What makes Angus better beef?

[Frankie]

I do believe marbling is important but why isn't average good enough. I don't think the British cattle need to copy the Continental or vice versa but if Angus cattle had more than adequate marbling why keep looking for more while losing yield?

If we are getting paid on the marbling factor then the packers need to pay more money in giving up the yield (yea right!) That angle doesn't really make sense as there isn't enough profitability in cattle that dress under 60%.

I agree with the marbling/yield comment. Angus, as a breed, marbles pretty well. But in selecting for specific traits, some bloodlines have just about bred the marbling out. I remember the gentlemen who ran our state feedout program talking about an old Angus bull named Harrison. According to him, his sons wouldn't marble and his daughters didn't milk. I never had a son, but I can testify he was right about the daughters. ;-)

 

[Frankie]

Historically speaking, british breeds would tend to eat better than the continental breeds because the british breeds were more bred to eat, whereas the continental breeds were more draft animals and used to make sausage - where tenderness obviously does not count. The meat industry relies heavily on "sheer test numbers'' (basically how much force it takes to cut a cooked steak). British breeds always win this catagory, the continental breeds don't do as well and the brahman's rank somewhere worse than "old shoe leather".

I strongly agree with the post that said "CAB people have just done a better job marketing their product" especially with the standards that the USDA has in place to qualify an animal as "Angus"

Interestingly, in carcass grading, tenderness, juicyness and sheer force testing. Young, purebred, grainfed, holstein steers rank the top 1 2 or 3 of EVERY catagory!

Jersey beef is supposed to be very good, too. I read that it's tender and well marbled. The problem with dairy cattle is not their meat, it's the cost of feed to get them ready to kill. They're just not bred for feed efficiency.

 

[heifer_fitter]

Its simple guys, marbling has little to do with tenderness... it has to do with flavor and how moist the meat is. Fat adds flavor and juice. Tenderness on the other hand is genetic, google GeneStar testing and read. They have identified the gene markers for tenderness and marbling as two seperate traits and a blood test is now available. I know that the maine anjou breeder, Fred Derouchey from South Dakota GeneStar tests all of his sale bulls. Thus ensuring his commercial buyers that the bulls that they are purchasing carry the genes for tenderness. The post about any animal tasting well no matter the breed is just crazy. A brahman will not taste as good as a maine (hehehe) no matter how long its been hanging in the cooler. After all... its all in the genes... no matter how well they've been fed, if they dont carry the gene for tenderness the meat wont be as tender.