BRG said:
Turkey Track,
Do you have any idea what the national average for REA size is? Same years.
If I get a chance today, I'll see if I can find that for the previous years....
In 2005, but steers and heifers had an average REA size of 13.4 inches square, but again, there are a pile (8% of the cattle) of dairy steers in this audit, and they almost always have smaller ribeyes than "native" or "bos indicus" cattle, so likely the steer REA would be larger for native type cattle.
A couple of interesting things....
End users (restauranteers, purveyors, grocers, exporters, etc.) were asked their opinions of the future issues for the beef industry, and have the following concerns:
--New bacterial pathogens (especially multidrug resistent E colis and Salmonellas (typherium, Newport))
--Additional BSE issues
--Market access & export requirements (age and source verification will become a must)
--Price of beef is so high that it is having trouble competing
--Eating consistencies
--Animals keep getting bigger (weight/size problems.)
When asked of End Users (restauranteers, purveyors, grocers, etc.) about their opinions of the Top Ten Beef Quality Defects,
the Top 5 were:
1. Lack of uniformity/consistency in marbling and tenderness
2. Cut are too large for foodservice and restaurant trade!!! (I know for ag folks it's hard to imagine, but most folks don't want a 16 oz steak, they'd prefer 8 or 10 ounces, and with increased REA, that really becomes hard to offer a good eating experience, and this also one of the reasons some restaurants are only offering filet mignon on their menus...for cut size.)
3. Excess fat
4 Abscesses/lession in cuts, trimmings, and variety meats, especially due to injection site lesions in the shoulder, and severe liver abscesses (one of the negatives of natural/organic beef)
5 Blood splashed muscle (or maybe deep bruising?)
Also, a comparison of average carcass weights over past audits:
1991: 759 lbs
1995: 748 lbs (likely low because of high priced corn)
2000: 787 lbs
2005: 796 lbs
It's often said that "every 1 pound increase in carcass weight is equal to adding 1,000 head of cattle to the weekly slaughter." So, demand is doing a pretty good job of keeping up.
Cheers---
TTB :wink: