Steer Carcass Contest data collection begins

[jscunn]

Great program for the kids and the breeders. We had out first this year. 9 steers, 4 mid choice, 1 low choice, 4 select. Yg ranged from 2-4, the top three.

1. mid choice (mod 60), yg 2, 774# HCW, 12.5sq in ribeye, (Angus)
2. mid choice (mod 20), yg 3, 786# HCW, 11.4sq in ribeye, (Smokey x bred)
3. mid choice (mod 30), yg 3, 942# HCW, 12.6 sq in ribeye, (Angus x Hereford)

BTW the grand champion on the hoof finished last.. he was a good too, just didn't marble.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Ky Hills - You are correct thinking that MOST continentals are poor marbling breeds - except the Simmental. Being a dairy base breed (heavy milking) they are extremely good marbling. One of the reasons the Simm X Angus compliment each other so well - added muscle & growth without hurting the marbling.
jscunn - sometimes a great show steer has been promoted too much to go into a carcass contest (trucked to too many shows). But, that's the thing, you don't KNOW what's under the cover. Breed and the way they are handled can have a huge affect on marbling. And the animal itself, nervous vs calm.
Do either of you know what the "formula" is for determining the winning carcass. Been many years since "my daughter" was involved in showing steers.

 

[Ky hills]

Ky Hills - You are correct thinking that MOST continentals are poor marbling breeds - except the Simmental. Being a dairy base breed (heavy milking) they are extremely good marbling. One of the reasons the Simm X Angus compliment each other so well - added muscle & growth without hurting the marbling.
jscunn - sometimes a great show steer has been promoted too much to go into a carcass contest (trucked to too many shows). But, that's the thing, you don't KNOW what's under the cover. Breed and the way they are handled can have a huge affect on marbling. And the animal itself, nervous vs calm.
Do either of you know what the "formula" is for determining the winning carcass. Been many years since "my daughter" was involved in showing steers.

Interesting the difference between Simmental and Gelbvieh in terms of marbling, as both are considered to have been dual purpose animals. Haven't seen a lot of Gelbvieh cows, but what I have seen of them they are a heavy milking breed as well. I have always thought Simmentals and Gelbvieh both to be good milking calf raising cows. Even with Simmentals originally a dairy based breed the old red and white ones and the new American ones to me don't show the dairy character and are more muscular from what I see than Angus on average. High Marbling breeds like Wagyu and the high end marbling Angus are to me a different phenotype than Simmental and Gelbvieh. Not disputing anything just trying to sort through the contest information that seems to be an anomaly of sorts in the difference between those two breeds.

 

[wbvs58]

FSR, were there any tears this year with their steers going to the butcher shop?

Ken

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Ky Hills - I have to admit I have never heard GV were poor in marbling. Simmental was #1 in Continentals through MARC research for Continentals, but I have to agree, GV are also a high milking breed.
I believe in many cases, management & temperament has about as much (if not more) to do with marbling as breed.

 

[Silver]

I know GV, Blonde d'Aquitaine, Limousin et al have long been known to have less marbling than British breeds and Simmental, but what is always curious to me it the emphasis put on marbling. There are no end of studies that show that marbling is only one factor in a great eating experience, and not even the major factor. I wonder if the emphasis on marbling is a function of an antiquated grading system or a marketing ploy, or both?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Tenderness has been the number one "consumer" requirement from a number of "surveys". But, without marbling, your meat will tend to be dry and that is not a "pleasurable" experience for the consumer.

 

[Silver]

Tenderness has been the number one "consumer" requirement from a number of "surveys". But, without marbling, your meat will tend to be dry and that is not a "pleasurable" experience for the consumer.

That is correct, but the question remains, why is marbling singled out over tenderness, flavour, etc when there are so many factor in play for a premium eating experience. I agree, marbling is definitely a factor in what makes a good piece of meat, but it is only one factor. I suppose it is because it is more easily quantifiable, therefore the consuming public can be shown a number they can easily understand and can be marketed to more easily.
Anyway, that's my rant, back to important things like kids learning about feeding and carcasses!

 

[Ky hills]

Ky Hills - I have to admit I have never heard GV were poor in marbling. Simmental was #1 in Continentals through MARC research for Continentals, but I have to agree, GV are also a high milking breed.
I believe in many cases, management & temperament has about as much (if not more) to do with marbling as breed.

I agree with you that a lot comes from management and temperament, but if we are to believe some Angus promoters they say theirs are the only ones that will adequately marble. Another reason I believe these kinds of contests are beneficial, folks get to see that Simmental, and other breeds and crosses can grade well too.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Without good marble I can't see any way to have good eating experience. Can you even dry age a lean piece of meat? I'm sure that is why most beef coming from south of the border is wet ageed.

 

[wbvs58]

I believe I can get away with eating a lesser quality piece of meat as I eat it very rare with just the outsides seared. If you like to eat it like my mother in law cooks it like burnt beyond recognition then you need the highest quality, best marbling so that hopefully at the end of the cooking process there is something left that you can at least chew.

Ken

 

[True Grit Farms]

I believe I can get away with eating a lesser quality piece of meat as I eat it very rare with just the outsides seared. If you like to eat it like my mother in law cooks it like burnt beyond recognition then you need the highest quality, best marbling so that hopefully at the end of the cooking process there is something left that you can at least chew.

Ken

A steak without marble is poor quality and not a very good eating experience no matter how it's cooked. I've also had good steaks ruined by being over cooked. Over cooking a piece of any kind meat is a good way to ruin it.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I believe I can get away with eating a lesser quality piece of meat as I eat it very rare with just the outsides seared. If you like to eat it like my mother in law cooks it like burnt beyond recognition then you need the highest quality, best marbling so that hopefully at the end of the cooking process there is something left that you can at least chew.

Ken

Is most of the meat offered for sale, grass fed? In your country.

 

[wbvs58]

I believe I can get away with eating a lesser quality piece of meat as I eat it very rare with just the outsides seared. If you like to eat it like my mother in law cooks it like burnt beyond recognition then you need the highest quality, best marbling so that hopefully at the end of the cooking process there is something left that you can at least chew.

Ken

Is most of the meat offered for sale, grass fed? In your country.

Jeanne, no, most will come through the feedlot, in a good year after a good flood out, bullocks will fatten on herbage in the Channel Country as fast as in a feedlot but most of our beef is through the feedlot. It is commonly thought that most of our beef is grass fed, it does supply some boutique markets for those with hangups on feedlot beef. A lot of our lean meat ends up in the US.

Ken

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Ken, you are right, I thought more was grass fed. My daughter spent a year in NZ in an exchange program and there was very little grain fed. Sheep were butchered as mutton, chicken was a special meal because they required grain feeding, so it was a costly meal. Now, I'm talking many years ago - like 35 years ago. Lots can change. And NZ may not be like Australia.

 

[wbvs58]

Jeanne, you are right a lot can change in 35 years, I don't know how Australia and NZ parallel each other with beef and grain feeding, Australia is a lot drier than NZ and I suspect we grow a lot more grain on our open plains before you get to the desert country so lotfeeding is a good fit. South from where I am about 2/3 up the eastern side Angus would be the predominant breed and then north of here the Brahman and Brahman crosses predominate. In northern Australia a lot of the Brahman are sold into the live export trade to Indonesia and Vietnam where they go straight to slaughter for the wet markets or are feedlotted there before slaughter.

Our domestic market is relatively small so we rely on selling a lot of our fed beef and we are fierce competitors with the US in the Japanese and Korean market.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Great info. Thanks. What is "the wet market"?

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

FSR, were there any tears this year with their steers going to the butcher shop?

Ken

No tears this year. All the kids involved this year have done this a few times...

 

[slick4591]

Without good marble I can't see any way to have good eating experience. ...snip

You know I have to take issue with this statement, don't you?

 

[wbvs58]

Great info. Thanks. What is "the wet market"?

Jeanne, the animal is slaughtered and cut up straight away, no hanging and I don't think it even gets chilled just straight off to the public market place and sold to the public. I don't think they eat much, if any as steak, mostly in dishes and lots of sauces and marinades so Brahmin and Buffalo meat is acceptable to them.

Australia has very high animal welfare standards and cattle that we export live can only be slaughtered in accredited slaughter houses that comply with our slaughter standards and they are heavily audited by our inspectors. If we don't monitor it closely the likes of PETA will be on the case and political pressure will shut down an important market for us.

Ken