The Farmers Mart Aug-Sep 2019 - Issue 64 | Page 46

46 WATERFORD HOUSE FARM
AUG/SEP 2019 • farmers-mart.co.uk
FOLLOW THE LAMBS, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE
LAMBS … AND CATTLE WITH MATURITY
CHRIS Berry talks with the Atkinson family
about the livestock they consider buying
for R&J Yorkshire’s Finest Farmers &
Butchers.
‘Too young’, that’s Rob and Ryan
Atkinson’s opinion of beef going into
the meat market at 12-14 months which
certainly wouldn’t be right for their enter-
prise at R&J Meats based at Wateredge in
Kirby Malzeard that has made its mark in
supplying high end restaurants and food
establishments for over 40 years.
‘I will stand my ground with any farmer
that cattle at that age haven’t the maturity,’
says Rob. ‘We prefer cattle that have aged
properly and will finish largely between
28-30 months. We will buy stock from 14-16
months. We are looking for heifers because
their beef eats better and allows a greater
percentage of development in body fat and
marbling – and we feed them on our own
system on the farm. It’s the maturity and the
cover of fat that we’re after and we graze
up to 200-head here at Waterford House
Farm out at grass to mature steadily.’
If you’re a farmer looking to produce
stock that Rob and Ryan might buy in
a livestock market it is of course highly
appropriate to take on board Rob’s
‘ We are absolutely 100
per cent devoted to
farming and buying
from farmers who
produce the best stock
with the same farming
values as ourselves
’
comments. His family pedigree in livestock
buying spans decades of purchasing
throughout the UK following in his father
Albert’s footsteps.
‘We buy everything ourselves because that
way we are in control and can dictate our
own quality. We are absolutely 100 per cent
devoted to farming and buying from farmers
who produce the best stock with the same
farming values as ourselves, and without that
we would only be 50 per cent of what and
who we are. For us it’s not all necessarily
about a specific breed, it’s also the feeding
regime and the way the stock is reared.’
‘We’ve done taste tests in blind tasting.
We’ve had top chefs here and we’ve pre-
sented them with everything from Dexter to