Farming Talk: Beef Expo has lots of industry advice on offer

I am currently sorting out the arrangements for Beef Expo at the Three Counties showground in Malvern on May 24. It's a great venue for a great event.

This is probably my favourite technical event of the year, the only downside being that the more you like an event the more you end up getting involved.

This year EBLEX seems to be doing more than ever, literally covering all aspects of the supply chain from conception to consumption!

With beef from the dairy herd playing an increasing role in UK beef production, there will be an area dedicated to that with loads of information and examples of production systems.

On the main EBLEX stand we will be covering a variety of issues including breeding, nutrient management, our new costings system (StockTake) as well as cattle selection.

Selection is an issue that always generates a good debate, and so it should as there are still too many cattle being marketed out of spec for the outlet that they are originally aimed at.

We have just had the most recent set of cattle slaughter data, and overall, the finishing quality results paint an encouraging picture, indicating that 87 per cent of cattle slaughtered in Great Britain are being selected at an appropriate level of finish.

Conformation quality results, on the other hand, show that only 58 per cent of cattle are reaching target, demonstrating that the industry would benefit from a focus on breeding improvements.

Going a step further along the supply chain, we are again running the Farm Shop Beef Butchery competition.

This competition seems to go from strength to strength and what some of these guys can achieve with a piece of meat and a knife is fantastic.

Each year we photograph the individual displays in order to show them on a rolling presentation the following year, and they do truly get better and better.

We will also be running a cookery demonstration at the event for the first time.

Denise, our development chef, will demonstrate some fantastic beef recipes every hour, starting at 10.30am. Not only can you see how it is done, you can also sample the dishes and then take home the free recipe booklets that are being distributed by the Ladies in Beef.

Hopefully you'll be feeling generous on the day as the ladies will also be collecting for Help for Heroes.

All in all it promises to be a busy day and a great event, so I look forward to seeing many of you there!

Clive Brown is senior northern regional manager, EBLEX