15-01-2015
Producer Profile: Cattle Connect producer Mark
For the first of our 2015 Producer Profiles, we sat down with Mark, one of the producers on our Cattle Connect scheme, to discuss his experiences with the scheme and take a look at his unique cattle housing system...
For Dovecote Park calf finisher
Mark, nutrition stands at the forefront of raising high quality beef cattle.
One of the producers on our Cattle Connect scheme (see Cattle Connect page for
more information), Mark has reared cattle for Dovecote Park since 2009, having
come across the scheme through a prior association with another Dovecote calf rearer.
‘It was something I could actually build a business plan upon, rather
than any guesswork,’ Mark says of the initial attraction of the Cattle
Connect scheme, ‘It gave us the
opportunity to look at something long term, rather than a short term fix, so it
guaranteed supply and guaranteed an outlet. Everything made sense.’
Based in North Yorkshire, not far
from Dovecote Park’s Pontefract site, the most striking feature of Mark’s farm
is the prominent round house buildings. Put in place over a two week period in
2009, these were the first in the
country built for the express purpose of sheltering cattle.
‘It all just works,’ he states of his unique housing system, ‘the way we set it up, we treated it as two
individual buildings that just combined to create a complete system. They’re
superb. We feed from the exterior we bed from the exterior, virtually when we
do go in its to do something to them. So they’re left alone, but we can just
monitor them so easily.’
In addition to the use of the
purpose built round houses, Marks system succeeds owing to a diligent and
precise feeding regime, tailored over a long period, with a considerable amount
of external consultation,
‘I only utilise what I have available to me – it’s something that I
need to know.’, says Mark regarding his feeding regime, ‘I draw from as many opinions as I can. I'm not trained in nutrition, but since starting with Dovecote, with Cattle
Connect, I wanted to learn an awful lot more about nutrition, and utilising
everything that goes in through the mouth- it has to have a benefit, as nutrition
brings health. If animals are eating
properly you can prevent a lot of problems. Nutrition is at the forefront of
everything I do here.’
Speaking of the benefits he
receives from supplying through Cattle Connect, Mark states,
‘You've got a source, you've got an outlet, the marketing is done, the
sourcing is done – you've got something to fall back onto – you've got the
fieldsmen, you've got Simon. Without
Dovecote, I’d probably wouldn't have done what I'm doing here now.’