Saturday, March 30, 2024

Producers urged to chase higher-quality beef

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Producing higher-quality beef and getting premium payments were the key topics of What’s the Beef? seminars throughout the country during March and April.
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AngusPure and a handful of commercial partners as co-sponsors drew beef farmers’ attention to opportunities for increasing income without a whole lot more work, organiser Guy Sargent says

“Farmers have told us they would need 40c to 50c/kg premium to get them to finish steers instead of dairy-beef bulls,” Sargent said.

“This seminar series before the annual bull sales is a way of putting the hard word on processors to pay more for higher-quality beef.”

He says AngusPure qualified and tagged cattle are killed by Wilson Hellaby in Auckland and currently attract 30c/kg over schedule.

At the Whangarei event for Northland farmers, who have about 20% of the national beef cow herd, speaker and Zoetis beef genetics area manager Dr Amy Hoogenboom sparked debate about why the beef cattle industry had not increased productivity to the same extent as the sheep industry.

“We have half the numbers of ewes but produce a similar weight of lamb meat we did 40 years ago,” Hoogenboom said.

Beef + Lamb NZ figures showed that carcase weights for beef cattle had increased 4-5% over that period, while other countries had boosted average CWs considerably.

Answers came back from farmers about the length of time to cattle maturity, variable weather and pasture growth, lack of financial incentives, the dairy-beef influence and the clean-up jobs cows are asked to do.

Hoogenboom suggested that farmers spend more time working with their sheep, yarding, weighing and dosing them, and are thereby incentivised to improve.

Farmers questioned if extra expense on genetics and supplementary feeding would be rewarded in a beef commodity market.

“We don’t want to be stuck in a commodity market, as a small supplying country exposed to many risks,” she replied.

“We want to be aimed at premium markets where we are not dependent on what China wants to pay.”

Alliance Group livestock general manager Murray Behrent says the Handpicked Beef supply programme was paying 80c/kg premium for specified beef, mainly for the US market, and $1/kg for a higher intramuscular fat marbling, aimed at the domestic foodservice market.

Now 17 foodservice distributors were stocking the six Handpicked primal cuts for their consistency and provenance and Alliance was working on markets for the secondary cuts.

The specifications include Alliance shareholding, Farm Assured certification, 270 to 370kg CW, pH less than 5.7, fat colour up to 4, marbling plus-2 for the lower level and plus-4 for the higher, hormone growth promotant and antibiotic free, and P1, P2, T1, or T2 grades.

“Some of our farmers are getting 60% or more of their cattle into the Handpicked channels,” Behrent said.

Sargent says AngusPure had tested the Alliance system to ensure the premium was genuine by sending in a unit-load of prime cattle for slaughter and comparing the kill sheet returns with the schedule that week.

“Over 40 cattle that premium was worth $10,000, so it is well worth the effort,” Sargent said.

Silver Fern Farms has an EQ (eating quality) Reserve system in which about one-third of steer and heifer carcases are graded and 20-plus cuts are marketed after a minimum of 21 days aging.

EQ master graders select on ultimate pH, marbling, ossification of cartilage to bone, rib fat cover to govern chilling rate, meat and fat colour.

For EQ cattle farmers get 25c/kg premium and a comprehensive feedback on carcase performance to allow for farm management adjustments.

Communications and farmer marketing advisor Ben Thomas says the EQ beef is sold into all major markets, overseas and domestically, in both foodservice and retail.

Silver Fern also has programmes for 100% Angus and 100% Prime, for which premiums are paid.

Macfarlane Rural Business director Jamie Gordon says two main drivers of meat quality are pH and marbling and they influence eating quality, in terms of tenderness, flavour and succulence, and visual appearance in fat and meat colour.

The pH must come down below 5.8 within 24 hours as glycogen stored in muscles is converted to lactic acid.

Positive influences include a good plane of nutrition at least two weeks before slaughter and reduced stress, especially during transport.

Formerly of ANZCO and Five Star Beef, Gordon says intramuscular fat is genetically heritable and is encouraged by good nutrition, which is why feedlots feed grain to cattle, and quiet temperament.

“Breed well, feed well, handle well and harvest when ready,” Gordon advised.

“Look for higher EBVs for IMF and generally you will find that better marbling is not costing more to produce.”

Mount Linton Station manager Ceri Lewis says he is now getting 90% of Angus steers to grade Handpicked or EQ Reserve after placing emphasis on docile cattle temperament and quiet handling.

The big Southland business has both Angus stud cattle and commercial cows totalling 2400 head.

Although cows have a primary job of grooming pastures, Lewis has chased higher marbling and beef premiums for several years.

“Once we have the right genetics, we target growth rates of 0.75kg to 1kg liveweight a day throughout their lives,” Lewis said.

“We target 300kg CW before the second birthday because they don’t fully express that marbling until reaching that weight.”

Mount Linton also ultrasounds its replacement heifers to identify those with the right eye muscle areas and rib fat covers.

A recent line of cattle went through the Alliance Handpicked programme and averaged just under 5 marbling score.

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