Response to ‘Name and Address Withheld’ (letter titled ‘Beef with MP /05/21).

You can read that letter here

IN WRITING to address our MP’s response to the BBC’s misguided promotion to eat less meat, you have failed to understand how most British farmers raise their cattle and sheep.

We do not factory farm our ruminants. The majority thrive on grass. Grass is our best crop!

The fields you see all around West Dorset are sequestering millions of tons of carbon. We cannot eat this grass but our cattle and sheep convert it to protein which we humans need.

I have been asked why I don’t plough up all my grass and plant vegetables. If I did that, all the stored carbon would be released into the atmosphere. And then I would have to spread artificial fertilisers in order to make something else grow.

So I will keep my permanent grassland and let my sheep and cattle do what they do best. Make sure you eat locally reared meat and help the environment.

Jo Stover

Lower Brimley Coombe Farm

Stoke Abbott