€9.10
Stuffed Steak with Whiskey Sauce is a wonderful piece for any dinner or BBQ
Stafford’s Butchers is family run and owned. We hand-rear our own Angus cattle on our farm in Killanne. Killanne for those people who don’t know, is a slice of heaven situated in the foothills of the Blackstairs Mountains in the County of Wexford.
It is a place where community is important and neighbours are good friends, it has stunning scenery and top quality grass. We may be biased but we have been told that you can taste the difference in our tender beef and steak. Our beef is literally delivered from our gate to your plate.
Our cows are fed on grass and clover for 9 to 10 months of the year, roaming free in the beautiful lush meadow fields in the foothills of the Blackstairs Mountains. In the cold wet winters we bring our cows into sheds for their welfare and fed on silage, fresh cut spring grass. https://www.bordbia.ie/globalassets/bordbia2020/farmers–growers/grass-fed-standard/grass-fed-beef-standard-revision-02-draft1.pdf
All our beef and steaks are dry aged and matured for 6 months, unlike supermarket beef and steaks that are wet aged matured so it does not loss any weight in moisture loss.
Qualifying animals must be from farms that are members of the Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme (SBLAS). However, the first 9 months of an animal’s life may be spent on non-QA farms.
The grass fed standard is built on two key criteria, namely:
Bord Bia’s overriding principle in the development of the standard was not to seek any additonal information from farmers over and above what is currently collected as part of SBLAS audits.
Bord Bia’s rationale to create a grass fed standard to market Irish beef is based upon evidence from extensive research conducted with approximately 13,000 customers and consumers across Europe and in key international markets. The research highlighted a significant market demand for grass fed products. Grass fed is a term that consumers are familiar with that holds positive associations as premium, natural and healthy. Consumers also believe that grass fed cattle lead more ‘natural’ lives outdoors and are more likely to be treated ethically. Furthermore, Ireland is already strongly associated with grass fed production and the grass fed standard allow us to robustly verify claims we wish to make around our production systems.
This evidence points to a real opportunity to use our existing grass fed strengths to create a nationally verified standard and deliver upon a clearly identified consumer desire for ethical, premium, natural and healthy beef.
The grass fed label will be incorporated into Bord Bia’s promotional activities for Irish beef from the autumn onwards with the aim of differentiating Irish beef from our competitors and in doing so help maximise the returns from the marketplace to the benefit of Irish beef farmers. Given the current market difficulties arising from COVID and the continued uncertainty in relation to Brexit, it is more important than ever that the sector utilises every advantage it has to position Irish beef positively in the marketplace.
The Irish beef sector currently accounts for over 30% of the value of Irish agricultural output at producer prices. The only other sector of Irish agriculture of a similar size is the dairy sector. In 2010 there were over 79,000 farms with suckler cows according to the Census of Agriculture, and over 90,000 farms had beef cattle on their farm. The beef output of Irish farming provides the key input to the Irish meat processing industry. In 2014 the Irish meat processing employed over 13,000 people.
