- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Removal of EUROP grid coupled with surge in breeding a premium retail product could overcome disappearance of CAP support
Support is gathering for a drive to replace the Brussels based EUROP carcase assessment grid with a UK alternative after exit from the EU is completed.
The move could increase the value of UK bred cattle and offer a much needed crutch to farm income after CAP subsidies are withdrawn sometime in in 2020 and replaced by a yet to be defined UK-only support system.
The fundamental argument is that EUROP concentrates on lean/fat measurement and meat yield (conformation) at the expense of positive eating quality attributes that could encourage more consumers not only to eat more beef but pay more for it too.
Behind the worrying long term decline in domestic beef consumption is a fear that many consumers are wary of the product because quality is wildly inconsistent and the purchase of a tender cut backed by juiciness and flavour instead of something that eats and tastes like old rope can be a lottery.
There is already evidence of an industry response to consumer needs. More well matured beef is being offered by supermarkets, some of it aged for 28 days, and it is being sold for top tier prices too.
Much, but not all, of this is a native breed product (Angus, Hereford, Shorthorn) and this is reflected in a national surge in the popularity of these bulls at farm and AI level.
However there is an urgent need for a much wider response across the commercial cattle spectrum encouraged in the first instance by a better indication of eating quality than EUROP can offer before beef is re-distributed to retailers and caterers.
And then by genetic improvements at farm level by breeders who are confident they will be rewarded for turning out bulls (and heifers) able to deliver better tasting beef after identifying the inheritable characteristics that make this possible.
The mostly widely promoted alternative to EUROP is the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) system – although there are many others.
MSA estimates eating quality so accurately that its first and second choice selections are offered to consumers at premium prices with a satisfaction guarantee.
Projected eating quality is determined by breeding and feeding as well as pre-slaughter handling and assessment, including marbling and pH, of the carcase itself - so farm involvement is critical.
Genetic contributions at farm level can be made by homing in on tenderness, the most important value lifting characteristic, by breeding in the inherited calpain enzyme – or conversely breeding out inheritance of the calpastain enzyme which increases toughness.
Comparative levels for each of these can be identified through a bull’s (or cow’s) DNA and as a result, as is the case in the United States, an EBV for tenderness can be constructed.
Marbling, which is also inheritable, is a confirmed indicator of juiciness and flavour. It can be identified through ultrasonic scanning and an EBV for marbling has become popular in the US because breeding stock carrying high marbling characteristics are more valuable than those which do not.
It is assumed that an eating quality assessment, perhaps modelled on MSA, will be accompanied by an accurate calculation of retail carcase value delivered through VIA (Video Image Analysis) sonic-scanning immediately after slaughter.
(Robert Forster is a former chief executive of the National Beef Association and publisher of the weekly trade magazine, Beef Industry News – see www.rforster.com)
Support is gathering for a drive to replace the Brussels based EUROP carcase assessment grid with a UK alternative after exit from the EU is completed.
The move could increase the value of UK bred cattle and offer a much needed crutch to farm income after CAP subsidies are withdrawn sometime in in 2020 and replaced by a yet to be defined UK-only support system.
The fundamental argument is that EUROP concentrates on lean/fat measurement and meat yield (conformation) at the expense of positive eating quality attributes that could encourage more consumers not only to eat more beef but pay more for it too.
Behind the worrying long term decline in domestic beef consumption is a fear that many consumers are wary of the product because quality is wildly inconsistent and the purchase of a tender cut backed by juiciness and flavour instead of something that eats and tastes like old rope can be a lottery.
There is already evidence of an industry response to consumer needs. More well matured beef is being offered by supermarkets, some of it aged for 28 days, and it is being sold for top tier prices too.
Much, but not all, of this is a native breed product (Angus, Hereford, Shorthorn) and this is reflected in a national surge in the popularity of these bulls at farm and AI level.
However there is an urgent need for a much wider response across the commercial cattle spectrum encouraged in the first instance by a better indication of eating quality than EUROP can offer before beef is re-distributed to retailers and caterers.
And then by genetic improvements at farm level by breeders who are confident they will be rewarded for turning out bulls (and heifers) able to deliver better tasting beef after identifying the inheritable characteristics that make this possible.
The mostly widely promoted alternative to EUROP is the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) system – although there are many others.
MSA estimates eating quality so accurately that its first and second choice selections are offered to consumers at premium prices with a satisfaction guarantee.
Projected eating quality is determined by breeding and feeding as well as pre-slaughter handling and assessment, including marbling and pH, of the carcase itself - so farm involvement is critical.
Genetic contributions at farm level can be made by homing in on tenderness, the most important value lifting characteristic, by breeding in the inherited calpain enzyme – or conversely breeding out inheritance of the calpastain enzyme which increases toughness.
Comparative levels for each of these can be identified through a bull’s (or cow’s) DNA and as a result, as is the case in the United States, an EBV for tenderness can be constructed.
Marbling, which is also inheritable, is a confirmed indicator of juiciness and flavour. It can be identified through ultrasonic scanning and an EBV for marbling has become popular in the US because breeding stock carrying high marbling characteristics are more valuable than those which do not.
It is assumed that an eating quality assessment, perhaps modelled on MSA, will be accompanied by an accurate calculation of retail carcase value delivered through VIA (Video Image Analysis) sonic-scanning immediately after slaughter.
(Robert Forster is a former chief executive of the National Beef Association and publisher of the weekly trade magazine, Beef Industry News – see www.rforster.com)
