Nuffield #5 The Week of Living Danishly (Day 2)
Day two and another trip courtesy of Viking Genetics, this time to visit Danish Crown, the biggest slaughterhouse and producer of beef in Denmark. Afterwards I took a trip to Kolding, the largest town in the area. Sitting on a fjord, it has the beautiful Koldinghus (photo below) and a medieval centre filled with small shops. Driving back I crossed over the ford at Vjele by bridge.
Danish Crown
Danish Crown processes 60% of cows slaughtered for beef in Denmark, and has abattoirs in Holsted (where I visited) and a smaller one in Aalborg. Over 5000 animals a week are handled by the two sites, and there are partner companies in other European countries. Meat from Danish Crown is sold in Denmark and also exported within Europe, and to Japan, Canada and the USA. The Japanese market takes tongues, which are packed for a luxury market as they are given by husbands to their wives as romantic gifts (note: avoid Japanese men).
The company is farmer owned, and they receive an annual dividend priced as a bonus on animals sold. Non-members can also sell animals to the abattoir. Cattle are bought from all over the country, and collected by Danish Crown. Selling in batches (so fewer pick ups) attracts a bonus.
The process is a mixture of manual labour, machines for heavy lifting, and technology- a scanner is used for classification, which takes out any human mistakes or biases and ensures continuity.
The offices and the abattoir all sit within the same modern building, and the office corridors (which are on the first floor) have viewing windows so that every stage of the processing (on the ground floor) can be viewed- including the actual killing of the cattle. Canvases on the corridor walls depict aspects of the process- waiting in the lairage, cuts of meat, offal hanging. The whole place is incredibly clean and well designed, with the windows overlooking the “dirty” (pre-skinning) process set back so that viewing can be avoided. There are benches in nooks along the way, and they are upholstered in cow hide. Leather and hides are one of the valuable byproducts of the beef process.
Beef in Denmark
Most of the beef processed within Denmark is from animals aged between eight and ten months. Some of this would be classified as veal in the UK, but the meat is darker- pink though, rather than red. Danish Crown does not deal in white veal, but it is interesting to note that the meat processed is sold as “calf meat”. Currently Denmark’s actual beef production- from cull dairy cows and the tiny beef herd- does not meet the country’s demand for red meat, and so the equivalent of 300,000 animals are imported each year from places such as South America.
Around 60% of the beef consumed in Denmark is mince, a trend which has increased as people look for convenience in cooking.
The reasons why beef is dominated by younger animals come down to two main points- consumer demand for lean, tender meat, and the current subsidy regime which only pays out to farmers when animals are slaughtered younger than 16 months. As of the 1st January the subsidy will be available for animals up to 30 months.
Danish Calf Concept
With so few animals coming from the beef herd, most of the purpose reared beef in Denmark originates from the dairy herd, and the best- over 180kg- is sold as the Danish Calf Concept.
These animals are dairy bull calves, dairy x beef bull and heifer calves, and some freemartin heifers. They are usually purchased by calf rearers from dairy farms at two weeks old, and after weaning usually finished on a diet of straw and concentrates. Some are also grazed. Calves are bought from organic and conventional herds and reared together- those wanting to maintain organic status can rear under a different concept.
Calf rearing for beef is an established business in Denmark, and the largest supplier to Danish Crown will produce around 3000 a year. Given the timescale for finishing, he has around 2500 calves on the farm at any one time. Rearers have been reluctant to take Jersey x beef calves at two weeks old, which has been one of the catalysts driving better management of these calves.
The increase in sexed semen and beef semen use that I heard about yesterday is already showing an impact at Danish Crown. Meat classification averages and finishing ages can be shown for each supplier. The trend is for heifer calves to have better classifications (as almost all are dairy x beef, whereas some bull calves will be pure dairy) but to take longer to finish. When looking year on year, the classification average for the bull calves is increasing, as more of them are dairy x beef, due to higher usage of sexed and beef semen.
Premium Heifer Concept
As we saw yesterday, Denmark has set a policy of no euthanasia from the 1st January, 2022, and farmers have turned to sexed semen to achieve it. The industry is working together to find a way to use the beef calves born as a result of this change to displace some of the red meat imported from South America- this is the Premium Heifer Concept.
As heifer dairy x beef calves take longer to finish, a scheme has been set up to take them at older ages and heavier weighs. Upping the age where subsidy is paid will help this, and heifers will be accepted between 18 and 42 months old (the oldest will of course still lose the subsidy). There are no specifications on breed or rearing, but they will need to meet a weight of 250kg to 360kg. Farmers selling batches can also feed purebred dairy freemartins into the scheme. Price will be paid on quality, and there is already a supermarket keen to take the product.
The intention is that dairy farmers will use female sexed beef to deliberately enter into this scheme, or of course male sexed for the Danish Calf Concept. I heard yesterday that the scheme is thought to have application where farmers have ground unsuitable for crops or intensive grazing, as the heifers won’t need to be pushed so hard for growth.
Displacing imports is deemed to be a win for carbon foot printing, but will also satisfy the Danish consumer’s concerns about overseas welfare standards.
Pigs and People
Pig meat is the most popular in Denmark, and their pork industry is known around the world. They have had challenges this year; Spain have increased their pork production, and with China shut off due to swine fever, have released their meat into Europe. This has crashed the price of small pigs in Denmark.
Another key thing to consider in Denmark is people management. Denmark famously has high wages, but also a high cost of living and a very high tax rate (approaching 50%). Attracting abattoir workers can be difficult, and any immigrant workers have to be paid the same as Danish staff, so they don’t have the option of cheap foreign labour. For this reason some labour intensive tasks in processing are exported to Germany.
Lessons Learnt
The UK industry is looking to finish dairy calves younger, in order to be more cost efficient. Denmark has got this wrapped up, but is looking to breed animals for a slower finishing process
Jersey x beef meat is the best tasting
A strategy to rear beef to displace imports can satisfy farmers and consumers
Beef from the dairy herd has clear environmental benefits
Sexed beef semen can help farmers meet market demands
Dairy farmers need to produce calves that are attractive to beef farmers- breed, sex, and health/weight when sold
Any person can access a Danish database which shows how many cows, heifers, and bulls are on a farm, and whether or not they have salmonella in the herd
Clear marketing of products can make dairy beef (both pure and cross bred) attractive to supermarkets and consumers
Denmark are acting to improve the ethics of dairy farming now, while attention focuses mostly on mink and pigs, meaning they are a step ahead
In a relatively short space of time the Danish dairy industry has worked together- from farmers to breeding companies to slaughterhouse to supermarket- to develop a strategy which will eliminate euthanasia and also deliver meat products that consumers want to buy and that will lower the carbon foot print of beef eaten in Denmark
Through this a new opportunity has also arisen fro calf rearers/beef farmers who want to or need to work with a different model to that which currently dominates
Living Danishly #2
While taking part in the tour, I couldn’t not notice that one of the production lines had stopped, and lone beef burgers chilled on the conveyor belt with no people in sight.
“Oh they will be on their lunch break,” said my host.
Can you imagine a factory in the UK stopping production for an hour for people to eat? Not having overlapped shifts or staggered breaks to keep it running?
Lunch at work seems an important thing here. Both days I have been invited to have lunch, and this is a communal affair with a designated room set up with a table covered in cold meat, salad, rye bread, and potatoes. Everyone helps themselves, and noticeably, everyone clears up after themselves afterwards too.
