When Michel Roux rated Fairfax Meadow's special grain-fed beef as 'some of the finest fillet I've ever tasted', managing director Gerry Wensley knew they had finally cracked the winning formula for the company's new Casterbridge beef brand.
"It's taken us a few years to get to where we are today," he explained. "Our goal was to produce a brand which would become renowned for its consistently excellent quality, and that wasn't going to happen overnight. We simply couldn't achieve that without every part of the supply chain agreeing on how we were going to get there. With beef, it doesn't matter how long it's aged for or how skilfully it is butchered, it still won't deliver on eating quality if the product isn't right from the start. Quite simply, the passion for quality has to begin with the farmer who has got to love it and care from it from the word go."
It's for that reason that Fairfax Meadow formed an exclusive partnership with Blade Farming South West Ltd and Southern Counties Fresh Foods (both part of RWM Food Group). Blade Farming is a new approach to rearing beef animals, aiming to capture and apply best practice to produce high quality products profitably and competitively. All farmers in the Blade system – currently 16 calf rearers and 63 finishers - are focused on delivering a first-class product in return for a guaranteed price.
Southern Counties managing director Richard Phelps, explained: "In the past when farmers were reliant on a strong export market, there was little focus on calf genetics. We felt the supply chain had a responsibility to encourage a better quality raw material which would be of benefit to all involved."
The result was Blade Farming, a cattle rearing and finishing approach that applies a blueprint for consistency. It is franchised out to farmers for a fee, offering them stability post-subsidy and enabling them to invest in and grow their business, safe in the knowledge that they will have a guaranteed return and therefore greater security.
For the official launch of Casterbridge grain-fed beef, Fairfax Meadow invited 25 chefs from the south west region to meet three of the farmers in the Blade scheme. Jilly Greed from Fortescue Farm, Thornverton in Devon and Mark Amesbury from Webbington Farm, Axbridge in Somerset joined the guests for a tour of Maiden Castle Farm, Dorchester, hosted by farmer John Hoskins. All three farmers supply Southern Counties with cattle produced to the exact degree of finishing required for the Casterbridge product.
Blade farmers aim to produce cattle between 260kg and 300kg finished within 12 to 14 months. To achieve the even marbling required, selecting the right breed is important (traditional breeds such as Hereford, South Devon and Angus are used), but so too is the feed; Fairfax Meadow is the first company to bring grain-fed beef to the foodservice market with its Casterbridge brand. John Hoskins said: "It takes a lot of hard work to get the recipe right, but the strict Blade specifications help to reduce variation. All the farmers in the Blade scheme share the same ethos and that helps to ensure consistency."
Fairfax Meadow is a member of the English Beef and Lamb Executive's (EBLEX) Quality Standard scheme and Casterbridge beef is endorsed with the Quality Standard Mark for beef. Gerry Wensley commented: "We were involved with the EBLEX scheme from day one. It's one of the only schemes out there which really means something – not just in terms of assurance, but in terms of quality."
Phil Hadley, EBLEX's regional manager for the South West and foodservice project manager, Hugh Judd joined the guests for their farm tour and later for a special meal showcasing Casterbridge beef, prepared by Steven Titman, executive chef at Summer Lodge, an award-winning five star Relais and Châteaux country house hotel and restaurant in Evershot, Dorset.
Hugh said: "Quality Standard beef and lamb is fully assured and independently inspected from farm to plate. As our scheme is also the only one of its kind to address eating quality, chefs who source from EBLEX approved scheme members such as Fairfax Meadow, can guarantee that the meat will be succulent, tender and of a consistent quality every time."
