the continent.  (Yes, I accept that Tesco will have examined how their veal is produced and purport to be happy that it is produced to a good welfare standard - but you'll just have to forgive me if I'm a tad sceptical about the whole thing.  This is a supermarket, when all is said and done).

Now, the idea that these consumers are "happily" buying Tesco's German veal brings me to the price.  Are you sitting down?  Veal escalopes, in Tesco, are currently selling for an astronomical £27.99 per kilo.  That's almost thirty quid!  No, I don't think you heard me right - THIRTY quid!  Maybe you don't think that's an obscene price, I don't know.  I reckon you've probably gathered that I think it's completely outrageous.

So let's think about a hypothetical situation where Tesco have accepted the British rose veal and are selling it at about that price.  How many of you would consider using it?  I'd venture to suggest that not many could support that kind of outlay - and those who could, wouldn't use veal escalopes very often.

What's the betting that the next thing to happen isn't that Tesco extends the range of cuts of rose veal that they have available - oh no.  I'd be willing to bet that they take it off the shelves altogether.

So where does that leave the farmers, who have calves coming up through the ranks - calves that they've put money into and suddenly have no outlet for?  It's just a disaster waiting to happen for them.  I'd venture to suggest that the old saying that "you never see a farmer on a bike" is no longer true for a lot of smaller farms these days.  It seems as though farming is fast becoming a lost art.

I was quoted, yesterday from our local butcher, a price of £15 per kilo for the equivalent of braising steak, but in rose veal.  Now I thought that was bad enough - it certainly stopped us in our tracks of wanting some to make schnitzels with.

However, on the "Jimmy and the Giant Supermarket" last night, he was quoted a price of £5 per kilo for veal with which to make meatballs.

How the hell are we - ordinary punters - supposed to get behind the production of rose veal when the price is so terribly inflated?  Surely - even if it's just a welfare issue for the poor calves - there is such a huge market out there for affordable meat, that you would think the farmers would be hugely keen on producing rose veal.  I'm sure they are, in the majority, however it seems to me that the supermarkets have such a stranglehold on prices - which trickles down to your local butcher - that it is just pricing the product out of reach of us normal mortals.

 

The thing I keep coming back to, is that rose veal is a by-product of the dairy industry.  These calves are surplus to requirements, effectively.  So, by producing them up to an age of 35 weeks, farmers are making them viable as a meat product - and apparently, at a break-even cost to themselves.  I suppose there is a chance that by insisting on a reduction in price at the consumer's end of the trail, it pushes prices up for the farmer, resulting in the production of rose veal becoming a cost rather than break even.  I'm not sure on that point.

Anyway, now do you see why I am so cross?  I'm actually making myself crosser by the second in the writing of this piece.

I'm not going to give up on trying to find affordable rose veal - in truth I've just started.  Also, if any of my assumptions and beliefs as set out above are incorrect, do please comment and correct me.  This is something that needs to be shouted about - and I'd rather what I am shouting is correct, than perpetuate misunderstandings.

Read "Rose Veal - the continuing story" here ..