The bottom line: what's it worth to the consumer?

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas

January 3, 2002 -- No matter how much a producer pays for cattle or what he feeds them, the bottom line will always be what is that beef worth to the end user or consumer.

"Every time I get the opportunity to talk in front of a group of producers, I want to mention that these are some issues you need to be aware of that impacts the value of your cows," said Dan Hale, Extension Meat Specialist from Texas A&M University at a recent feedyard field day held at Graham Land and Cattle Company in Gonzales.

"The original reason we started 706 in 1993 was because of something called the National Beef Quality Audit. In that audit, we had packers and retailers tell us these kinds of things ... we asked them some of the issues that they see as problems with beef, and what are some of the quality challenges that actually cost us, as an industry, not the packer or retailer, but as an entire industry," said Hale.

Both retailers and restaurants identified the same concerns. They said there are still problems with insufficient marbling, a lack of uniformity with the beef and inadequate tenderness in the various cuts.

Other problems that producers need to be aware of are injection sites, bruising, antibiotic residues and even birdshot embedded in the cattle. Hale said he even heard of an arrowhead being found in the packing house.

"Move injection sites to the neck. It not only creates a problem with the lesion itself, but up to two or three inches out it doubles the toughness of the meat," said Hale.

He suggests that no more than 10cc be given in any one place to help address the bruising.

"Another big issue is broken needles in your cows. Do not just pull them back out or ship them (cattle). You need to get the vet out there and get that needle out of that animal," he said.

According to Hale, anytime a customer bites down on a foreign object embedded in the beef, it costs the industry a minimum of $10,000 to settle the case.

Tipping or getting rid of the horns on cattle was another area of concern. Once an area of skin has been injured on the animal, it causes the death of tissue and makes the meat harden in that spot and become tough, according to Hale.

"We've got to kind of keep in mind that we want to do things right. One area we want to work on is now the carcass size," said Hale.

He said that in the industry, they usually hang the carcass in the cooler for at least 45 hours before taking them out for the grading process.

"As animals are held longer, particularly 48-72 hours, the percent 'Choice' tends to increase. The fat sets up better and you can see it better," he said.

Grading is used to establish value in the beef. In harvesting the animals, the ribeye area, estimated in square inches at the 12th rib, averages 1.1 square inches per 100 pounds of live weight, said Hale, and is an important point of measurement.

"The cattle that come out of feed yards, generally, the terms that you use for the grades of those cattle are prime, choice, select and standard. That's because they're young.

"There's two main factors we use in quality grading a carcass. The first is the maturity of the animal, because as animals get older, the meat tends to get tougher. And as you increase the marbling level, it means more tenderness, more flavor and, maybe, more juicy," said Hale.

Most feed yard cattle are harvested between the ages of 18 and 24 months, and in order to judge the age of the animal without knowing, the skeleton of the carcass is inspected for cartilage "buttons" on the ends of feather bones at the end of the spine. As the animal matures, the cartilage turns into bone.

"As an industry, about two percent of our cattle are prime, one half are choice, 42 percent select and six percent are standard or hardbone (meaning they are older than 42 months)," said Hale.

In closing, Hale said that it takes six hides to cover the seats of a Cadillac and 12 to cover a Rolls Royce.

It only takes two to cover a pickup.