norriscathy":3qg8cen6 said:
Does anyone have a copy the MARC shear test results for all breeds that they could post? Can't find anything on the MARC web site. Just about ready to put a Jersey bull on my "right kind" of Gelbvieh cattle! Maybe then I can get something these old teeth can chew!
I really don't know how much good an "Across Breeds" "Shear" test would do unless there were a significant and a cross sectional number of cattle were measured and an "Average" was calculated.
Feeding methods could vary tests, environmental factors, feed components could vary tests, and length of cattle on feed could vary tests. Among others, including individual genetics.
I will agree that some breeds might have more tender meat than others, but was the testing done with a large enough number of animals and raised in the same environmental conditions?
In the old Charolais Carcass Evaluation Tests that were administered by the Association with due oversight, the shear tests ranged from Very Tender to Very Tough. If one breed had that much variation how in the world could you analyze one breed against the other?
By the way, in the tests I had done on a pen of calves......the Shear Test results had no relation whatsoever to marbling or "Quality Grade". The "Select" meat was just as tender or tough as the variation in the "Choice" meat.
The variation within a Sire Group was as varied as the group as a whole on the "Shear Test" but was highly various in quality grades and yield grades between Sire Groups. These calves were also kept in the same contemporary group for life!
I am not fully convinced that the Shear Test is the way we are going to determine "Tenderness" in the U.S. cattle herd. I am certainly not convinced that visual examination (USDA grading) is going to cut it either.