The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...

There are good ones, there are bad ones, and there are some that are just plain ugly. Of course, I am talking about cattle.



A well muscled clean made, correct Polled Hereford Bull



Cattle have been selected over thousands of years to be productive, efficient animals. This is all very fine and good, but what traits are better than others? How does a beef producer tell the good from the bad from the ugly? It's called The Eye, and it allows producers to choose which animals they want in their herd.



A well built, long made, deep sided, correct Maine Anjou



To make things simple, we'll talk about a typical beef steer. When a cattleman looks at a steer, the number one thing he looks for is called finish. Finish is the amount of fat the animal is carrying, and, as we all know, fat is what makes beef tender and flavourful. There is a boundary, however. Too much fat means that the red meat yield will be low, because so much of the animal would need to be trimmed to remove the extra fat. To this end, it takes a lot of practice to properly evaluate finish, and is not something that just anyone can learn to do overnight.



A not so nice looking cow
http://yellowallpaper.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/skinny-cow
-emaciation-is-in-ladies-so-grab-an-ice-cream-bar/



The next thing the producer looks for in a market steer is general conformation. Beef cattle conformation is fairly straightforward. The animal with the most length, most muscle definition, widest, flattest and straightest topline, cleanest shoulder, and general balance is the best one.



A pen of reserve champion steers displaying good muscle,
and excellent, uniform toplines.
http://www.showsteers.com/Tonkin/winners.htm



Ok, now let’s break that all down. Length of body is the overall distance from the top of the shoulder to the end of the tailhead. Animals that have lots of length will have a larger number of steaks than shorter made animals. More steaks equal more money in the plant, so packers look for a purchase the longest animals they can find. Muscle definition is another vague term that takes time to recognize. Too much isn't good, because it means that the animal isn't finished, while too little can mean either a poor finish or general lack of musculature. Since muscle is what we eat, animals that have too little are severely discounted.



Topline is a very important part of a beef animal, as the ribeye is represented in the topline. Topline is the back, or top, of an animal. The ribeye muscle, or Longissimus Dorsi, is the most sought after cut on a beef animal. It is also the muscle that Canada's meat grading system is based on. It runs along either side of the spine, from directly behind the shoulder blade to the top of the hip. These muscles need to be well defined by a grove that lies along the spine of the animal. To this, however, there is also a limit. The ribeye area cannot be too big, or consumers won't want to eat it because there is too much meat. It also can't be too small, because the slaughterhouse won't see the value. In North America, the largest fault in our cattle is the sheer size and irregularity of the Longissimus Dorsi muscle. As a result of our multitude of breeds, each with its own growth and muscle patterns, we have huge differences in the size of the ribeye. This makes things more difficult for the consumer, who wants two of the same size but can't find them at the supermarket. As a result, when evaluating beef steers, a topline that is neither too wide nor too narrow is ideal. Anywhere from twelve to sixteen inches is an ideal width for a carcass animal.



A European Steer showing too much coarseness through his muscle

structure and head and neck

http://www.fwi.co.uk/blogs/livestock-and-sales-blog/201

0/05/limousin-takes-newark-show-bee.html



Cleanliness through parts of the animal that are not edible is essential to maintain efficiency. The head, neck and much of the shoulder is not very useful for anything, so producers want to keep those areas as small as possible. This is pure economics, because animals with too much wasteful bone, skin and other tissue will also be discounted. Cleanliness is really how refined the steer is throughout his body. If he has massive, bull-like shoulders, a pendulous dewlap, an oversized head or massive, roughly made bones, he is considered wasteful and is discounted.



A steer displaying too much forward balance-his shoulders and
middle are larger than his rump



Balance in beef cattle is really only for eye appeal. Balance is seen when an animal, cut into equal, imaginary thirds, appears to weigh the same amount in each third. There isn't a part of him, like the ribs, or the rump, that looks like it far outweighs the other two thirds. Again, it is really only a visual appearance thing, but one that is considered important nonetheless.

My suggestion to anyone who wants to learn more about livestock conformation? Spend the day at the local or regional stock show. Most rural areas have at least one every year, so spend the day and listen to the person adjudicating the animals. You'll learn a lot.

 Until Later