The Hereford cow is one of the most famous of the traditional British beef breeds with its distinctive white face and brown and white body. Renowned for its excellent eating quality and quiet temperament, the Hereford has been seeing a resurgence in popularity.
Being a traditional breed one of the Hereford’s main characteristics is its ability to fatten off grass, without the need to feed supplementary diets of cereals as is the case with modern continental breeds. This grass-based diet makes our cattle slightly slower growing but gives a very tender meat with a superior flavour. This eating quality is also excellent thanks to the marbling characteristic of Hereford meat which when cooked helps improve the texture and taste of the meat: how beef should taste.
Grass-fed beef has been proven to have various health benefits over beef fed on a cereal-based diet. Grass-fed beef is loaded with natural minerals and vitamins, plus it is a great source of conjugated linoleic acid: a fat that reduces the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes and a number of immune disorders. Grass-fed beef also has the recommended ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fats which is healthy for the heart.
As with our free-range pigs our Pedigree Hereford Cattle are not routinely given any antibiotics. This is because of the extensive grass-based production system which makes for a healthier animal.
Here at Essington we have a suckler herd of pedigree Herefords. This means that we breed off the pedigree Hereford cows with a pedigree Hereford bull and then rear the offspring for meat. Although this is a bit more work than just buying in cattle to fatten up it means that we can select the finest cattle to breed from, ensuring a supreme quality end product for our customers. The pedigree Hereford is also a purpose-bred beef breed where as many other beef cattle originate from the dairy industry. By having pedigree Herefords we are guaranteeing quality.