The Farmer's Friend

Harry Shutkever, just as his father before him, has been a livestock farmer for all his long life. He still raises cattle on his farm near Birmingham and still attends the auctions, meat markets and farmers' meetings in the rich heartlands of the English Midlands. Harry Shutkever's delightful and instructive memoir recounts the tale of a life well-lived, dedicated to the often fraught process of turning grass into meat - and meat into money. This heart-warming recollection of a tough apprenticeship into the world of the wholesale meat business, supervised by his ever-demanding father, will delight any reader concerned with the preservation of the English countryside. Alongside often wonderful anecdotes of difficult men and animals, Harry Shutkever has written a moving tribute to his father - on whose death a minute's silence was observed throughout all the cattle markets he had ever attended throughout the Midlands. It's also a fascinating insight into the politics of the multi-million pound commercial food business in this country. For amongst the many humourous anecdotes and delightful incidents rests the firm belief we ignore the farmers' experience and knowledge at our peril.