Quality Grades Continue Down.....

[Mike]

Quality grades continue downward trend

By Donna Farris, For Lee Agri-Media
Thursday, December 7, 2006 1:36 PM CST

A gradual trend of declining marbling levels in beef has become more dramatic in the past 18 months, and a session during the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association Convention will delve into why and what can be done about it.

“Marbling, because of its relationship to flavor in beef, is very important,” said Larry Corah, vice president of Certified Angus Beef. “Unfortunately, we've seen a decline in marbling levels over the past 25 years, which has been particularly accentuated in the last 18 months.”

While the exact cause for the decline in marbling and quality is unknown, there are a number of changes in the cattle industry that could be contributing factors.

One is an increase in the incidence of health problems at the feedlot level.


“When health problems occur, quality grades are dramatically impacted,” Corah said.

The increased use of ethanol byproducts, which are low in starch, could also be playing a role.

Another possibility could be the restructuring of the feed industry toward larger feedlots.

“Our data shows that larger feedlots, for a variety of reasons, have lower quality than smaller feeder types,” Corah said.

Production systems that focus on weight are often detrimental to quality, Corah said.

And, in building up their herds, today's feeders are keeping more heifers back for replacements, yet heifers outgrade steers in meat quality.

Corah said there are a number of management strategies that can help reverse the downward trend in quality concerning things like production systems, average daily gain, implants and health programs.

As the use of ethanol byproducts expands, researchers are looking into how high a level of distillers grains can be added to cattle diets before there are negative impacts, both for cattle and the environment. Feeding studies are under way at South Dakota State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other institutions, Corah said.

Genetics also play a major role in beef quality, and that starts at the cow/calf level. Through genetic selection, producers can impact quality grades.
“Marbling is a highly inheritable trait,” Corah said.
Overall, a number of today's cattle are fatter but with lower quality beef.

“What this has done is to create a huge demand for higher-quality products,” Corah said, which is favorable for the region.

“(This region's) calves traditionally tend to be some of the very best cattle produced. So these trends have positive economic benefits for (the region) and particularly for those who can hit the quality targets,” he said.

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That's it boys, keep using all those "High Marbling" Angus bulls!

[PPRM]

I think one thing often overlooked is when the Fat cells for marbling develop....I think it is around 600 pounds that they do. If the calf is on a low energy diet, then this doesn't occur and even with good genetics, marbling doesn't occur. In thinking about this year, with corn priced high, there could be tremendous incentive to feed lower energy rations from 500-600 pounds.

BTW, I am not saying they need to be up to a finish ration at 600 pounds, but if you can get them gaining 3 pounds vs 1.5, odds of marbling well later are a lot better,


This is a good subject Mike. It eventually affects the consumers deire to repeat beef Purchases....Another aspect of this is the way the Slaughter industry does things. Warehousing, especially cold warehousing is expensive. We dry age the beef we sell for 18-21 days. I feel this enables us to sell a leaner carcass and get that flavor and tenderness. I repeatedly hear from my customers that the flavor and tenderness beats anything they are buying at the Grocery.....So, this leads me to wonder if as an industry, we are using fat to cover what would be a very expensive dry aging process....

Like I said Mike, a subject I am very interested in,


PPRM

[WB]

What effect has all the implanting had on quality grades? Quite a bit I'd wager.

[ET Doc]

Mike,
It's been so long since I posted that I forgot my password.
Just wrapped up the fall preg. checking last week. Have been running about 1000 cows per week since mid October.
But I wanted to respond to your post. Part of our practice is carcass ultrasound, and we do lots of Angus bulls as well as other breeds.
I find that there are as many differences within breeds as between breeds for the most part, with a few notable exceptions.
It's amazing how much difference there is in the value of a carcass on the rail, depending on whether or not it grades.
Right now the choice/select spread is pretty wide. We've had some small feeders ultrasound steers that were near finish to pull out the ones that would make a certain grid, then they went to their local slaughter plant with the rest.
Sometimes the difference in value according to the grid is over $400 per head.
Some of our more progressive commercial clients are starting to carcass ultrasound their heifers as part of their selection process also.
The purebred breeders are lagging behind in this area in most cases. Will they be ready for the demand when the commercial boys want data on both the bull and his mother?
Anything we can do to improve beef quality will pay us in the long run.
Merry Christmas

[Mike]

[Jason]

Carcass EPD's are only a guide.

I know of a couple Angus bulls that were high dollar bulls from a big outfit. I questioned how they could scan as high as they claimed based on their pedigree. When the calves started getting scaned, none posted the numbers one would expect.

If you feed the crap out of a bull and scan him with some bulls managed on a different feeding regime, the EPD's won't be very reliable.

Kinda like saying a bull is a 60 pound bw and he throws nothing but 95 pound calves.

[Mike]

[Jason]

You'd be surprized how many guys get caught on the epd deal Mike.

I was one of the first on them when they came out, but because of guys trying to find an edge, I won't look (with any intent to change my mind) at an epd under 85%. If I like the animal I will use it. If it has epd's over 85% they better be the right numbers.

Most of the bulls I am using are older proven bulls again because of this.

[Badlands]

You don't sample any of your own young bulls, Jason?

Badlands

[Shorthornguy]

With all the technology we have now, you would think we could carcass test with DNA???

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

What about areas such as Texas (and others ) that are serious cattle producing states that are goin thru drought? Couldn't that have something to do with alot of numbers of cattle not scoring as well as say normal years? I'd think so. Texas has been in serious drought situation for 2 years.

Was just a random thought I had, but I'm thinkin it could have an affect on the end product.

[Faster horses]

What about the old saying, "Marbling is an old cow disease"?

Cattle with a little age marble better than youngsters.