slaughter weights

[grassfarmer]

Amazed, We fed out and fattened all our calves in Scotland for the last 5 years I was there. We killed males as bulls at 11-13 months on an ad-lib barley system and heifers off grass at 16-18 months.
Pardon me but since when did you have to prove your credentials before being allowed to comment on Agri-ville?

[amazed]

Where did I question your credentials grassfarmer? If you reread your original post I would say it was you taking me to task. As I was in a rush earlier, I will try to be more clear.

I am assuming you have not grainfed many cattle in Canada and recieved the resulting carcass results? It is fairly common knowledge that marbling is influenced by genetics AND management including time on feed which often means an older animal and quite often a larger carcass. In Canada you will find a higher percentage of animals grading AAA at 1350 lbs. than at 1000-1100 lbs.

As far as "the theory" of steers finishing at 100 lbs. more than their dams weight, that may be a theory more applicable to grass fed cattle but it hardly applies to grain fed cattle which are properly managed and out of 1400-1600 lb. cows.

As you brought up feeding bulls in Scotland I am curious to know how their grading system compares to our AAA beef here for marbling?

Re-holster that gun there grassfarmer. Your credentials are probably as good as anyones on this site.

[grassfarmer]

OK Amazed, I guess a lot of us are firing from the hip just now, frayed tempers and all that!
All I have read about fattening cattle here in relation to marbling indicates that they either have the ability or they don't when they enter the feedlot. I hear that IBP and Western both ultrasound scan some of their calves at entry point and put them into either the marbling or not marbling groups accordingly. The ration needed to maximise the marbling potential of the one lot would be wasted on the non marbling group - is that correct?

As far as our grading in the UK is concerned it is really not comparable to the system here. The majority market is for supermarket beef that is lean and bright red (and usually tough!). Fat is not saleable. We used a Conformation grade system as follows:

E Basically unobtainable
U very high conformation animal
U- high conformation animal
R a good standard animal
O a poorer type animal
0- a plain animal
P an extreme animal
A holstein would grade P or O-,
A hereford x beef steer O or R,
A Charolais x british steer R/U-
A 3/4 bred Limousin steer U
(Bull beef animals always graded a conformation class higher than they would have achieved as steers.)

And fat classes were 3L,3H,4L,4H,5.
3L being minimum acceptable finish, 5 being penalised for over fat.
Most Canadian cattle would grade 4H or 5 on fat cover and R or U-/ conformation.

As I said in most of Europe they don't like fat however those of us who really like beef bought it from small town butchers that still exist in rural areas. They bought the smaller beef animals usually pure "British" and the beef was excellent because it was marbled.