Carcass results interpretation

[Aaron]

I've gotten back some carcass results on some of our calves from 2010. I am not a feedlot guy so I'm not really in tune with what ribeye sizes are average and exceptional or what is the desire backfat thickness. So opinions and advice are welcome.

 

[Mike]

Anything above .5" on backfat starts eating into the yield grades. The best Yield grade is a #1 and goes down from there.

Very good grades here. I think all but two qualify for Certified Angus (for whatever that's worth). The one with the high carcass weight and maybe the one with the big Ribeye?

You done good. Put the prices next to carcasses and you'll see what pays.

http://www.canadabeef.ca/ca/en/beef_export/quality/quality_grade.aspx

 

[RSL]

Your message prompted me to look up our data. Only have results on 14 2011 born heifers. Our 2010 BIXS data was pretty much of a mess. But I am pretty happy with our 2011 heifer data.

Basically if the cattle sell on a grid AAA is worth a premium and single A a steep discount. AAA = USDA Choice, AA = select and A = standard.
Carcass weight discounts generally start around 950 but can vary depending on orders and supply. 1/2" of backfat is desirable as are USDA YG 1 and 2. 3 is OK, 4 and 5 are usually a discount. If the REA is 14+ the usual reason for 4s and 5s is a long feeding period (beyond optimal). This can be (usually is) related to market conditions, rather than feeding to optimum. I still don't understand it, but when fats go down, most guys feed them longer.
Based on the ages it looks like the cattle were backgrounded, maybe grassed and then finished out. Grades are pretty decent with one or two outliers.

 

[randiliana]

Here are our results.

 

[RSL]

We only got 2011 data back on some heifers that we sold out of the yard. The rest of our heifers were all sold for breeding. These are May/June born SMAN F1s that were harvested January 15, 2013.

Nothing on the steers, but we were pretty happy to get this data back on cattle that we felt weren't good enough to keep. I guess attention to ultrasound and carcass EPD does pay off. If barley was $3 it might have paid to own them. :lol:

 

[Silver]

I finally found some results. I have no idea which are heifers and which are steers. I just snipped what was at the top of their list for this one:



These calves were born March through May.

 

[MN Farm Girl]

Aaron- the numbers look pretty good. I am currently on the Meats Judging Team here at SDSU and we spend many hours in harvest facilities looking at beef carcasses in the coolers. We are expected to quality and yield grade 15 carcasses per contest. In my two cents worth, it appears that they were a bit fat. The thicker the back fat the higher your yield grade. For the animals that were YG 4+ I am going to guess that they docked you price wise for those. The ribeyes cut out very well for you and those would be good eating with the size of them. When we judge we look at the HCW and figure out the adjustment, the REA has an adjustment as well, along with the %KPH and the backfat reading gives us our Preliminary yield Grade to start making the adjustments. Looking at the data I am going to jump out on a limb and say that there am have been a dock for the 1000#+ carcass as well. Overall looks like you did well.