TASTY traditional meats could provide one way forward for upland farms.

Beef from an Aberdeen Angus bullock, reared by Steve Ram-shaw, whose Northumbrian Quality Meats is based at Monk-ridge Hill Farm, near Hexham, was voted the tastiest at a seminar exploring the role of traditional breeds of cattle in modern agriculture and conservation.

The seminar, which attracted 60 people, including two farmers from Dartmoor, was organised by Tracy Steward and Sally Hutt of the Northumberland National Park Authority's Drover's Project.

Now in its third year, the project has worked in partnership with a number of Northumberland hill farmers to demonstrate the beneficial effects on grazing and upland habitats of stocking traditional breeds of cattle such as Galloway, Aberdeen Angus, Luing and blue-greys.

These breeds can be wintered outside without damaging the ground and have been shown to improve the conservation value and quality of grazing of upland areas significantly. They also produce a healthier and tastier product for less cost.

Results of the beef tasting put Aberdeen Angus first, closely followed by Belted Galloway - Limousin received no votes at all.

Native cattle can also rejuvenate under-grazed areas where tough moorland grasses have spoiled fell grazing, and are particularly useful for the improvement of SSSIs.

A fall in cattle numbers has seen rank grasses unpalatable to sheep increase on the hills and there are fears that the Single Payment Scheme may see cattle numbers fall still further.

The project has shown that traditional breeds offer a viable product which co-exists with conservation aims.

Dr Ian Richardson from Bristol University, who specialises in the effect of different beef production systems on product quality, pointed out that meat from grass-fed cattle had a higher ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fats and more anti-oxidants. This was better for human and animal health as well as meat flavour.