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Beefiness Grades and Carcass Information

24 Apr 2009

The U.S. Section of Agronomics (USDA) uses a dual grading system for beef carcasses: a Yield Grade for estimating cutability and a Quality Class every bit a comprehensive evaluation of factors that bear on beef palatability, says the this Mississippi State Academy Extension Service, report.

The USDA grades segregate carcasses into like categories based upon cutability and estimated palatability. Yield Form identifies differences in cutability or yield of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts from the circular, loin, rib, and chuck. Quality Grade indicates the relative desirability or expected palatability of the meat in a carcass or cut.

A highly-trained USDA employee known as a USDA grader or approved electronic instrumentation assign beef Yield Grades and Quality Grades to beef carcasses postharvest post-obit a catamenia of chilling typically ranging from 18 to 48 hours. Grading beef carcasses is optional.

Carcasses tin can receive both the Yield Class and Quality Form or but 1 of these grades. To accept beef carcasses graded, a packing constitute must request that carcasses be graded and must as well pay for this service.

While not all beef carcasses from U.South. fed cattle are designated for grading, most are now officially graded. More 95 per cent of beef cattle harvested receive USDA grades.

More and more fed cattle are now sold by cattle feeders, to packers, in transactions such every bit "grade-and-yield" or "on-agrid" that crave that all carcasses in such groups be officially Yield Graded and Quality Graded. Some packers may also have their own in-house grades and premium/ discount programs independent of USDA grades. Questionnaires from the 2005 National Beefiness Quality Audit suggested that more than half of the fed cattle marketed in the U.South. are now sold "on the grid" or "in the beef." In addition, the per centages of source and historic period verified cattle are modest but increasing.

Carcass Traits

Yield Grades and Quality Grades are determined from observing and measuring specific carcass traits. Additional carcass traits not used in the official USDA grading system, such as tenderness, also affect beef cease product. Individual traits touch on carcass grades and product value in different means. The following section lists and discusses individual carcass traits. Data from the Mississippi Farm to Feedlot program from 1993 through 2007 are included where appropriate. The Farm to Feedlot program facilitates retained ownership of Mississippi feeder cattle through the feeding phase. The plan provides feedlot performance and carcass data, which can be linked to individual sires and/or cows, to assist in genetic choice for improved performance.

Hot Carcass Weight

Hot carcass weight (HCW) is the hot or unchilled weight of a beef carcass after harvest and removal of the hide, caput, alimentary canal, and internal organs. Information technology is sometimes reported every bit carcass weight. Carcass weight is the most important factor in determining carcass value when cattle are sold. Regardless of how cattle are marketed, whether on a dressed-weight basis or on a value-based grid, carcass value is always tied to the weight of the carcass.

Therefore, in many cases, a heavier-weight carcass may have a greater total value than a lighter weight carcass because of the difference in full pounds, even if the lighter carcass is more valuable on a per-pound ground. Hot carcass weight is also used in Yield Grade calculations. Generally, the per centage of retail production decreases as cattle increase in weight because of increased fat degradation, but this depends on the growth stage of the beast.

Packers monetarily discount heavyweight and lightweight carcasses that do not fit their specifications. Generally, as carcass weights move further away from baseline specifications, discount levels increase.

Large fluctuations in carcass weights create challenges during harvesting and processing. Heavy carcasses tin break or damage overhead rails systems in packing plants, and low-cal carcasses may exist also short for stationary equipment used in carcass fabrication.

Additionally, wholesale beefiness cuts that are outside desired size ranges are difficult to manage and market place in a boxed-beef system.

The National Beefiness Quality Inspect outlined a range of 650 to 850 pounds equally an industry target for carcass weight. Carcass size is genetically influenced and can exist changed with an emphasis on frame size and growth charge per unit in convenance decisions. Management of days on feed, implant regimes, and feeding programs tin also exist changed to touch on carcass weights. Mississippi Farm to Feedlot program data show that the 15-twelvemonth average for hot-carcass weight was 750 pounds.

Dressing per centage

Dressing per centage Instance

Dressing per centage is hot carcass weight equally a per centage of the live weight of the animal at harvest. Information technology typically ranges from 60 to 64 per cent for the bulk of fed cattle and averaged 64 per cent for the Mississippi Subcontract to Feedlot plan cattle from 1993 through 2007. To summate dressing per centage, divide hot carcass weight by animal live weight. The outcome is a per centage. For example, if a 1200-pound steer produces a 768-pound carcass, the dressing per centage is 64 per cent (768 ÷ 1200 x 100 per cent = 64 per cent). Similarly, animal alive weight times the dressing per centage yields the carcass weight.

Ribeye area (REA) is an indicator of the amount of lean muscle associated with a carcass. As the REA increases, the corporeality of muscle in a carcass increases. It is an important factor in determination of Yield Grade. As ribeye area increases, Yield Grade tends to improve.

Ribeye Area

Rib Eye Exposed for Measurement

Ribeye area is determined past measuring the expanse of the longissimus dorsi (ribeye) muscle exposed by cut or "ribbing" the carcass between the 12th and 13th ribs. Ribeye area is expressed in square inches and is frequently determined using a grid device, analysis of ribeye tracings, or most recently, electronic vision instruments that are basically computerized cameras.

Within the beef industry, ribeye size varies greatly. Both excessively pocket-sized and excessively large ribeyes are quality challenges for the beef industry. An optimum range for ribeye area is 11 to 15 sq. in. Ribeye area targets should exist approximately one.6 to 1.viii sq. in. per 100 pounds of carcass weight. Results from the Mississippi Farm to Feedlot program show that ribeye area averaged 12.95 sq. in., and ribeye expanse per 100 pounds of carcass weight (cwt) averaged 1.74 sq. in.

Fatty Thickness

Fat Thickness Measurement

Fat thickness (rib fat or back fat) is a measure out of external fatty thickness on a carcass. External fat is the about important determinant of retail yield. Fat thickness is measured at a point ¾ of the length of the longissimus dorsi muscle from the split chine bone.

Every bit fat thickness increases, cutability and per centage of retail product decrease, resulting in less desirable Yield Grades. Cutability is the per centage yield of closely trimmed, boneless retail cuts. Excessively low amounts of external fat on a beef carcass are undesirable, every bit well. This can increase the adventure of cold shortening (chilling of the carcass too rapidly, leading to increased toughness). An optimum range for fat thickness is 0.2 to 0.five inches. Mississippi Farm to Feedlot program carcass back fat thickness averaged 0.48 inches over 15 years of the program.

Internal Fat

Kidney, pelvic, and heart (KPH) fat is also chosen internal fat. Internal or KPH fat is expressed as a per centage of hot carcass weight and is used in Yield Grade determination. The per centage of retail production yield decreases as KPH fat increases.

Intramuscular Fat

Intramuscular fat (IMF) is frequently called marbling. Marbling refers to the flecks of fat inside the muscle tissue. Sufficient marbling is important for beefiness tenderness, juiciness, and flavour. Degree of marbling is the chief factor determining Quality Form. For official grading purposes, marbling is assessed in the longissimus dorsi musculus exposed between the 12th and 13th ribs. Nine degrees of marbling are recognized by the USDA Grade Standards. These nine marbling scores and their common abbreviations are listed below.

Abundant 00-99 (AB)
Moderately arable 00-99 (MAB)
Slightly abundant 00-99 (SLAB)
Moderate 00-99 (Medico)
Modest 00-99 (MT)
Small 00-99 (SM)
Slight 00-99 (SL)
Traces 00-99 (TR)
Practically devoid 00-99 (PD)

Each marbling score is divided into 100 subunits. Superscripts ranging from 00 (to the lowest degree amount of marbling) to 99 (greatest amount of marbling) are assigned within each marbling score. Boilerplate marbling score over 15 years of the Mississippi Farm to Feedlot program was Small, with the tendency being toward increasing marbling score.

Maturity

Maturity is some other cistron affecting carcass Quality Form. It is subjectively evaluated because chronological age (age in months) of a beef animal is not always known at harvest. Therefore, physiological estimators of age are used to evaluate carcass maturity.

Physiological age may not be the same as the bodily animal historic period. The physiological maturity of a carcass is determined by evaluating the size, shape, and ossification of bone and cartilage (especially the separate chine os) and the color, texture, and firmness of the lean tissue exposed at cut betwixt the 12th and 13th rib. Lean colour becomes darker and texture becomes coarser with historic period. Factors other than age can alter lean color and texture, and then nigh of the emphasis on maturity evaluation is placed on observation of os characteristics and cartilage ossification.

To estimate maturity, a USDA grader evaluates the cartilage associated with the backbone (spinal column) and the color and shape of the ribs. When a beef animal is harvested, the carcass is divide downwards the spinal column. When the carcass is split in one-half, the grader can evaluate cartilage associated with the spinal column and the shape and color of the ribs. At the dorsal (backside) end of each vertebra is a department of cartilage, which is referred to as the cartilaginous tips or buttons. Equally cattle age, these tips congeal or change from soft, pearly-white cartilage to difficult, porous bone.

Maturity is then estimated based on the status of these buttons and the caste to which they are ossified. The rib bones are quasi round with a red, youthful appearance in young cattle. As cattle age, the ribs flatten out and develop a white appearance.

Carcass maturity is scored using letters A through East, with A's being the least mature and Eastward's existence the most mature. Carcasses displaying avant-garde skeletal maturity are referred to equally "difficult bones," and associated price discounts ordinarily apply.

USDA Maturity Scores and Associated Cattle Ages
A	9 to thirty months (2 and a half years)
B	30 to 42 months (2 and a one-half to three and a half years)
C	43 to 72 months (3 and a half to 6 years)
D	73 to 96 months (6 to 8 years)
E	97 months or more than (greater than 8 years)

Tenderness

Inadequate tenderness of beef was cited in the 2005 National Beefiness Quality Audit every bit one of the tiptop quality challenges facing the beef industry.

Although tenderness is non used in Quality Course or Yield Grade calculations, information technology plays an essential role in consumer satisfaction. Tenderness is objectively measured with a Warner-Bratzler shear force device. A good manufacture target for tenderness is a Warner- Bratzler shear strength value below 8 pounds.

Acceptable tenderness levels depend in part on where and how the product volition be marketed. Currently at that place is no easy manner to appraise tenderness in making beefiness purchasing decisions, so restaurants oft base their purchasing decisions on Quality Grade instead. Many food service establishments, particularly fine-dining establishments, seeking a good eating feel for their customers recognize that tenderness is an of import component of the feel.

Tenderness is impacted by cattle genetics, preharvest cattle management, and postharvest factors. There is likely to exist increased emphasis on pick of cattle for beef tenderness as pick tools go available and as tenderness level reporting develops. Beef cattle brood associations are beginning to accost tenderness as a trait of involvement in national cattle evaluations.

Inquiry efforts are nether way to identify genetic markers for tenderness and develop selection tools based on this information. Many preharvest management factors touch on tenderness as well include animal nutrition, stress, and health. Postharvest factors impacting tenderness include carcass aging fourth dimension, carcass electrical stimulation apply, postmortem pH, cooking temperature, cooking method, and degree of doneness.

USDA Beef Carcass Grades

USDA Yield Form

The USDA Yield Grades classify carcasses for differences in cutability or yield of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts from the round, loin, rib and chuck. The five Yield Grades are numbered 1 through 5. Carcasses in Yield Grade 1 have the highest cutability or per centage of retail product, while carcasses in Yield Form 5 take the lowest cutability or per centage of retail product. Mississippi Farm to Feedlot program cattle averaged Yield Grade 3 over a 15-year catamenia.

The Yield Grade of a beef carcass is determined by because four characteristics: (i) the corporeality of external fat (back fatty), (two) the amount of KPH fat, (three) the expanse of the ribeye muscle, and (4) the hot carcass weight.

Yield Grades are based on the following equation: Yield Grade = 2.50 + (2.5 ten adjusted fat thickness, inches) + (0.two x per centage kidney, pelvic and heart fat) + (0.0038 10 hot carcass weight, pounds) – (0.32 x expanse of ribeye, square inches)

U.s. Beef Quality Grades

Source USDA, 2008.

Comparison by Yield Grade of federally inspected beef carcasses in 2007

Numerical Yield Grades calculated using this equation are rounded down to the nearest whole number for assignment of a distinct Yield Grade from ane to 5. For example, a beef carcass with a calculated Yield Grade of 2.98 would be classified as Yield Class 2, not Yield Form 3. Therefore, it is possible for a change in a characteristic influencing Yield Grade to modify the calculated Yield Class in terms of decimals as indicated in the following table while not irresolute the actual assigned Yield Grade of 1, 2, iii, four, or 5.

Chracteristic affecting Yield Grade	Change in characteristic	Resulting change in numerical Yield Grade
Furnishings of various factors on beef carcass Yield Class
Fat thickness	Increase	Increase
per cent of kidney, pelvic, and heart fatty	Increase	Increase
Carcass weight	Increase	Increase
Ribeye surface area	Increase	Decrease

Considering of the scale and speed of modernistic packing plants (many plants grade 300 to 400 beef carcasses per hr), instead of measuring these factors and using the equation to make up one's mind Yield Grade, a USDA grader will read the carcass weight noted on a tag applied to the carcass by the packing plant; judge ribeye area, external fat, and KPH fat; and then assign a Yield Grade based on these values.

USDA Quality Class

Quality Grades evaluate factors that impact beef palatability (eating quality and desirability). Marbling and carcass maturity (including bone characteristics and the colour, compactness, and texture of the exposed lean on the cutting surface between the twelfth and 13th rib) determine Quality Grade. A improve Quality Form is achieved with more marbling and lower carcass maturity. Note the differences in marbling at the same level of maturity between the different Quality Grades in the above table and within a Quality Class in the following table:

Effects of maturity and marbling on beef carcass Quality Grade1

1 Assumes that firmness of lean is completely developed with the degree of marbling and that the carcass is non a "nighttime cutter."
2 Maturity increases from left to right (A through Eastward).
3 The A maturity portion is the only portion applicable to bullock carcasses.

Beef Quality Grades are typically divided into thirds or halves for improved segregation of beef carcasses. Meat judging, carcass evaluation, and value-based marketing programs utilise these subdivisions. The Prime Grade is divided into thirds (High, Average, and Low), and the Selection Grade is also divided into thirds (High, Average, and Low). The Select Course is divided into halves (High and Depression), and the Standard Class is also separated into halves (High and Low).

Symbols used to designate these Quality Grade divisions are: + (loftier), o (average) and – (depression). For example, Choice– indicates the lower 1-3rd of the Choice Grade. A "No Roll" category refers to all carcasses that do not run across the requirements for the USDA Select Grade and would likely form USDA Standard if graded. A class stamp is not rolled on these carcasses. Bull beefiness is not Quality Graded, and cow beefiness is not eligible for the Prime number Grade. In addition, Commercial, Cutter and Canner grades are non applicable to bullock beef.

Mississippi Farm to Feedlot plan cattle averaged Select + over 15 years, with a trend toward increasing Quality Grade. The per centage of these cattle grading Option – or better was 43 per cent and too displayed an increasing trend.

Carcass Defects

Dark Cutters

Dark-cutting meat is characterized by a color range from dark crimson to nearly black and has both a sticky texture and a high water-holding chapters. Nighttime-cutting beef results from low muscle glycogen at the time cattle are slaughtered. Glycogen depletion in muscles of cattle can be acquired by strenuous muscular activity, stress-induced adrenalin secretion, and severe energy brake for several days earlier slaughter. Highly excitable cattle are more than likely to produce dark cutter carcasses than calmer cattle.

The greatest problem with nighttime-cutting beefiness is consumer rejection because of its color. The quality of dark-cutting beef is lower than normal. Information technology has significantly shorter shelf-life than normal beefiness and greater h2o-holding chapters, which are more conducive to bacterial growth. For these reasons, dark-cut beefiness is severely discounted. The 2005 National Beef Quality Audit reported that ane.5 per cent of beef carcasses were nighttime cutters.

Claret Splash

"Blood splash" describes localized hemorrhaging (bleeding) within the muscles of a beefiness carcass. This condition results when the capillaries in the muscles rupture because of abnormally loftier blood pressure before exsanguination (blood draining). Lengthy delays between stunning and sticking during harvest may cause this. The incidence of blood splash reported in the 2005 National Beef Quality Inspect was1.vii per cent.

Calloused Ribeyes

"Calloused" ribeyes are the event of steatosis of longissimus muscle. Connective and fatty tissues tin can spread into areas of musculus, creating a callus or section of fatty tissue within the muscle. The causes of muscular steatosis are unknown, just strenuous muscle exertion may be involved. The 2005 National Beefiness Quality Audit reported a calloused ribeye incidence of 0.3 per cent.

Bruises

Trim loss is most often from fecal contamination just tin occur from deep tissue bruising or severe abscesses. Trim loss from bruising can impact carcass value, particularly when high-value sections of the carcass are involved. Trimming that damages the major muscle groups of the wholesale round, loin, rib, or chuck is a "major" defect.

The 2005 National Beef Quality Inspect revealed that 35.two per cent of beef carcasses were hobbling. This was down from 46.7 and 48.4 per cent in the 1995 and 2000 audits. Nearly one-third of bruises in 2005 appeared on the loin. Post-obit Beef Quality Assurance guidelines, such as adhering to recommended injection site locations, dehorning, and handling animals properly, tin can help minimize bruising and resulting trim loss.

Organ Condemnations

In add-on to being paid for the value of a beef carcass, producers are paid a drop credit that includes the value of hide, head, organs, and blood. Diverseness meats are produced from carcass offal such equally livers, hearts, and tongues. Condemnations of these products reduce the value of harvested beef animals.

The 2005 National Beef Quality Audit showed that 24.7 per cent of livers were condemned, an comeback from the xxx.3 per cent of livers condemned co-ordinate to the 2000 Audit. Liver condemnations were primarily from abscesses and liver flukes. Lung condemnation incidence was xi.v per cent. Pneumonia was the leading cause of lung condemnations. Tripe condemnation occurred at a rate of 11.6 per cent. The chief cause of tripe condemnation was contagion with metallic objects such as nails, cotter pins, and wire. In addition, ix.7 per cent of tongues were condemned. Whole carcass condemnations were not found.

Conclusions

Carcass uniformity and consistency vary greatly among beef cattle. Gender differences as well exist in carcass grades.

The 2005 National Beefiness Quality Audit identified the top ten greatest quality challenges facing the beefiness industry. Many of these quality challenges can be addressed by using beef carcass information for improved genetic selection practices. They can also be affected past making cattle management decisions with the quality and value of the beefiness cease product in mind.

Using this information, beef cattle producers can take the post-obit actions to improve carcass value:

Better cattle genetics
Increment tape keeping
Increase individual animal identification
Improve animal handling and transportation practices
Collect and utilise carcass data
Follow Beefiness Quality Assurance guidelines

Carcass traits are of import in determining Beefiness Yield Grades and Quality Grades. They are an important consideration for beef cattle producers in cattle option and management, especially when cattle ownership is retained through harvest and cattle are marketed on value-based carcass grids. The 2005 National Beef Quality Inspect indicated that 62 and 42 per cent of branded beef programs had specifications for marbling and Yield Grade, respectively. Producers who provide carcass information to potential buyers position themselves to be rewarded for producing a quality product. For more than data on beef grading, carcass information, or related topics, contact an role of the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Apirl 2009

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Source: https://www.thebeefsite.com/articles/1961/beef-grades-and-carcass-information