0:00:02 > 0:00:07Since the film camera first ventured into Britain's fields, farming has undergone a revolution.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Nothing was left untouched.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Home movies captured unique and very personal accounts of life on the land.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20Farm machinery has been preserved on celluloid, so too has the livestock.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Cattlemen have faced huge changes in the last 80 years.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28What they've done makes an extraordinary story.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36How did we get from pedigree cattle reaching only to the stockman's waist...
0:00:36 > 0:00:39to beasts up to a man's shoulder?
0:00:39 > 0:00:41You can see it now, when I move into him.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44How did we go from animals butchered behind the high street...
0:00:44 > 0:00:48- What can I get for you, madam? - ..to supermarkets?
0:00:48 > 0:00:54And why are the farmers who ploughed out the bracken looking to a new way to save hill farming?
0:00:54 > 0:00:58There's probably where the future of British agriculture lies - clover.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01This is the story of agriculture...
0:01:01 > 0:01:04- Come on! - ..from the stockman's point of view.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23All the stock is checked once a day.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26This is a tale of cattle-breeding over 80 years,
0:01:26 > 0:01:31and how it's influencing the beef that's reared today.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35Robert Parker is checking a new arrival on his beef farm in Scotland.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45He crosses two of Britain's proudest native breeds -
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Scotland's black Aberdeen Angus
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and the red and white cattle from Hereford.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Robert's calf is the product of a 20th-century revolution.
0:01:55 > 0:02:01By cross-breeding Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle, he has transformed his farm.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Compare these films of Herefords back then and now.
0:02:09 > 0:02:15Pedigree bulls have leapt in size from being only up to the stockman's waist to being at their shoulders.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19The Herefords were originally large.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23But over the years, breeders changed them down...
0:02:23 > 0:02:26then up again.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32The same happened to the size of the black cattle from Scotland.
0:02:32 > 0:02:38Both breeds have been shaped by wars, changes in diet and government influence.
0:02:41 > 0:02:47Robert's changes reflect the latest shift away from beef in bulk towards quality.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50One of the best things about these two breeds coming together
0:02:50 > 0:02:51is the calf vigour.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54This calf is just an hour-and-a-half old.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58It's been up, it's had a suck, it's on its feet, it's off with its mother.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03I think it's great to see a nice calf running with a good heifer.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06But, yeah, you see the pound signs going round too.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09It's money every time a calf hits the ground.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Ah, see? You've got plenty of go.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20We're going to discover how Robert, on his farm overlooking the ferry route to Northern Ireland,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23has re-examined 80 years of cattle-breeding
0:03:23 > 0:03:25to meet today's demands.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Just like Robert, Colin Wright,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38here watching himself on a home movie,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41is another witness to this cattle revolution.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Hello - this is the fella.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47- This is the fella.- This is when we lived in the village.
0:03:47 > 0:03:48Colin's coming across to work.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53In 1939, the Wright family took over the tenancy on Warp Farm -
0:03:53 > 0:03:58220 acres of East Yorkshire near the River Humber.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01- There we are. - There's Colin on his...
0:04:01 > 0:04:05This was just the time when the size of Britain's native breeds was being reduced.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07- There's bull.- There he is, look.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Just gone through.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12Here is the lad.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17He's just cracking the whip round.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21- Look at that! That's how you should ride a horse.- We know. We know.
0:04:21 > 0:04:22One hand.
0:04:28 > 0:04:35This is a piece of thin rib - an oven-buster.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Margaret is cooking the Wright family's favourite joint of beef.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44That's sufficient.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48The British love of the Sunday roast earned us a nickname.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52The French refer to the English as les rosbifs
0:04:52 > 0:04:54because the English did, traditionally,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57eat very large quantities of beef.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59It should be done now!
0:05:02 > 0:05:05The Wrights have farmed here since 1939.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Then, it was a mixed farm, like so many before the last war.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16Part of the mix on farms like this was animals for the butcher.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18- Dad?- Yes?- Here's the bull.
0:05:18 > 0:05:24This 1937 film gave cinema audiences a glimpse of life on a beef farm.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27The new bull is making his majestic arrival.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32A pedigree Hereford bull arrives to father next season's calves.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34At the other end of the farmyard,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37the year's crop of bullocks go off to market.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44They are scenes echoed today at Warp Farm.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49But Colin saw the 1937 world swept aside...
0:05:49 > 0:05:52and the cattle change.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Getting the bullocks, or stores, off to market is always an exciting job.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08This history of British cattle is told in the show ring by Mike Keeble.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12..pedigree breeding as we know it in all species today.
0:06:12 > 0:06:18In his commentary, he tells the story of the two breeds at the heart of this programme.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20The black Aberdeen Angus...
0:06:20 > 0:06:24and the red and white cattle from Hereford.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28He's been part of the team at the Great Yorkshire Show for 15 years.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31It's something I do every morning when I arrive.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33When we're doing the Yorkshire Show,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36judging starts normally at about 9.30.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39The first thing I do is walk round what I call my parish,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41round all the cattle.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49He links the fortunes of the two breeds to the influences that shaped modern farming.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02You can do your own judging, you people round the ring.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Then the Hereford.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Mike explains how social changes before 1939
0:07:10 > 0:07:13led to the cattle being bred smaller.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20The cattle got smaller mainly because of the South American market,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22South American beef production.
0:07:22 > 0:07:29The pampas of South America was very attractive to a lot of British people in the early 19th century.
0:07:29 > 0:07:36They went out there, families like the Vesteys and many more, and built up huge meat interests.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39They were exporting meat back to this country.
0:07:39 > 0:07:45When they started doing that, in the 19th century, the houses in this country that were the big beef-buyers
0:07:45 > 0:07:51were large families, they had staff in the house, and the joints of beef were pretty big.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56But during that period after the First World War, coming up to the Second World War,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59staff went out of houses, families tended to get smaller.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04The beef industry had to change. They wanted smaller joints.
0:08:06 > 0:08:12We can pick up the story of cattle in 1937, when this cinema short was made.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19The son of a beef farmer is getting the chance to visit one of the great pedigree herds in Britain.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24He'll see where breeding stock for the southern hemisphere comes from.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29He's just received a notice of the next meeting of the Young Farmers' Class,
0:08:29 > 0:08:34a sort of club run by the local agricultural organiser.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37The members of this class get a chance of learning more
0:08:37 > 0:08:39about their job of farming.
0:08:41 > 0:08:42What are you going to show them?
0:08:42 > 0:08:48Captain Dick de Quincey is regarded as a legend in the pedigree cattle world.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52His herd of Herefords was called the Vern.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54Young Farmers' Class is just arriving.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- You all ready?- Yes, I'll get the bulls out for them now.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01He was famous for breeding smaller and smaller cattle.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08Good afternoon, Mr Evans.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11I'm just getting the bulls out into the paddock now.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13The Young Farmers then...
0:09:13 > 0:09:17and Young Farmers today share the same task -
0:09:17 > 0:09:20to judge pedigree Hereford stock.
0:09:20 > 0:09:27If the boy in the 1937 film was here today, he'd recognise the cattle's red and white coats.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31But their size and their shape would shock him.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Quite a nice head. It's got a bullish face.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35They're all quite good bulls.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42Lads, you will judge this ring of five Hereford bulls and place them in order of merit.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46I place the five bulls in the following order. Two, three, one...
0:09:46 > 0:09:50I place this class of four Hereford bulls in the order of B, A, X and Y.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53Two, three, five, four, one.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01Since '37, pedigree breeders have been at work on de Quincey's legacy.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05We're looking at a bunch of yearling bulls, I would think they are.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Captain De Quincey was a very shrewd man.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10He looked straight for his market.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13He was looking where the money was.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17And he cleverly got into the South American market,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20which was growing at the time.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25It was said that they needed a small carcass in order to be able
0:10:25 > 0:10:29to hang them between the decks of the ships as they came over,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31because, when you think about it, they were slaughtered
0:10:31 > 0:10:34and the carcasses were put straight on the ship.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38They were matured for three weeks, coming over the water.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45What was happening in Argentina was just as true for Australia.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Australia has nearly 14 million head of cattle on the hoof.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53The Aberdeen Angus and the Hereford are bulls
0:10:53 > 0:10:56that followed the British colonists round the world,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59did remarkably well all round the world.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01And so we outsourced beef production.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05We sent out the really high quality genetic material and then bought back the beef.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13By the 1930s, Britain had become the stockyard of the world.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19When the cattle have been drafted, they're taken to the meatworks for killing.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23The electric saw, an Australian invention, divides the beef carcass.
0:11:25 > 0:11:31Australia pays rigid attention to the quality of the beef necessary to suit the markets of Great Britain,
0:11:31 > 0:11:37because England is Australia's best customer and consumes approximately 80% of the world's export meat.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41In those pre-war years,
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Britain was worryingly dependent on food from the Dominions.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53In 1939, the Wright family moved to Warp Farm near the Humber.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59That's Grandpa, on his horse.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01This is Colin's father.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03They call him Grandpa Wright.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05He spent three years in Australia.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07Then he came back,
0:12:07 > 0:12:08married my mother.
0:12:08 > 0:12:12And then, in 1939,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14they came here.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18That's in May, 1939.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21I was three years old then.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24And I've been here ever since.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28He'd ranched out in Australia.
0:12:28 > 0:12:34When he got his cows and his horse down there, he just thought he was back in Australia!
0:12:34 > 0:12:37It was just a small, potted version.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Me!
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Just with the horse Grandpa's just got off.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Ah, there's Grandpa with the cattle on the front.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54They're just where they are now, look.
0:12:54 > 0:12:55Just there.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01He wanted to have a lot more cattle.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Of course, that was in May, 1939.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06War broke out in September.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10After that, you did what you were told.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15The beef industry was paralysed.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18The export of breeding bulls was impossible
0:13:18 > 0:13:21and food imports were all but stopped.
0:13:21 > 0:13:27When we hit the Second World War, we came to...as low as about 50%,
0:13:27 > 0:13:3255% self-sufficiency for British food in this country, at the beginning of the Second World War.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Suddenly...God, we've got to produce more home-produced food...
0:13:35 > 0:13:39The ploughing of land that has never been ploughed up before.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42..so you had this call to "dig for victory".
0:13:44 > 0:13:50Farms were surveyed by the War Agricultural Committees to ensure every productive acre was used.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53You were told what you had to grow on your farm.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57If you had too much grass, it had to be ploughed out. We have...
0:13:57 > 0:13:59Ministry of Agriculture map.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04It tells you what was on Warp Farm in 1941.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08The two acres of peas that we had to grow.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13If you'd any moles and rabbits, rats and mice...
0:14:16 > 0:14:19The priority was to produce milk and wheat for bread.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21Beef was well down the list.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26Grandpa Wright was ordered to plough up his grassland for crops.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Everything that was here in 1941.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Grandpa wanted it all to be grass.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40I mean, there was a lot of rough grazing and things down there.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44But it all had to get ploughed out when it was wartime.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50The result is that we, in Britain, are growing more food than we did in the last war
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and probably more food than ever before in our island's history.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- This, in the middle of the greatest war of all time.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Amongst the many distinguished visitors are Their Majesties the King and Queen.
0:15:09 > 0:15:15British farming celebrated the peace at the first post-war Royal Show.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23After the war, the beef industry had to rebuild.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Britain was bust. There was no cash for imports from Australia or Argentina.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31So the policy was to increase home production.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36The 1947 Agricultural Act consolidated the lessons of the war
0:15:36 > 0:15:39and offered farmers subsidies to achieve it.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44Our two beef breeds, the black Aberdeen Angus from Scotland
0:15:44 > 0:15:48and the red and white beasts from Hereford had their own part to play.
0:15:48 > 0:15:55Farmers were paid a subsidy to cross them with dairy cows and produce beef calves for fattening.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01The government wanted to get more beef into this country.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Home-produced beef.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07And the way that they could do that was to ensure that dairy cattle,
0:16:07 > 0:16:13apart from producing their own replacements, could also produce, as a by-product, beef cattle.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18Therefore, if they put beef bulls on the dairy cows - the Shorthorn, the Friesian, the Ayrshire
0:16:18 > 0:16:22and all those, they would improve beef production in this country.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26But how did they know that a beef bull was being used?
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The pioneer breeders had discovered a genetic gift
0:16:30 > 0:16:35and it was seized on by the new team of government bull inspectors.
0:16:35 > 0:16:43A Hereford bull always passes on his white face to his calf, no matter what breed he's mated with.
0:16:43 > 0:16:50And an Aberdeen Angus bull will invariably sire a calf with no horns and a black face.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53One look, and the bull inspectors could check
0:16:53 > 0:16:58that a farmer had used a beef bull, rather than just any old bull.
0:16:59 > 0:17:05So those two breeds got a very big boost during that period 1945-1955.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13In the Welsh hills, on this beef farm, the old film brings back
0:17:13 > 0:17:17memories of the time when the little black cattle ruled the farmyards.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20- Here is a typical bull. A potent sire...- God, look at him.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23Neville Stacey remembers those days.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27He uses a modern Aberdeen Angus bull.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30But he's forgotten how small the bulls once were.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34Look at this! What have we got here - a basset hound or a bull?
0:17:37 > 0:17:40He's a little bit too rotund for the modern market.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42'Little daylight below him.'
0:17:42 > 0:17:45He's as broad as he is tall, isn't he?
0:17:45 > 0:17:50A bull, at the end of the day, is kept to mate, impregnate a female.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52I think a lot of the modern cows...
0:17:52 > 0:17:57This little chap wouldn't be able to mate with the modern cows...
0:17:57 > 0:18:00unless you put a block under his back legs to help him work!
0:18:00 > 0:18:02The legs are short and well planted at each corner.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10It was 1965 when Neville and Margaret came to their farm in the Welsh hills.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17They spent their early farming lives reclaiming the hillsides
0:18:17 > 0:18:20and improving the pastures for their cattle.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27This is a Curzon Entertainer.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32Curzon Entertainer is one of Neville's modern Aberdeen Angus bulls.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Got a pedigree as long as your arm.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37Whoa! Stay, Gus.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42He's quite interested in one of the females at the moment.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44He doesn't want to be messed with me right now.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53When Neville started farming, the drive for production was
0:18:53 > 0:18:57in full swing, and Britain's uplands were part of it.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04To increase our food production, we must use all the land we can.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10Every farmer who's willing to reclaim marginal land gets back half the expense as a government grant.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14When I first came back here, 40 years ago, where we're standing now,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17I would have been standing up to my shoulders in bracken.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25All this ground across here was covered in bracken.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Very exciting time to be farming.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36As a young man, we were draining these patches, we were ploughing...
0:19:36 > 0:19:38Improving, increasing the stock.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46Ten years ago, when I started to improve the hill land, most of the slopes were covered with bracken.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52The film you saw is exactly what was happening in this mid-Wales area.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Bracken is poisonous to cattle.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58But ploughed in and reseeded,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02new grass pastures spread across the hillsides.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07Yeah. Not only him - I was paid to do it.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09I was encouraged to do it financially.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Wasn't so many years after the last war...
0:20:13 > 0:20:16when people were really hungry.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19As well as grants to improve the uplands,
0:20:19 > 0:20:24hill farmers received a subsidy for every breeding animal they kept.
0:20:24 > 0:20:31Under the 1947 Agricultural Act, when production was subsidised, there was a headage payment
0:20:31 > 0:20:36on the number of sheep kept, or the number of breeding suckler cows kept.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41It encouraged people to keep more sheep and cattle.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44'In October, the cattle come down from the hills.'
0:20:44 > 0:20:48One of the things it did, it enabled farmers to maintain profitability.
0:20:55 > 0:21:02Neville's early farming life, 1,000 feet up on the Welsh hills, was shaped by these subsidies.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06They ushered in an era of intensive farming across the country.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14On the other side of Britain, on the flatland by the Humber,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18new machinery and new ideas were coming to Colin Wright's farm.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Colin's cutting the hay.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26It was a good little mower.
0:21:26 > 0:21:31This home movie was made in 1966, by a friend, to capture scenes of
0:21:31 > 0:21:35farming in the year Colin took over from Grandpa Wright.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38They're here, father and son, having their bait.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45- Drinking, ciggie! - You see, this is what happened with this filming lark.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48They only ever came down to film us when they came down to bring drinkings.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53And so every bit of film has a bit of drinkings on it.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Once we got through that period of the Second World War...
0:22:06 > 0:22:10That was over, but we were facing a whole Eastern bloc
0:22:10 > 0:22:12which was still threatening us.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15We knew that our food supplies could always be threatened.
0:22:15 > 0:22:21We had to keep up that food production we'd established during the Second World War.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29There's Grandpa pulling these two trailers, with old Herbert sat
0:22:29 > 0:22:33on top there, because that would be where he finished loading.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41The whole way we do things has changed.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43That's making hay. We don't make hay now.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45We make haylage.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Haylage, a drier type of silage,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53was part of the production-driven post-war revolution,
0:22:54 > 0:22:59an advance that produced better feed for the increasing numbers of livestock.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05'People did begin to understand that if you put heaps of grass
0:23:05 > 0:23:10'in a relatively air-free environment, it would preserve itself.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16'But silage really began to develop because the technology caught up.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20'We suddenly learned that you could harvest grass much more quickly.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22'We could grow much heavier crops of grass,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25'which indeed were very hard to make into hay.'
0:23:25 > 0:23:30We're putting the wrap on to seal it up, keep the air out.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Otherwise it would go rotten.
0:23:40 > 0:23:47New machinery, along with chemical fertilisers, was a partnership that drove up production.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52We didn't have nitrogen fertilisers until we had a petrochemical industry.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57A by-product of the oil industry has been nitrogen fertiliser.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01That had a tremendous effect to boost agriculture.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Farming went from being mainly small farms to being something which was
0:24:09 > 0:24:12bigger and bigger farmers all the time...
0:24:12 > 0:24:17The weight swung from a largely tenanted farming sector to owner-occupiership.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20It was a very exciting time.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25The Wrights' Yorkshire farm was rented.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28But in 1958 Grandpa changed all that.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32It was the year we were going to get married
0:24:32 > 0:24:34and...
0:24:34 > 0:24:36he bought the farm.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39And I mean... We'd been tenant.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43Bought it for £6,700, was it?
0:24:43 > 0:24:47- £27 an acre.- £27 an acre.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50That wasn't buying. It were actually pinching it.
0:24:50 > 0:24:56And...even then, he didn't have the money to put down for it.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59But they lent him it, did the estate.
0:24:59 > 0:25:05They actually lent him £500, was it? Or whatever.
0:25:05 > 0:25:11Because he was short on the £6,500, or whatever it was.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15And he paid that off over five or six years.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18It seemed an awful lot of money.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20It won't buy an acre today.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23And there's 222 acres.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32British agriculture was getting bigger.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36Farms were bigger, machinery was bigger, yields were bigger.
0:25:36 > 0:25:41Everything was bigger, except the Hereford and the Aberdeen Angus cattle.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47After the war, Britain regained her status as the stockyard of the world.
0:25:47 > 0:25:53The pedigree breeders re-established their trade, exporting small bulls to the prairies and the pampas.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Prices could reach £20,000.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02In 1966, the pedigree world came to Hereford.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07Captain Dick de Quincey, the legendary Hereford breeder, had died
0:26:07 > 0:26:10and cattlemen assembled for the sale of his famous herd.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15Today, the cattle sale of the century will take place when the famous Vern herd...
0:26:15 > 0:26:16They're so short!
0:26:16 > 0:26:21Julian Gallimore was at the sale of the captain's pedigree Herefords.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24They're so small when you look back on them,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26in comparison to what we have now.
0:26:26 > 0:26:31The sale has become a turning point in the story of the modern Herefords.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Julian was once the auctioneer.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40He's retired now, just a ringside observer.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43There is my bid. At 2,200.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47But the art of spotting bids was honed back in the '60s.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50AUCTIONEER CONTINUES
0:26:54 > 0:26:59The Vern herd was the creation of one of the greatest cattle-breeders the world has ever known.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Captain de Quincey, who died last year.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07Mrs Gordon, the stockman's wife, leading the first bull round.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Brilliant.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12To look at this vast congregation - my father there,
0:27:12 > 0:27:17selling - many of them just to look, but many of them to try and buy.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24There is a photograph of me wearing glasses.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30Altogether, the buyers have paid about 700,000 for the various animals.
0:27:30 > 0:27:37The highest price of all, over 47,000 - a world auction record - was paid for Vern's Scorpio.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44To average just about £1,500
0:27:44 > 0:27:49for everything - calves, cows - it proved to us,
0:27:49 > 0:27:54proved to me as a relative youngster, that Herefords were supreme.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59But the triumph masked a threat.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05Britain's native breeds were about to fall foul of a new drive - a fight against fat.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07In the 1950s, we began to really
0:28:07 > 0:28:09study and get an understanding
0:28:09 > 0:28:11of the impact of diet on health.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Before then, food was something that kept you alive.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16We were beginning to see the problems.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19One of the biggest problems was saturated fats.
0:28:19 > 0:28:25Now saturated fats mostly come from grazing animals, like beef and sheep.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29The traditional British breeds, the Hereford and Angus,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32were easier-fattening and, therefore, did carry a lot of fat.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39The bulls the post-war government had seen as a solution to increasing
0:28:39 > 0:28:43home-produced beef had now become the problem.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49The challenge for government was to produce beef with less fat.
0:28:51 > 0:28:52The question was,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54what are we going to do about it?
0:28:54 > 0:28:56It was decided to do it genetically - we would have to -
0:28:56 > 0:28:58but we could speed up the genetics
0:28:58 > 0:29:02by actually doing it using imported cattle.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07Cattle like the Charolais, coming past me now, were a breed that hadn't been bred for fat.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12They'd been bred for size, for pulling and pushing things.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17They developed much more lean and much less fat than our breeds...
0:29:17 > 0:29:22In 1961, a group of Charolais bulls arrived on trial.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27A decade later, Mike was on the committee that reviewed the experiment.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30It was chaired by Professor Ian Holmes.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33The Holmes Committee, which I was the new kid on the block on,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37I was the youngster, they came to the conclusion
0:29:37 > 0:29:40we should import more Continental breeds.
0:29:40 > 0:29:47Hence, the next importation in 1971 was Limousin, Blonde d'Aquitaine and Simmental cattle.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Being overtaken now, given a lead.
0:29:50 > 0:29:56It had a remarkable effect because the imported breeds
0:29:56 > 0:30:01added that size and growth rate to our beef production system.
0:30:01 > 0:30:08And they bred cattle to produce that extreme beef-ness - that huge loin and that huge back end.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Well, you won't see a finer line-up
0:30:15 > 0:30:19anywhere in the country than the one you've got in front of you now.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29By the late 1970s, Continental invaders were replacing
0:30:29 > 0:30:32the Hereford and Aberdeen Angus bulls.
0:30:32 > 0:30:38Today, a Belgian Blue presides at Warp Farm.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40He'll father calves that will produce
0:30:40 > 0:30:44the less fatty meat customers have been taught to choose.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52Colin and his son Neil are selecting cattle ready to go to market.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55She'll not grow any more cos she's how much Holstein in her.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58'Neil would never be anything else but the farmer.'
0:30:58 > 0:31:01He's a nice shape, he is.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03I reckon he'll do right well at market.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05He's got a hell of a back end on him.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10He never wanted to do anything else.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12That's Neil on his bicycle.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16He's throwing stones and things.
0:31:16 > 0:31:17He's acting for the camera.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19That's what he's doing.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24He's going for ice cream now.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27This ice-cream van started calling on us
0:31:27 > 0:31:30when we first got married 50 years ago.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34It has just been retired, last year, has that van.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41The Wrights bought their farm in East Yorkshire in 1958.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Since then they've followed the trend and expanded production.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48They changed the cattle, they improved the land
0:31:48 > 0:31:51and they started to grow cereals for their cattle.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53This is feed barley.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57It's grown for feeding the bullocks.
0:31:57 > 0:32:03This is the same field where Grandpa Wright once kept his cattle.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07In those days, it could take up to four years before they'd be fit for the butcher.
0:32:07 > 0:32:12The beasts this barley is for will be ready in about 15 months.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16It's not too bad a crop, considering this field
0:32:16 > 0:32:20was nowt but marshland before we drained it.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27Them days, on that film, it was the old tractor-drawn class.
0:32:32 > 0:32:38Colin's just lifting up a sack of stuff there. He just looks up.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41- He's in heaven. - SHE LAUGHS
0:32:41 > 0:32:42It's lovely.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46- Lift my cap.- That's right.
0:32:46 > 0:32:47Right, we'll go on.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49- And were you in heaven?- No.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53He's just laughing. It's just lovely. A lovely piece.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05This was the way the beef industry was moving.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07More barley was being fed to cattle.
0:33:09 > 0:33:15Barley speeds up growth and puts a layer of fat on the beef.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18That's where the taste comes from.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20We imported the Continental breeds
0:33:20 > 0:33:22because we wanted animals
0:33:22 > 0:33:23that didn't get too fat.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26We almost immediately found that they didn't get fat enough,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29because these big breeds like the Charolais
0:33:29 > 0:33:32were never bred to produce the roast beef of Old England.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Most of them were actually draught animals, bred to pull ploughs and the like.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40You can't finish them in the traditional ways at pasture.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43So we went for an animal that didn't produce enough fat,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47and we found it didn't produce any at all, so we had to feed it barley.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52AUCTIONEER COUNTS, CHATTERING
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Hey up. Hey up, get rid on it.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01The Wrights' barley-fed, Continental cattle are on their way to the butcher.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04They've grown quickly.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06They are over 500 kilos.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10AUCTIONEER TAKES BIDS
0:34:12 > 0:34:1365, 65.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17One beast will cut up into about 600 meals.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24The buyers are judging the price they bid on the shape of the beasts.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27Is it carrying lean meat in the right places?
0:34:27 > 0:34:29Will there be a lot of fat to cut off?
0:34:29 > 0:34:3153, 54, 55, 56.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35They'll pay about £900 per animal.
0:34:35 > 0:34:3759, 60.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47As these Continental invaders moved into Britain in the '70s,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51so did a standardised way of assessing the carcasses.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55This is a way of describing the shape of the cattle.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57It starts with E,
0:34:57 > 0:35:04which is the best, and then goes down to E, U, R, O, P.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07A EUROP grid with E for the biggest and leanest
0:35:07 > 0:35:10and P for the skinnier carcasses.
0:35:10 > 0:35:16On the E side, we'd be looking at the Continentals. Belgian Blue.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Down into the Rs, where we come into
0:35:18 > 0:35:22the better end of the Angus and some of the Hereford.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24And lower down still, once O,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27once again still some of the Angus and Hereford.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32Below that, we are getting into dairy/dairy crosses.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38The EUROP grid brought Britain into line with the Continent
0:35:38 > 0:35:41just at the time we joined the Common Market.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48And just as the bull subsidy scheme of the post-War years
0:35:48 > 0:35:52had given the Aberdeen-Angus and Hereford bulls a boost,
0:35:52 > 0:35:56so in the '70s the EUROP grid turned the tables on these native breeds
0:35:56 > 0:35:59in favour of the big European cattle.
0:36:03 > 0:36:04It's twenty past one,
0:36:04 > 0:36:08and Margaret's joint of beef is ready for the table.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11That's what you call an oven buster.
0:36:11 > 0:36:13My favourite piece.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17- It's one of the joint that comes out bigger than it goes in.- Yes.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21The EUROP grid helped turn beef farmers
0:36:21 > 0:36:25against the smaller, fattier native breeds.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29We have mostly Belgian Blues. They are a lot leaner.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33Butchers like 'em because that's what they can sell.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37They have to have what they can sell. That's what we have to produce.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41These breeds produce meat in bulk and with less fat.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45If you look at them, they've that big back end.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48That's where all the topside is.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50All the dry meat.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56By the 1980s, the big beasts from Europe had become dominant.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58Is Colin getting a bit?
0:37:03 > 0:37:05It's summertime in Scotland
0:37:05 > 0:37:09and Robert Parker's new-born calf has grown.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11She's nearly three months old.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21Robert is moving his herd to new pastures.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24We're going to a fresh bit of grass.
0:37:24 > 0:37:29We try and move them round every two or three weeks, just to give them a fresh bite.
0:37:34 > 0:37:40Until recently he farmed in the same fashion as the Wrights at Warp Farm.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44He crossed a Charolais bull with cows from the dairy herd
0:37:44 > 0:37:47and finished the calves on barley.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Then he spotted something in the data.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54I got the figures back onto the computer here.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59He'd bought a few cows that were Aberdeen Angus cross Hereford.
0:37:59 > 0:38:04Then I noticed something to do with the breed of the mother, which is also on the spreadsheet.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07He compared when their calves were ready for the butcher
0:38:07 > 0:38:11with those from his dairy cows, and there was a big difference.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16The ones with the Hereford Angus mothers fattened 40 days quicker.
0:38:16 > 0:38:2140 days at 10-12 kilos a day is nearly half a ton of barley,
0:38:21 > 0:38:24so that's roughly about £60 or £70,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27just because you had a different mother.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33His data showed that calves from Aberdeen Angus cross Hereford mothers
0:38:33 > 0:38:36were quicker at converting food into beef.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41It's something the ranchers back in the '30s would have known.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52Robert won a scholarship to travel to the southern hemisphere
0:38:52 > 0:38:54and discovered that the sons of the cattlemen
0:38:54 > 0:38:57who had imported the bulls back in the '30s
0:38:57 > 0:39:01were crossing the two breeds to produce what's called black baldies.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06Their black coats from the Aberdeen Angus, their white, so-called bald face,
0:39:06 > 0:39:10that trait always passed on by the Hereford bull.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14This is not a new system.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17This is basically what the rest of the world does.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20I mean, I've travelled and I have seen it working,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22and it certainly works really well.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30The new bull is making his majestic arrival.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34But Robert couldn't have changed his cattle unless the pedigree breeders
0:39:34 > 0:39:39had improved the bulls since the days when the old films were made.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49He certainly wouldn't be using a black Aberdeen-Angus bull
0:39:49 > 0:39:53if the size of the breed hadn't been restored since that low point
0:39:53 > 0:39:56in the 1960s by breeders like Willie McLaren.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59That was me when I was a 16-year-old.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02That's what I mean when I talk about belt-buckle cattle.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04I was just a 16-year-old boy
0:40:04 > 0:40:05at the time really.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10On his farm in Perthshire, Willie McLaren has played
0:40:10 > 0:40:13a leading role in increasing the size of the black cattle.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16In those days we were talking about belt-buckle cattle.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19You see where he's coming up to me now?
0:40:19 > 0:40:23They talked about belt-buckle cattle, and that was down here.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27For a comparison of size, there's a picture of me holding my hand up
0:40:27 > 0:40:30with a bull that was double the age of this one,
0:40:30 > 0:40:32and my hand's away up here.
0:40:32 > 0:40:37And you can see how small he is because that's my hand up there.
0:40:37 > 0:40:43He was probably the shortest legged bull that I actually ever produced.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46And then this is the most extreme one of the lot.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50He was actually almost three year old when this was taken.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56So, '64 was really
0:40:56 > 0:41:00when we hit the bottom of the trough.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04A 40-year task lay ahead.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12This film was taken in the '70s.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15It shows Willie with the small cattle.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22This is back in 1977, and it shows me and another breeder
0:41:22 > 0:41:27assessing the bulls at the bull test centre in Aberdeen.
0:41:30 > 0:41:37It was when everyone was leaving the breed that Willie took the biggest gamble of his working life.
0:41:37 > 0:41:43I decided, instead of going into another breed, in the 1980s,
0:41:43 > 0:41:47that I would buy the best cattle I possibly could.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49I saw this bull in Canada.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52By the time I'd shipped him in, it cost me £30,000,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55which was a tremendous gamble.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01It's just the same in the stock market at the present time.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05Those that are brave enough will take a gamble and buy the shares that are at rock bottom.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09They're the ones that are going to have the best rewards.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16Willie had made his high-risk investment.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18He'd have to wait for his return.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22The beef industry was changing.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28No longer were animals slaughtered behind the shop.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32The way meat was sold changed.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35High-street butchers gave way to supermarkets,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38and customers were removed one more step
0:42:38 > 0:42:41from the process of putting food on our plates.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48The butcher's van was parked up for the last time,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51and meat began to come in pre-wrapped packets.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56The product had to have eye appeal.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58It had to have the right pink colour
0:42:58 > 0:43:02and be lean to catch the customer's eye.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04Beef, out of all of the red meats,
0:43:04 > 0:43:09is probably the one that raises the most emotion in customers' minds.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13It's what they used to have when they went to their grandmother's,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16or it's the way their mother used to cook Sunday lunch.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18It's the emotion around that,
0:43:18 > 0:43:23and it comes out in beef more than any other red meat.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25And the family joint is ready too.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27But that sentiment and the industry
0:43:27 > 0:43:30were about to suffer a kick in the teeth.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33After the debate about fat in the '70s,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37and the early '80s worries about red meat, a time bomb exploded.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42About 1984, 1985, BSE hit us in a big, big way.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44The pictures on television
0:43:44 > 0:43:46of cows falling over.
0:43:46 > 0:43:51It was clearly a horrible, horrible disease of cattle.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54BSE was a problem of the dairy industry.
0:43:54 > 0:43:55It was a problem of feeding
0:43:55 > 0:43:59bits of cattle back both to dairy cows and their young calves
0:43:59 > 0:44:01taken from them at birth.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05And in the public's mind, it was unnatural.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07Cows are supposed to eat grass,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10they're not supposed to eat bits of other cow.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13The government at first tried to reassure us that this was only
0:44:13 > 0:44:16a disease of cattle, it could not be transmitted to humans.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19And then of course we found that it could.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24My wife is very worried about this mad cow disease,
0:44:24 > 0:44:26and I think that, for the time being,
0:44:26 > 0:44:28we won't buy beef for the time being.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31It completely blocked all exports of British beef.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35It could have completely crippled the beef industry.
0:44:35 > 0:44:36In fact, it didn't.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42There was a drop, which was about 20 per cent which was
0:44:42 > 0:44:46sustained probably until about 1995, which is quite a significant drop.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50But for a disease which has an incubation period of many years,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53the real blip only lasted about six to eight months,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56which just shows how irrational people are.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58For the Aberdeen Angus breed,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02this disaster proved to be an unexpected opportunity.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08That one, wasn't it? 108, wasn't it?
0:45:08 > 0:45:12In the 1990s, David Gunner, a supermarket supplier, was part
0:45:12 > 0:45:15of a partnership that took up the cause of the little black cattle.
0:45:15 > 0:45:22The breed was largely grass fed and so less associated in the public's mind with BSE.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28And as this 1959 film, made by butcher Peter Colebrook, argues,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31it had an advantage over leaner meat.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36The flesh is fine-grained with an abundance of marbling.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41Those flecks of fat he was pointing out held the taste.
0:45:41 > 0:45:47The task of the industry was to rebuild confidence, and to rebuild
0:45:47 > 0:45:51confidence in the industry through things like traceability, provenance.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56But also, a bunch of people, some people perhaps more forward-thinking
0:45:56 > 0:46:01than others, had been realising that some of the things
0:46:01 > 0:46:03that Peter Colebrook was talking about
0:46:03 > 0:46:08were actually things that we'd lost and ought to try and get back to.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11David's father was a butcher.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15He knew Peter Colebrook in the years when the small native breeds
0:46:15 > 0:46:17were still feeding the nation.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19I knew him.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21He was a lot younger in this film than when I knew him,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23but he was a friend of my father's.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26They worked together on carcass competitions.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29'..ready for transport to the retail shop.'
0:46:29 > 0:46:35David Gunner reassessed the values Peter Colebrook stood for - taste and texture.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40In 1991, a partnership with a big supermarket was the start
0:46:40 > 0:46:43of sourcing beef from native breeds.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45In terms of how that compares
0:46:45 > 0:46:49with what customers were buying in the '50s and '60s...
0:46:49 > 0:46:53Heather Jenkins was instrumental in putting Aberdeen Angus
0:46:53 > 0:46:57and Hereford beef on the shelves and behind the supermarket counter.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01- What can I get for you, madam?- Can I have two of the rib-eye steaks?
0:47:01 > 0:47:03The industry had to find a way of doing
0:47:03 > 0:47:06what the traditional butchers had once provided.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09A direct link back to the source of their beef.
0:47:09 > 0:47:14To do that, we had to ensure traceability of the bulls,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18of the cows that the calves were coming from,
0:47:18 > 0:47:23and the whole traceability right through the system.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26And we've done that since 1991.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28Superb. Thank you very much indeed, madam.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31- Lovely, thank you.- Thank you.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34The supermarket is our link with the production chain.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37We don't go on the farms, we don't see the farms any more.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39But we do go into the supermarket.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42So, if we're going to trust the provenance of our food
0:47:42 > 0:47:44and the quality of our food,
0:47:44 > 0:47:47the people we really have to trust are the supermarkets.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55In the livestock country of mid Wales,
0:47:55 > 0:48:00Neville Stacey was one of the first to join Heather Jenkins' scheme.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04He bought a black Aberdeen Angus bull in 1990.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08He's had an eye on the quality market since.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12This bullock here is only young, but you can see his back is broad.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16There'll be a tremendous amount of meat along that top line.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19And when he's finished, he'll cut out some very nice sirloins,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21which are the high-value cuts.
0:48:25 > 0:48:29BSE was a classic and very dramatic...
0:48:31 > 0:48:34..demonstration of how, in the public mind,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37how unnatural intensive farming had become.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41And so there was a great yearning for more natural schemes,
0:48:41 > 0:48:44of which, of course, suckler beef out on range
0:48:44 > 0:48:46or on the mountains is the quintessence.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Neville is getting the grass in for winter feed.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02He's seen big changes since he moved into the hills.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08The old films told a story of how farmers were paid to reclaim
0:49:08 > 0:49:11the uplands and turn them into pastures.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15It was part of the post-war drive to increase farm output.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20BSE changed the pubic debate.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Over 20 years, subsidies moved
0:49:25 > 0:49:30from supporting production to backing environmental schemes.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32..traditional hay meadow.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36Now Neville Stacey, a man who spent a lifetime
0:49:36 > 0:49:39increasing the number of animals on his hill,
0:49:39 > 0:49:41gets grants for growing flowers.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49After years of increasing production, what does it
0:49:49 > 0:49:53feel like to turn his grassland back into traditional meadows?
0:49:53 > 0:49:55That's a rather emotive question.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59From a farming point of view,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02who's always been seeking production,
0:50:02 > 0:50:04it seems wrong.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08But, from a business point of view, at in the present times, when we are
0:50:08 > 0:50:14being encouraged now to go down this line, yes, it's all right.
0:50:17 > 0:50:22We'll take a useful crop of fodder here, which will keep cows.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25And this is where the native breed cow is coming in.
0:50:25 > 0:50:30She's able to convert this type of forage into production
0:50:30 > 0:50:33and to grow her calf through the winter.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37So, when I look at it from that point of view, yes, it's all right.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45It's been an exciting farming time,
0:50:45 > 0:50:49but I suspect a lot of what we've been doing, as time goes on,
0:50:49 > 0:50:52will not be sustainable, because of the oil.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57Now Neville has gone organic.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03The crops we are harvesting here today,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06compared to what we would have been doing ten years ago,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09we're probably harvesting a third of what we would have been then.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15The old ways are being re-learned.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22There's probably where the future of British agriculture lies. Clover.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25There's one that's in flower.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29I suppose they're a chemistry factory in themselves...
0:51:30 > 0:51:35..in as much as that will fix nitrogen through photosynthesis from the sun.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42Neville is responding to history
0:51:42 > 0:51:46and reinterpreting the knowledge of yesterday.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50And we've seen the same with the cattle,
0:51:50 > 0:51:53the red and white Hereford
0:51:53 > 0:51:55and the black Aberdeen Angus.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59I happen to believe, it's rather perverse, this,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03but I happen to believe that the Continental invasion
0:52:03 > 0:52:09actually was the saviour of many breeds, but in particular the Angus and the Hereford.
0:52:09 > 0:52:17In the '70s, Willie McLaren bet the farm on a hunch, that the little black cattle could make a comeback.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19This is a six-month-old heifer calf,
0:52:19 > 0:52:21which weighs 340 kilos,
0:52:21 > 0:52:23which is pretty close
0:52:23 > 0:52:29to what the yearling weight was for a bull back in the '40s and '50s.
0:52:29 > 0:52:30He gambled that he could get
0:52:30 > 0:52:34the cattle from the size of this calf held by his granddaughter
0:52:34 > 0:52:38to the stature of the bull being led by his son.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42Now here we are bringing up a yearling bull,
0:52:42 > 0:52:46and it just shows you how much the breed has progressed.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50This is what we call the belt-buckle cattle at this age.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55Whereas now we're up to what, probably shoulder-high.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58You can see the difference in it, even though only just
0:52:58 > 0:53:0140 years of breeding, the difference.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03We have changed this Aberdeen Angus breed.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08Three generations of McLarens,
0:53:08 > 0:53:12and 40 years of breeding have effected a revolution.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14And it's been done by measuring.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17First recording heights and weights,
0:53:17 > 0:53:20and now they even look under the skin.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22This is the big one.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24This is measuring the eye muscle area.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28So he's looking at the muscle between these two ribs,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31and looking for this movement up and down.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34- That's his rib-eye steak. - SHE CHUCKLES
0:53:35 > 0:53:38This is the data that's changed the breed
0:53:38 > 0:53:40since the low point in the '60s.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44My thinking at that time was if I stuck with Angus, I could get size
0:53:44 > 0:53:49to compete with the Continentals and also with the quality in the meat.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52That's what I set out to achieve,
0:53:52 > 0:53:57and I was kind of out on a limb for a number of years, but I can now say
0:53:57 > 0:54:02that I have no regrets in sticking to them.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Another important part of the breed plan
0:54:05 > 0:54:09is we measure the scrotal circumference
0:54:09 > 0:54:13of the bull's testicles because it relates to their fertility
0:54:13 > 0:54:15when they're working later in life.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20And he is...at the widest point...
0:54:22 > 0:54:23..42.
0:54:23 > 0:54:2942's a good measurement for an Aberdeen Angus, which was that size.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35"I'm a bigger boy then you," he's saying to these other fellows.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40Robert Parker is looking for a new bull.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43Nice straight bull. He'll do the job fine.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45He's probably too expensive for me, though.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48He's seeing what the McLarens have to offer.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50We can always do a deal.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53The bulls are here for sale, and that's always what we do, so...
0:54:53 > 0:54:57On his farm he crosses Aberdeen-Angus and the red and white Herefords.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03But can he afford this bull?
0:55:03 > 0:55:05So is he just...about the 3,000, then?
0:55:07 > 0:55:10About, but a bit more. THEY CHUCKLE
0:55:11 > 0:55:13No, he would be 4,000.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15Aye, I thought that.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20Robert is using the new, bigger bulls to meet the demands
0:55:20 > 0:55:22of today's beef industry.
0:55:24 > 0:55:29From the '70s, the Continental cattle delivered meat in bulk.
0:55:29 > 0:55:31That's a good taste.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33It was bred lean and taste suffered.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36- Tender or tough?- Slightly tough.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39I would say fair with that one.
0:55:39 > 0:55:44Now a group of farmers are doing consumer research.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46Robert is part of the group.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49Mm-hm.
0:55:50 > 0:55:56They've got a machine that bites meat to gauge its tenderness, and they can measure taste as well.
0:55:56 > 0:56:01They want to adapt the 1970s EUROP grading grid,
0:56:01 > 0:56:06that system which favoured the bulky carcasses of the Continentals,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09to include a taste and tenderness measurement.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14EUROP, when it came in, I think it was needed. It really was needed.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16At that time, native breeds
0:56:16 > 0:56:18were quite poor on the meat yield,
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and the EUROP grid has done exactly what it was designed to do.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25The problem is that it's gone so far that the producers are actually
0:56:25 > 0:56:28focusing so much on producing this fancy carcass
0:56:28 > 0:56:30that they've forgotten that it is about eating quality.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34It's a consumer that's going to eat that eventually.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38The new grading system, if we manage to get something in, would take this into account
0:56:38 > 0:56:42and hopefully reward farmers for eating quality and not just yield.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55It's the end of the year in Scotland.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59Robert's brought his spring calves in.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01These are this year's calves.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06These were all born April, May, so they're about eight months old now.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09They'll spend the winter indoors eating grass silage.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14But first Robert clips them to stop them overheating.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17This stops them sweating too much in the shed.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21The calves will grow on in the shed.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24The cows will winter outside.
0:57:32 > 0:57:35This has been an 80-year story of the cattle
0:57:35 > 0:57:38that have shaped farmers' lives...
0:57:40 > 0:57:44..and stockmen who have shaped the cattle's fortunes.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50In it, there have been quiet revolutions,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53and a rediscovery of old values.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07I think the future is quite rosy,
0:58:07 > 0:58:11with beef of known provenance from the hills
0:58:11 > 0:58:16seen as this luxury product you eat when you go out into restaurants,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19and also as a part of an overall
0:58:19 > 0:58:24stewardship of some of the loveliest country in the United Kingdom.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:52 > 0:58:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk