New River Cottage series!

[vikkib]

Not sure but if they are outside eating the grass then this affects the quality of meat, so they are kept inside and fed milk and a ceral diet, bovine cornflakes

Aaaaaahhh, I see!

'Bovine cornflakes' Love it!

I'm glad to see there is an alternative both to the awful traditional conditions for producing veal and the fact that young bull calves would otherwise just be shot which does seem like a terrible waste.

[Hilary B]

I'd agree that it's "quite" a good compromise,but what I meant to get across is how is it any greater compromise than rearing chooks in spacious barns???

Got to go with NOG tho'...would be seriously impressed to watch a hawk devour a cow!

The chooks that are reared for meat (indoors or out) are bred for the purpose. The veal calves, like the chicks that end up as zoo feed, are a by-product of a different branch of farming.
I would expect a baby calf would feed a couple of vultures quite nicely.........

[Alison]

I stopped eating veal as a child when I reaslied the barbaric process that the poor calf endured after it was widely highlighted here in the UK. Started eating it again when a couple of farmers we know started selling the rose stuff. Would never eat it on the continent.

Didn't see the start of the programme so the first time I saw the veal it was being butchered but do know that you can feed veal grass - seem to remember that was exactly what Janet Street Porter was doing on the last series of the F Word.

[HeyWayne]

As usual I enjoyed the programme - loved the puns, especially the "taking the pith" one.

Good work Hugh, good work.

[HayleyB]

I have only considered rose veal for a while and have never eaten any other type, it's about as humane as it is gonna get....

[HotStuff]

Many many years ago, before I knew how it was treated, I had veal several times when I was working in Switzerland, a dish called "Geschnetzeltes Kalbfleisch nach Zürcher-Art", basically it's veal escalope in a cream & mushroom sauce. I'd love to be able to make it using rose veal, but I'm having trouble finding any, my local supermarkets don't stock it. Guess I need to find a good butcher.

[Snadger]

I was wondering "Have I missed a series or sunfink?" River cottage, it's garden and smallholding seem to have 'grown' quite a bit?????

Still not happy about the veal calves.......... I'ts still highly un-natural for cripes sakes. What harm can grass do to the flavour of the meat? Wean them,let them outside, in a field and stop force feeding them milk!

[NOG]

The house has grown a bit two.

[Hilary B]

I was wondering "Have I missed a series or sunfink?" River cottage, it's garden and smallholding seem to have 'grown' quite a bit?????

Still not happy about the veal calves.......... I'ts still highly un-natural for cripes sakes. What harm can grass do to the flavour of the meat? Wean them,let them outside, in a field and stop force feeding them milk!

Grass doesn't harm the flavour of the meat, but allowing milk-fed (other than by suckling Mum) calves to graze risks serious tummy upsets. It is quite natural for a calf to still get SOME milk up to nearly a year old. Weaned and turned out to graze, they would cost more in feed than the saleable price. Farmers can't afford to do that, which is why they mostly kill them at a few hours old.
Giving the calves roomy pens, solid feed as well as milk (although they really ought to have plenty of hay as well as grain) is the workable compromise between the 'white veal' and simply treating bull calves as a waste product for rapid disposal.

[Snadger]

......................... Weaned and turned out to graze, they would cost more in feed than the saleable price. Farmers can't afford to do that, which is why they mostly kill them at a few hours old............................

Sorry but I still can't get my head round that one Hilary? Milk and wheat cost money, if you have a field grass costs nowt!

[di]

So basically,what it comes down to is the fact that it's financially viable!Which still leaves me in confusion as to why it's OK for Dairy Farmers that are struggling to keep their Bull calves in an unnatural indoor enviroment,yet the struggling poultry farmers that keep their chooks in a similarly unnatural indoor environment are frowned upon?
I still see it as double standards!
The fact that veal is a slightly trendy meat couldn't have anything to do with it???
For the record,I'm not condoning either!

[Snadger]

So basically,what it comes down to is the fact that it's financially viable!Which still leaves me in confusion as to why it's OK for Dairy Farmers that are struggling to keep their Bull calves in an unnatural indoor enviroment,yet the struggling poultry farmers that keep their chooks in a similarly unnatural indoor environment are frowned upon?
I still see it as double standards!
The fact that veal is a slightly trendy meat couldn't have anything to do with it???
For the record,I'm not condoning either!

Not convinced about chickens being kept in barns all the time either.........even if they have straw bales and cuddly toys to play with!

[di]

Not sure how my post came across....we only eat outdoor bred meat and my ideal would be that any other simply wasn't available!
My point is,how can Hugh one year lead a campaign to stop indoor chicken farming,yet this year relax his standards & say it's OK for calves???

[NAS]

Hi,.

just want to ask, how lond do the veggie seeds stay viable.?
I am moving to Africa and would like to have my own kitchen garden out there,please do let me know .

and if anyone have advice for a novice going to a new land, wouuld be a great.

thanks

[TEB]

Not sure how my post came across....we only eat outdoor bred meat and my ideal would be that any other simply wasn't available!
My point is,how can Hugh one year lead a campaign to stop indoor chicken farming,yet this year relax his standards & say it's OK for calves???

Did he say it was okay, I didnt hear that bit - I got the impresssion that it was better to have 7 - 8 months of life than shooting bull calves at 2 days of age, the conditions I saw the bulls in were infinitely far better than battery farmed chickens and according to Hugh they llive longer and better than pigs, which I know shouldn't be a justification, but what do you do with bull calves in the dairy industry I suppose the only alternative is genetic manipulation and you know how well that would go down.