 Nevada
County Podcast
April 7, 2009
Beef Carcass Quality (2:19 minutes)
Audio/Video Script:
Melissa Beck
County Extension Agent - Agriculture
[Title Slide] Beef Carcass Quality: Factors Affecting Consumer Acceptability
of U. S. Beef, Melissa Beck,
Nevada County Extension Agent - Agriculture, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service.
[Picture of steak on the grill] A tender juicy steak starts
with high quality beef. [Video of producers working calves] Pre-harvest on-farm practices can affect beef quality. This is Melissa
Beck, with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.
[Chart showing levels of beef marbling] Beef quality is determined by marbling, or
intramuscular fat, which affects the flavor, tenderness and juiciness of beef.
[Picture of a beef]
[Chart showing decline in beef grading choice]
Unfortunately for the twenty year period from 1986 to 2005 the number of cattle
grading choice has declined from 93% to 57%. This 39% reduction in carcass
quality has the beef industry on alert.
According to Harlan Ritchie, Distinguished Professor of
Animal Science at Michigan State university, the market needs twice as much
premium choice and prime beef as the current output. [Video of calves in
feedlot] Beef exporters that
participated in the National Beef Quality Audit have listed carcass quality as
the second most limiting factor in the ability to export beef.
Producers participating in the National Beef Quality Audit
ranked "insufficient marbling and low quality grades" as the leading beef
quality challenge facing the industry. [Chart showing yield and quality
grades] Along with the reduction in carcass
quality, the number of cattle scoring yield grades 4 and 5 has more than
quadrupled since 1997.
[Pictures of calves in feedyard and implanting] Possible reasons for the decline in carcass quality include
increased feedlot illness, aggressive implant regimes and increased feeding of
calves versus yearlings.
[Video of cows/calves in a pasture] Increases in illness and yield grades may be related to
younger-lighter cattle entering the feedlot.
[Pictures of carcasses and steaks] In many instances feeding calves has resulted in equal or
better quality grade compared to contemporaries fed as yearlings, but calf
feeding also often results in lighter weight and fatter (higher yield grade)
carcasses.
[Slide of upcoming podcasts - genetics, age, implanting,
herd health, and nutrition] This is the first in a series of podcasts that will explain
the US Quality Grades, and explore the current research related to producers'
pre-harvest practices that can affect consumer acceptability of US beef.
Following presentations will cover the effects of genetics, age, implanting herd
health and nutrition on carcass quality.
[Slide U of A University of Arkansas Division of
Agriculture, www.uaex.edu] For more information contact your
county extension agent.
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