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www.beltex.co.uk
Beltex Sheep SocietyShepherds View,
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Orkney Island GoldChannel Islands butcher, Jason Harmon, has discerning customers who expect to buy top quality produce when they visit the meat counter at Forest Stores in Forest, in the south of the island of Guernsey. Over 800 miles away, in the Orkney Islands, Raymond Flaws produces Beltex X lambs which meet the stringent quality spec for conformation, fat cover and weight set by Orkney Island Gold, an exclusive, premium brand which enjoys the coveted EU Protected Designation of Origin status and provides Jason with the consistent high quality he requires.
Orkney Island Gold is exclusive to top-drawer independent butchers, mostly located in South-East England, and it is not to be found on supermarket shelves. It also provides 100% traceability from farm to retail customer and Jason is easily able to identify the lambs from Raymond's 250-acre Nisthouse Farm, Evie, where a 150-ewe commercial flock produces the top quality Beltex X lambs which help to keep Jason's customers coming back for more. 'I require around 20 lambs each week and Orkney lamb has a good reputation,' he says. 'Raymond's lambs are fantastic, first class, and I always try to get them if I can. They are the right weight at 20kg, always E or U grades, excellent conformation. They're nice compact carcases and the flavour is second to none. The only problem is that I can't get enough of them!'
Jason is a regular visitor at the Orkney Meats Christmas show where he usually buys champion carcases. After his 2006 judging stint he summed up the selling points for Orkney beef and lamb. 'The quality and consistency in taste and texture sells it. Once my customers have sampled Orkney Gold, there's a regular order for a Sunday joint. It pleases them, it pleases me and it pleases my bank manager.' Orkney Meats manager Edgar Balfour shares Jason's opinion of Beltex X lambs. 'They have great shape with the right amount of fat cover. They always grade well, and of course they're always among the top carcases at the Christmas show. Raymond makes a particularly good job of his sheep and cattle. He works with good stock, and his animals are always well-bred.' Raymond's lambs usually feature among the show's top prizewinners and in 2004 he won the championship with a 17.8kg Beltex X lamb which sold for a record £22 per kilo to a London butcher. As well as the commercial flock, Nisthouse is also home to a herd of 65 suckler cows and the Woodwick flock of pedigree Beltex. Rams from the flock are sold at the Beltex Scotland September sale at Lanark, as well as through the local market at Kirkwall. This year's lamb crop is sired by Ulysses, Longley Hero and Clary Just the Job, an aptly-named stock sire for an Orkney Island farmer whose Beltex X lambs are just the job for a Guernsey Island butcher. |
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