Electronic Carcass Grading in Our Slaughter Plants - EID Next? They'll Be Able to Track where that Carcass came from? Breed, Owner, Etc...

Now that the USDA has approved the use of these new grading instruments, there will be much less error in sorting carcasses to standard, select, choice, or prime. What may surely follow this new grading approach is the ability for these same electronic grading devices to capture the EID of the carcass. Once that happens, the carcass quality of your feeder calves that result from your farm or ranch operation will be identified..........and the Feedlot buyers will hear it from the packing houses, and those Feedlot Buyers will begin targeting calves from cattle operations that are bringing home the Choice and Prime for the Packing house....cause that's what brings home the money in this business!

We need to seriously consider establishing Ultrasound Guidelines for our yearling bulls that are potential herd prospects, as well as our yearling heifers. Wouldn't it be a nice if when the day comes that carcasses can be identified straight to the source those Packing houses find that British White carcasses are grading a very high percentage choice and prime!

Increased demand for British White bulls in commercial operations will only come with recognition of the value of their carcass traits. Ultrasound measurements are an invaluable tool in selecting/breeding our seedstock to produce desirable and heritable carcass traits. Always remember that a 'fat calf' in no way means it's a calf that will produce a choice or prime carcass. Underneath all those layers of fat, a very standard grade ribeye could easily be lurking!

USDA Approves Two Instrument Systems For Beef Carcass Marbling Scores

The Cattle Network, November 20, 2006

EXCERPTS:

"They overlooked one of the most ground breaking advances in the long and checkered history of beef grading. For the first time, the beef industry has a reliable system capable of consistently determining marbling scores without the uncertainty of fallible human eyes."

"Consistent grading, however, has been a problem from its earliest days; a USDA inspector eyeballed every ribeye and made a decision about each carcass in a scant few seconds. It’s a fatigue inducing job that requires a changeover of personnel every 30 minutes. Blink and you miss seeing something critical. Rub your eye and two rib eyes could speed by unseen. Had a rough night? Those bleary eyes probably aren’t going to see things the same way they did a few days ago. And, of course, a purely visual grade assignment is hardly a way to insure consistency."

"Grading errors are costly. Judge a carcass too low and the plant loses money. Judge it too high and a consumer will be disappointed with the eating “experience” and might be lost as a customer."

"RMS personnel spent three days and captured data on over 4,000 animals at each plant. With thousands of observations, they met the agreed upon standard of consistency exceeding 95%."

". .“It’s a computer vision system,” said Goldberg. “A cable connects a color camera to a computer. The operator takes a picture of each rib eye and the picture is digitized and sent to the computer. The operator has data on the rib eye area, meat and fat color, fine and coarse marbling and other measures before he can take the camera away. It takes about one second to analyze the image and display the results.” . . "

British White Cattle - They REALLY are more GENTLE than Other Breeds!

Too often some visitors to my ranch comment that their calm character is surely due to the "time I must spend with them".

As Breeders of this very special, uniquely beautiful, ancient breed we all know different. Their gentleness begins before birth, it's inherent in their genetic makep-up. Wanda Mae, the curious cow checking out what Mike's up to, isn't the norm in any cow herd, and she's been human-friendly since the day she arrived, as are her calves. It's a very HERITABLE trait.

Every scientific research report that one comes upon points to the fact that the calmer the feeder calf the better the carcass. One day it will be realized that when a commerical cattleman puts a British White Bull on his herd his calves are calmer, their growth is superior, and their carcass brings to them a premium over Black Angus, a highly volatile breed.

The DNA testing accomplished to date indicates the British White breed tests as well as as the much more aggressive and temperamental black Angus breed in terms of marbling and tenderness.

As DNA testing via GeneStar and/or Igenity progresses and is reported to and compiled by the BWCAA and members, I fully expect the results to continue to be superior and to further establish British White cattle as THE Beef Breed of the Future for genetic Tenderness combined with genetic Docility -- a combination no other breed can match -- and a combination that the Commercial Feedlot operator will not ignore and will demand from commerical cattlemen. Numerous articles are to be found on the positive impact on carcass quality from docile feeder calves in the chute and the feedlot.

British White Breeders - Better Growth Trait Recording is Needed

The following article mentions the significant growth the Angus breed has seen this past year in the reporting of birth weight, weaning weight, and yearling weight by their members -- also of great significance is the 18.5% increase in members reporting yearling ultrasound results to their Association. This increase in ultrasound measurements highlights the growing recognition of it's value to individual breeding programs. If you would like to see the BWCAA establish Ultrasound Guidelines for your benefit and direction, be sure and contact the association and voice your opinion.

Many British White breeders have weaning and yearling weights that we never get around to sending to the Association, including myself! But those weights are very important information that can help you in your breeding decsions as well as in the marketing of your animals. Ultrasound Measurements will do likewise. If you decide to do it on your own, be sure and use a Certified Ultrasound Technician and have the images sent to CUP Labs in Iowa, the Lab that is considered the premier lab for accurate image analysis. If you'd like to know how to find a technician or other details about yearling ultrasound measures, send me an email.


Nov 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Beef Magazine

The American Angus Association (AAA) recorded 347,572 registrations in FY 2006 (ended Sept. 30), growing by more than 7% from the previous year. Transfers — the sales of cattle to new owners — also increased 7% to 206,121. Of registrations processed, more than 10% were embryo transfer calves and nearly 49% of all animals registered were A.I. sired. In addition, AAA repor

• 14% more Angus bulls sold via auction sales attended by AAA regional managers, and averaged more than $135/head over a year ago. Female sales also increased, averaging $243 more per lot than FY 2005.

• A 6% growth in breeder participation in its Beef Improvement Records (BIR) program. Nearly 9,700 herds submitted more than 882,000 birth, weaning and yearling weights. Additionally more than 150,000 ultrasound measurements were submitted — an 18.5% increase.

• AngusSource^®, which earned USDA Process Verified Program status the past year, posted a 4% enrollment increase.

• A record 13.1 million cattle were ID'd for the Certified Angus Beef Program, which sold more than 543 million lbs. of branded product this year, the highest since 2003.

Put British White Beef on Your Table for Dinner Tonight!

British White Cattle - Ask for Royally Good '"White Beef'" - Ask for British White Beef

Inviting everyone to take a look at the British White breed of cattle and see what's happening here at this Texas ranch. Beef is what's for dinner.....and for too long it's been the domain of that black breed.....If you're a commercial rancher, look to the British White breed for gentle crossbred calves, proven to result in more tender carcasses. For the seedstock producer, the British White breed gives all you can ask in fertility, milkiness, calving ease, hardiness, and more. Contact J. West Cattle Company for superior Grassfed Genetics.

British White Cattle - Gentle, Grassfed Cattle Genetics in Southeast Texas

The British White Cattle Breed has much to offer the cattle producer in terms of both economics and genuine pleasure in the care-taking of this gentle, beautiful, ancient and immortalized breed. British White cattle embody all traits of economic importance to cattle producers -- excellent fertility, milkiness, hardiness to disease, calving ease, maternal instincts, and a long-lived calving life. Their white hides give them superior heat tolerance and their black hooves are sound and sturdy.

Perhaps the most distinguishing economic trait of the British White cattle breed is their unusually curious and docile nature, well represented by the girls pictured just below who had to have a look at what I was doing sitting on the ground in their space. Visitors to British White herds often comment that their calm demeanor is surely due to the "time we must spend with them". Senorita Lisa, Lucy Rae, and Donna DarlingBut, breeders of this very special, uniquely beautiful, ancient breed know different. Their gentleness begins before birth -- it is inherent in their genetic make-up. From almost the day of a calf's birth, breeders of British White cattle can many times judge the likely temperament of their calves, and the range is generally from at a minimum no flight zone to the maximum temperament of one so gentle and curious they come to you in the pasture.

How does a gentle nature translate into one of economic importance to a cattle producer? Every scientific research report that one comes upon studying the relationship between docile calves in the feedlot to carcass tenderness, results in the conclusion that the calmer the feeder calf the more tender the carcass as in the report found at this TAMU link . One day it will be realized that when a commercial cattleman puts a British White Bull on his herd his calves are calmer, their growth is superior, and their carcass brings to them a premium over Black Angus, a highly volatile breed by comparison. J. West's Polly, a registered Halfblood British White heiferPictured to the left is a half blood female who was sired by a British White bull and whose dam is a commercial black cow who won't let you approach at all. This heifer on the other hand, is much calmer with a flight zone of a foot or less, and will sometimes let you pat her on the head. An important point to be made here is that in contrast to their generally docile nature with humans, they will both singly and as a group make swift and effective attack on predators such as coyotes and buzzards that threaten their calves; or even your blind, geriatric dog if he picks his way across a cattle guard in search of you and instead walks straight into a calf newly born to a heifer. They seem to have the ability to better judge what is a threat to them and their youngsters above that of other breeds; and humans are pretty much not perceived as threatening. British White herds don't scatter on the approach of strange humans, most will even remain lying down and disinterested.

Of great economic importance to cattle producers is the actual carcass quality coming out of the Feedlot. Besides the established correlation between docility and carcass tenderness mentioned above -- today there is DNA testing readily available to help identify animals that will most likely produce calves with superior carcass traits for tenderness and marbling. The DNA testing accomplished to date on approximately 80% of the herd of J. West Cattle Co. reflects the following:
bullet 100% are carriers of the T1/Calpistatin gene for Carcass Tenderness, and of those . . .
*** 64% are Homozygous for T1 (have two copies of the T1 gene, and thus will always pass on at a minimum ONE copy of the gene to their calves)
*** 9% are Heterozygous for the T2 Tenderness gene.
*** 80% are carriers of the T3/Calpain gene for Carcass Tenderness, and of those . . .
*** 27% are Homozygous for the T3/Calpain Tenderness gene.
*** 45% of this British White herd carries at a minimum one copy of the Carcass Marbling gene identified as QG1 with GeneStar, and of those . . .
*** 8% are Homozygous for the QG1 Carcass Marbling gene,
*** 11% are Heterozygous for the QG3 Carcass Marbling gene,
*** 49% are carriers of the QG4 Carcass Marbling gene, and of those . . .
*** 41% are Heterozygous for the QG4, and 8% are Homozygous for the QG4 Marbling gene.

As DNA testing and planned breeding progresses over the next few years to intensify these genetic traits, the results are expected to continue to be superior and to further establish British White cattle as THE Beef Breed of the Future for genetic Tenderness combined with genetic Docility -- a combination no other breed can match -- and a combination that the Commercial Feedlot operator will not ignore and will demand from commercial cattleman.

Besides the important economic traits of the British White breed, there is another trait that is unmatched by any other breed -- their extraordinarily striking beauty, and of course I realize that is a matter of personal opinion. British White Cattle are predominantly white with black points. Often, there are scattered spots of black along their sides, and typically this is accompanied by very strong color points about the nose, eyes, ears, teats, and lower front legs, which are the basic black color points expected in the breed. Their unique beauty is always a source of comment by visitors, as is their calm demeanor -- both traits that most likely inspired and perpetuated ancient Celtic lore and legend that immortalized the British White 'milk white cow' and predate the written word. Much of the ancient lore and legend makes reference to the occurrence of the red-pointed calf that is born in otherwise black-pointed herds; this occurs in British White herds today as in ancient days and is always one of surprise and remark. As well, a small percentage of calves are born with a line-backed pattern, and this has occurred throughout both the horned and polled white park cattle's documented history. See Breed History for additional information on their ancient history in the British Isles.



The British White cattle breed has much to offer the cattle producer in terms of both economics and genuine pleasure in the care-taking of this gentle, beautiful, ancient and immortalized breed.