Yorkshire Beef Limited
Millington Grange Estate, Cold Skin Farm, Millington, York, YO42 1UD
"The grant has allowed this project to proceed at a high level of operation and to establish itself as a viable business from the outset. If launched on a smaller scale, it is doubtful that Yorkshire Beef would have been able to make the impact that it has in the quality beef supply chain"
Michael Harrison, General Manager of Yorkshire Beef Ltd.
A Rural Enterprise Schemegrant of over £107,000 was awarded to John Weatherill of Millington Grange Estate to help to expand his Yorkshire Beef Ltd operation to include other local producers in a collaborative marketing venture to improve the marketing of regionally produced Yorkshire beef.
John Weatherill farms 1000 hectares of arable, beef and sheep on the Millington Grange Estate near Pocklington on the Yorkshire Wolds. He launched Yorkshire Beef Ltd in February 2001 to market his own beef. He also conceived the idea of expanding the operation to include other local producers. This concept was explored at a meeting of local farmers and butchers, which confirmed his original idea that there was a niche market for local quality produce and that people were prepared to pay for it.
In June 2001 Michael Harrison was employed to develop the project. Michael established that there were enough cattle across Yorkshire that would meet the strict 'Yorkshire Beef' criteria for the project to be viable and found sufficient support for the project from farmers and the meat trade.
Consultants were engaged to develop a Rural Enterprise Schemegrant application. There were also meetings with Defra Rural Development Service staff that helped to 'fine tune' the project. As a result there were few major problems with the application when it was submitted in late 2001.
The project is going very well with results far exceeding expectations in terms of cattle slaughtered per week, number of members supplying 'Yorkshire Beef' and number of butchers selling 'Yorkshire Beef'.
The future will see strengthening of links with small local abattoirs to allow further expansion of the project. There is also the potential for further development of meat processing operations and moving from primary butchering to meat processing.
Page last modified:
19 May, 2005
Page published: 10 December, 2002