Now that the USDA has approved the use of these new grading instruments, there will be much less error in sorting carcasses to standard, select, choice, or prime. What may surely follow this new grading approach is the ability for these same electronic grading devices to capture the EID of the carcass. Once that happens, the carcass quality of your feeder calves that result from your farm or ranch operation will be identified..........and the Feedlot buyers will hear it from the packing houses, and those Feedlot Buyers will begin targeting calves from cattle operations that are bringing home the Choice and Prime for the Packing house....cause that's what brings home the money in this business!
We need to seriously consider establishing Ultrasound Guidelines for our yearling bulls that are potential herd prospects, as well as our yearling heifers. Wouldn't it be a nice if when the day comes that carcasses can be identified straight to the source those Packing houses find that British White carcasses are grading a very high percentage choice and prime!
Increased demand for British White bulls in commercial operations will only come with recognition of the value of their carcass traits. Ultrasound measurements are an invaluable tool in selecting/breeding our seedstock to produce desirable and heritable carcass traits. Always remember that a 'fat calf' in no way means it's a calf that will produce a choice or prime carcass. Underneath all those layers of fat, a very standard grade ribeye could easily be lurking!
USDA Approves Two Instrument Systems For Beef Carcass Marbling Scores
EXCERPTS:
"They overlooked one of the most ground breaking advances in the long and checkered history of beef grading. For the first time, the beef industry has a reliable system capable of consistently determining marbling scores without the uncertainty of fallible human eyes."
"Consistent grading, however, has been a problem from its earliest days; a USDA inspector eyeballed every ribeye and made a decision about each carcass in a scant few seconds. It’s a fatigue inducing job that requires a changeover of personnel every 30 minutes. Blink and you miss seeing something critical. Rub your eye and two rib eyes could speed by unseen. Had a rough night? Those bleary eyes probably aren’t going to see things the same way they did a few days ago. And, of course, a purely visual grade assignment is hardly a way to insure consistency."
"Grading errors are costly. Judge a carcass too low and the plant loses money. Judge it too high and a consumer will be disappointed with the eating “experience” and might be lost as a customer."
"RMS personnel spent three days and captured data on over 4,000 animals at each plant. With thousands of observations, they met the agreed upon standard of consistency exceeding 95%."
". .“It’s a computer vision system,” said Goldberg. “A cable connects a color camera to a computer. The operator takes a picture of each rib eye and the picture is digitized and sent to the computer. The operator has data on the rib eye area, meat and fat color, fine and coarse marbling and other measures before he can take the camera away. It takes about one second to analyze the image and display the results.” . . "
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