Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
past year. Annual poultry meat production was reported
to be 79.4 million tonnes in 2008 (FAOSTAT).
duces almost 80% of its beef requirement, compared with
about 50% just before the Second World War. The remain-
ing 20% is imported mainly from Ireland and Argentina.
About 52% of the home-produced beef is derived from the
dairy herd, that is, from calves reared for beef. Specialised
beef cattle and their crosses provide 48% of the home kill.
UK meat plants and throughputs
In 2008, 28.8 million animals (cattle, sheep and pigs)
were slaughtered in the United Kingdom (Department
of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), 2008). Latest esti-
mates indicate that there are approximately 360 abattoirs
in the United Kingdom which is a significant reduction
from the level of 2062 abattoirs, reported in Great Britain
alone in 1968 (see Table 1.3, Table 1.4 and Table 1.5).
Breeds
In Britain's dairy herd, the Holstein/British Friesian is
the dominant breed. About one-third of mature dairy
cows and almost half of the dairy heifers are mated with
beef bulls, mostly Limousin and Angus and a smaller
proportion with Belgian Blue due to concerns regarding
incidence of calving difficulties with the latter breed, in
order to increase the beef potential of calves not required
as dairy herd replacements.
Exotic breeds have been introduced into the United
Kingdom in an attempt to improve beef production. The
first of these (in 1961) was the French Charolais, which
is typical of the large cattle breeds of western Europe
with their mature body size, rapid growth rate and lean
carcases. Charolais and Belgian Blue, are, however, liable
to some difficulty in calving, often necessitating caesar-
ean section, but this is apparently regarded as an accept-
able risk by many farmers. British Charolais, through
selective breeding, have easier calvings.
Other breeds which have been imported include
Blonde d'Aquitaine, Brown Swiss, Limousin, Murray
Grey (which was developed in Australia but has been in
the United Kingdom for decades and is now widely con-
sidered to be British), Piedmontese, Romagnola, French
Salers and Simmental. The Luing was evolved from Beef
Shorthorn and Highland cattle on the island off the west
coast of Scotland.
British breeds have been exported to many other
countries to improve local strains, as live animals, frozen
embryos or semen.
Throughout the world, there are numerous breeds of
domestic cattle used for meat and milk production and
also in some cases as draught animals (see Fig. 1.1,
Fig. 1.2, Fig. 1.3, Fig. 1.4, Fig. 1.5, Fig. 1.6 and Fig. 1.7 for
cattle bred for beef ). Most are humped Zebu cattle or
cross-breeds of these with cattle of European origin. In
addition, the domestic buffalo, the water buffalo of Asia,
Cattle
In 2011, the world cattle population was 1399.9 million
with 195 million buffaloes (Food and Agriculture
Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), 2011). The
numbers in the main countries are as follows (in mil-
lions): Brazil, 212.8; India, 210.8; United States, 92.7;
China, 83; and Ethiopia, 53.4.
In the United Kingdom, beef and milk account for about
one-third of the total agricultural output. Britain now pro-
Table 1.3
Total throughputs (2008) in the United Kingdom
Animal group
Number slaughtered ('000)
Cattle
Prime cattle (steers, young bulls
and heifers)
2 028.4
Adult cattle (cows and adult bulls)
559.2
Steers
999.2
Heifers
758.9
Young bulls
270.3
Cows
541.4
Adult bulls
17.8
Calves
44.2
Sheep
Ewes and rams
2 344.5
Other sheep and lambs
14 352.4
Pigs
Sows and adult boars
235.0
Clean pigs
9 191.8
Source: Reproduced with permission from DEFRA (2008).
© DEFRA.
Table 1.4
Throughputs in the United Kingdom by species in 2009
Species
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Total
Cattle
1 467 185
499 811
144 856
453 726
2 565 578
Sheep
9 509 298
1 527 533
3 933 577
582 299
15 552 707
Pigs
7 025 834
592 898
30 198
1 354 767
9 003 697
Poultry
694 773 788
50 654 143
47 734 287
102 076 083
894 238 301
