CHINA MAY not initially spring to mind as a major beef producer but it actually ranks fourth in the world next to the US, Brazil and the EU 25, writes Ewan Pate, farming editor.

That is just one of the facts brought back by retired Perth farmer and meat buyer Robin Young, who recently visited the country.

He joined up with his nephew, John Young, who is chairman of the export development committee of the Australian Aberdeen Angus Society, and also with Graham Truscott, who is chief executive of the society.

John Young originally farmed at Boglea, Alyth, but is now well established 100 miles from Perth, Western Australia, where, along with his son, he runs 240 Aberdeen Angus cows.

“The other two were there to attend the first-ever national Chinese beef conference, and I volunteered to carry the bags,” said Robin.

“It turned out, however, to be very interesting.

“On a pre-conference tour we visited an abattoir handling 600 cattle a day.

“It was owned by a 51,000-member co-op.

“The hygiene was first class and it had full international accreditation.

“We were also able to visit a store cattle market which handled between 6000 and 7000 cattle three times a week. They were all sold by private bargain and it was all cash transactions.”

Interestingly, the cattle were mostly Simmental types.

The breed had been imported to China for pulling ploughs and other implements and had become the mainstay of the beef industry.

There was also a native red breed with reasonable conformation.

Most of the finishing is done in feedlots utilising maize, which grows rapidly to over 12 feet tall in the area to the north-west of Beijing.

With the average farm size little more than an acre, herd sizes are small.

“Farmers only had two or three cows each and they grazed them on the roadsides or any other spare ground as well as on their own land,” said Mr Young.

The party also visited a research farm where red Aberdeen Angus stock were being improved using semen from the US.

The conference was held in the city of Liangzhow, which lies on the Yellow River and is home to some three million people.

John Young and Graham Truscott were there to persuade the 500 delegates that there was a case for importing Australian Aberdeen Angus genetics.

Japan is the biggest market for Australian meat products, taking 45% of the exports, but clearly a huge market such as China is a target for beef and for breeding stock.

China is, perhaps surprisingly, an exporter of beef and the sales literature boasts of shipments to many countries but specifically mentions that the beef has “sharp Islamic characteristics.”

Target markets are in the Middle East and South-East Asia.

Robin Young is sure that the Australians will do business in China.

“Scotland used to be at the top of the tree for beef quality, but we lost the lead thanks to the support system which encouraged us to produce large, lean carcases.

“Australia has the lead now on meat technology and is producing really good beef.

“The Chinese want that good quality and they want it now.”