Warm temperatures affect on marbling of beef?

[amanameats]

Hello everyone,
I currently own a meat market where we slaughter and process our own beef. For the past few years there is a certain trend in beef marbling that I have been noticing and was not sure what the explanation would be. During the cold months (Michigan), the beef that we slaughter is some of the highest quality beef as far as marbling. These high quality cattle are not hard to find and consistently give us great results. Yet when the temperature begins to warm up, we begin to start having difficulty finding cattle that ends up being as nicely marbled as the cattle of the winter months. There is no shortage of supply and the live cattle look like they will be well marbled, yet when we slaughter and chill them, they are not as marbled. I was wondering if this would be due to temperature changes or maybe some other factors. Any ideas?

 

[TexasBred]

Could be because cows needs to eat more roughage in cold weather to obtgain the calories for heat energy. If she doesn't have enough roughage, she will rob body fat to create energy for warmth and loose body condition. More total pounds of roughage in her diet (extra grass hay, or even straw) can keep her warm, since the fermentation and breakdown of cellulose creates heat energy. A shortage of fuel for energy might deplete IM fat as well as back fat. Cattle in the heat or more apt to eat grain than roughage creating a lot of fat but little IM fat.

 

[amanameats]

That's very interesting. I was always under the impression that grain would increase the IM fat and roughage increases body fat.

 

[TexasBred]

That's very interesting. I was always under the impression that grain would increase the IM fat and roughage increases body fat.

WE were talking about the difference in IM fat in cold vs hot weather. The increased roughage I mentioned was for "maintenance" in cold weather, thus negating the necessity to burn the IM fat regardless of it's origin.