Sarah Fenwick from Calder Farm in Seascale, Cumbria, is one of a band of 25 ladies who have grouped together to form a new organisation – Ladies in Beef.
Becoming a vet was the ultimate dream for Sarah as she has always had a real passion for animals. At an early age she was told her dreams could not become reality as she had asthma. She was also told she couldn’t be a farmer but continued to pursue her dream. Her determination to promote the best of British beef has been strengthened by these early knock backs in her career.
All 25 ladies are female beef farmers who care passionately about British beef. Remarkably, the ladies have already secured the backing of four of the major multiple retailers for the inaugural Great British Beef Week (23rd – 30th April 2011).
Asda, J Sainsbury, Tesco and Waitrose have signed up to promote the week and all four retailers will feature the Great British Beef Week logo on pack as follows:
• Asda – across all British Red Tractor beef
• J Sainsbury – across all British Red Tractor beef excluding products on promotion
• Tesco – across Tesco Finest Quality Standard British beef
• Waitrose – across all Red Tractor British beef
Morrisons has also pledged its support for Ladies in Beef, but will not be featuring Great British Beef Week on pack because it coincides with the retailer’s own ’Let’s Celebrate’ promotion, running throughout the store.
Sarah, 48, changed from being a dairy farmer to a beef farmer due to workload and economics. She was brought up on a farm and now farms in partnership with her husband Calder. They have two sons, aged 26 and 27. The eldest son is interested in taking on the family farm in the future, and is an agricultural contractor.
Sarah said: "We are absolutely over the moon that we have had such a positive response from the major multiples and particularly grateful to those that have agreed to promote Great British Beef Week in store. Ladies in Beef has very little resource, in terms of either time or money, so the fact that these big players have signed up is incredible. It just goes to show that they really understand and support what we are trying to achieve – namely the promotion of quality British beef."
Independent butchers throughout the country have been sent a special Great British Beef Week poster to help them drive sales and encourage customers to celebrate with a delicious rib roast.
Sarah, who has all blue related names for her cows and a bull named Tiger, added: "Our work will of course continue after Great British Beef Week is over and we plan to continue our dialogue with all the retailers to encourage them to use our lady beef farmer regional champions in whatever way they see fit to help promote beef to customers. Whether it be on pack, through point-of-sale material, on retailer websites, in customer magazines, or even in PR and advertising campaigns, we are confident that because we are a group of wives, mothers and young women who also happen to be female beef farmers - we will be able to strike a chord with shoppers in a way that hasn’t been possible before."
Ladies in Beef was formed to help promote and drive awareness of the quality and versatility of British beef to consumers using a country-wide network of dynamic lady beef ’champions’. All the ladies are British beef farmers and proud of it! The group was formally launched at a high profile industry event last month, attended by guest of honour, Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal.
