Ultrasound Leads to 'Best Carcasses in World'
MANHATTAN, Kan. — The search for superior beef may have found a solution.
John Brethour, K-State Research and Extension animal scientist, may have discovered a way to produce carcasses of consistent superior quality. Brethour tests ultrasound application in tracking marbling at the K-State Western Kansas Agricultural Research Center in Hays.
"I wanted to apply ultrasound to calculate how many days it will take an animal to go to the next grade," Brethour said. "We are attempting to determine objectively how many days to feed the animal in order to receive the highest price."
Brethour has dedicated nearly 12 years to studying ultrasound. The early experiments attempted to establish equations for measuring backfat in live animals. Once he established different backfat equations for different breeds, he wanted to see if marbling works the same way.
"We have studied ultrasound over the years to tract the development of marbling, since marbling is supposedly the best indication of eating ability," Brethour said. "I wanted to see if the equations for native cattle would hold true for Wagyu cattle or if marbling would differ."
Jim Scott, owner of PrimeLine Genetics, asked Brethour for assistance with his own quest for high quality beef. Scott experimented with Wagyu crosses but needed a better way to select the harvest date.
"We needed to look inside at the carcass while the animals were still alive," Scott said. "K-State and John Brethour gave us the best offer."
In their experiment, Brethour and Scott bred 135 commercial Charolais heifers to six Wagyu purebred bulls from OBBCO Ranch in DeLeon, Texas. From that group, 25 steers were randomly selected to be included in the study, performed at the Agricultural Research Center—Hays.
The results? The cattle graded more than 90 percent prime, in comparison to the national slaughter mix average of less than two percent prime. In addition, the men took six cattle to the 1999 National Western Stock Show (NWSS) for the carcass contest, where they won first place with an unprecedented 100-percent, prime-graded group.
"One judge said this was 'the best set of carcasses I've ever seen in my life,'" Brethour said. "We broke history in Denver with an average quality grade of Prime plus.
Wagyu cattle have been used in the United States before, but they have been bred to cattle known for high marbling. Scott said they thought to bred them to Charolais because Wagyu cattle "have the marbling but needed the growth and efficiency provided by Charolais."
Producers can expect similar results with Wagyu-Charolais crosses, Scott said. In addition to carcass quality, Wagyu cattle also are known for their calving ease due to small-boned, lighter calves. The disadvantage of the breed reverts back to the 60-pound average birth weight.
"When you start with an animal that small, you don't have as good a growth pattern pre-weaning," Scott said. "However, as you go through post-weaning, hybrid vigor kicks in and you end up with animals just as large."
The hybrid vigor in Wagyu crosses is higher due to the new genetics from the Japanese-based breed.
"Wagyu cattle are not related to anything in America, which results in a huge heterosis effect," Scott said.
Will this cross affect the beef industry? Scott says no, not until producers can focus on the end product instead of the cattle's appearance.
"Wagyu cattle are ugly. They are fine-boned, small ended and ugly," Scott said. "Breeds of cattle are still being judged with the eyeball, even though we have EPD's and are using data. Not many cattle producers know what the end product should look like, yet." While Wagyu cattle are not widely accepted by the beef industry, the use of ultrasound to determine the harvest date is increasing in popularity in the industry. Brethour is attempting to polish the technology for practical application.
"Our interest in ultrasound is for upstream commercial operations," Brethour said. "Today we are working with different ultrasound machines to resolve the variation among the machines."
Brethour continues to discover new applications for ultrasound.
"We are currently studying the accuracy of evaluating calves at weaning to predict their potential grade. It's interesting how accurate we can be by evaluating the calves," he said. "We also plan to ultrasound cows to predict the genetic potential of calves she will raise."
Linda Albers
Communications Specialist
K-State Research and Extension John Brethour
Agricultural Research Center-Hays
785-625-3425 Ext. 215
