Change sought in beef cut judging

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33790, 12 March 1975, Page 11

Change sought in beef cut judging

I he system adopted by the Meat Board for judging beef cuts was again criticised when the first stage of the Canterbury- Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s beef and beef cuts competition was judged at the Islington works of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company on Monday.

The judge of the on-hoofj section (Mr P. D. Shea) des-1 cribed the formula for judg-l ing the carcase and cuts sec-1 tions as very complex. For the area of the rib-eye, he said, a carcase could get a total of 30 points. For the I fat cover over a certain - point of the rib-eye, 35 points could be gained, but! if a carcase had 11 milli-j metres of fat cover, instead : of the maximum of 10, it could lose 10 points. “A beast with a huge eye of meat can be defeated simply because of Imm of fat! cover,” Mr Shea said. He added that he thought the system of on-hooks judging I should be changed. Commenting on Mr Shea's remarks, the secretary-man-ager of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Associi ation (Mr T. M. R. Maskew) I said this matter had been

fi taken up with the Meat ■'Board last year. The board ■I said that after being exam- • ined by a committee, it had ■ been decided to let the mat- • ter stand. i . The winner of the on-the-hoof judging yesterday was G. A. ! Pearce, of Coutts Island, with > an Angus steer. A Murray Grey J steer from ,L. C. Early (Sefton,. : was judged second, whUe two ' | Angus steers from Mrs L. E. I Pearce (Coutts Island',, filled : third and fourth placings. Ferguson Farms. Ltd, (Rossi, filled fifth placing with an ! Angus-cross and John F. WyUie .(Omihti, gained sixth with a , Murrav Grey-Angus cross steer. Mr Pearce, who. because of an > accident, farms from a wheel chair, has always been a prom- ' inent exhibitor at these competl- • tions. To quote Mr Shea: he or his family have regularly ‘‘paid . a dividend” in the on-hoof or the on-hooks section of the con- ’ test. The on-hooks and cuts section ’ of the contest will be judged at I Islington at 1.30 p.m. on Thursl day.