Emley Show: Champion beef farmer tells of fears for sector

The Emley Show’s interbreed champion beef farmer has spelt out his concerns for the sector following a second dry summer in succession and years of political uncertainty.

Multi award-winning farmer Jonathan Clowes, who also runs an agricultural merchants, claimed the supreme cattle title with his home-bred 27-month-old red and white Belted Galloway, Monochrome Lotus, a descendant of the best breeding line on the farm which comprises a 60-head herd.

After being handed the coveted red, white and blue rosette, Mr Clowes, who farms in Derbyshire and was attending the West Yorkshire event with his wife, Vicky, and daughter, Chloe, said: “We’ve got a show team of four or five different animals. This is about our eighth show this year and they’ve all been winning. We have seven or eight red and whites in the herd and she’s possibly the best red and white we’ve bred, a very good example of a red and white Belted Galloway. She’s got really good width across her shoulders, the hips and back end. At the end of the day it’s a beef animal and if you look at the top line, it’s as flat as a table top, and as the old saying goes a leg on each corner. She’s very good on her feet, great mobility and a nice, even straight belt helps her look a bit flashier in the show ring. You’re wanting a broad head, nice big ears with plenty of hair – the head is the first thing you see with a Belted Galloway. They need a good coat of hair all over because where they originate from in south-west Scotland there’s driving rain.”

He said the Emley Show, which is staged on land beside the landmark 319m transmitter mast on Emley Moor, was Monochrome Lotus’ second outing. “She was out last week at Heckington in Lincolnshire where she was reserve female champion, but she’s obviously gone a lot better today,” said Mr Clowes.

The competition follows recent market movements have created additional uncertainty in the British beef sector, cutting around 70p/kg from the GB deadweight beef price, pushing it below £6/kg. The NFU said while some level of fluctuation was expected in any market, the “sudden and sharp downward correction” was “both disappointing and concerning and should have been managed more effectively by processors”.

Mr Clowes said as his pedigree livestock breeding operation was a niche enterprise it had been partly shielded from recent fluctuations in the beef market. He said: “The price has been pretty good in the market for the last couple of years for our fattened steers for finished beef, which we sell direct to consumers in freezer boxes, so we’re protected there, getting a slightly better market price.

"The bigger concern is we’ve had a really bad summer again, no rain for six weeks, maybe more. There’s a grass shortage, fodder’s going to be expensive again this year.

"The other issue is not knowing where you are with the Government because the last couple of years they’ve not been outwardly supporting British farmers. Because we deal with people directly, I feel the majority of the public do support British farming and given the choice would rather buy food produced by British farmers.”