CHANGES IN BEEF COMPETITION

Press, 18 February 1977, Page 7

CHANGES IN BEEF COMPETITION

j The inclusion of the _ value of the carcase at cure rent schedule rates as part i of the points criteria, with e SI in value being equiva--3 lent to one point, had give en a strong commercial flavour to the export beef e and beef cuts competitions, s according to a Meat Board e statement on changes in

the allocation of points for the competitions. It was likely that as a result of this change a maximum age limit might need to be introduced, but at this stage it was not considered practical to do so for the coming season’s competitions. The increased emphasis

on yield — by doubling the yield points — also indicated the increased importance placed on this factor, subject to the meat and fat being of an acceptable quality. In visual appraisal, the board said that it was recognised that the main indicator of yield was the depth of subcutaneous fat and the distribution of fat over the carcase. Consequently, the points for these factors had been increased from a total of 45 to 70. However, part of this increase was' to compensate for the removal of kidney and pelvic fats as a factor, as it had been found that there was a considerable variation between breeds in the correx lation between kidney and pelvic fat and yield. Ribeye area was only very poorly correlated with yield of saleable meat and yield of high priced cuts. However it was an indicator of whether primal cuts had a greater cross section and were therefore more attractive to the consumer. Consequently the maximum points for ribeye area had been left at 30, but the method of allocation had been altered from allocation based on ribeye area per unit of weight to a simple measurement of the actual ribeye area not adjusted for weight of carcase. This would tend to favour the better muscled animal. Both meat and fat quality and demerit points had been omitted. If the animal did not have an acceptable carcase in respect of meat and fat colour, bruising, etc., then it was au'Jomaticaly disqualified. This w’ould prevent a high yielding, well-muscled animal with, say, very yellow fat from obtaining a place.

To qualify for further consideration in the judging a carcase must grade Pl under the new conditions of entry. The judging procedures,

according to the board, took into account the effi-i ciency of the animal ini percentage yield of saleable; meat, but they did not con- i sider the efficiency of the! animal in converting pas-.' ture to meat or the rate at which the animal was able to lay down saleable meat. While it was appreciated that these factors were important to the producer, it was also recognised that it was impossible to assess: these characteristics under! practical conditions. Consequently the judging! system was one which rewarded those carcases which were high yielding! and produced cuts which were desirable to the con-! sumer in terms of their' cross-sectional size, colour of both meat and fat, evenness of fat cover and which required little or no fat trimming. i