13 May 2011

2 minute read

Europe

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board reports from a sample of more than 396,000 prime cattle classified across Britain in 2010 show just under 49 per cent met the ‘R4L or Better’ target market specification. This remains substantially better than the 45 per cent meeting the specification five years ago, but is clearly down on the 50 per cent or more of 2008 and 2009.

Partly responsible for this is the marked fall in the proportion of young bulls classifying ‘R4L or Better’ over the past year – 48 per cent compared to 57 per cent in 2009. As is crystal clear from the 10 point reduction in the success with which bulls met the ‘R or Better’ conformation target, this is primarily a reflection of the greater number of pure-bred dairy animals finished in 2010.

Detailed analyses, however, demonstrate that differences in bull quality are only part of the story. Steer classifications, in particular, confirm this. Last year some 50 per cent of steers made the ‘R4L or Better’ target compared to 52 per cent in both 2008 and 2009. Underlying this was a disappointing fall back in the proportion classifying ‘R or Better’, which may also reflect increased dairy-bred numbers.

This would account for the fact that the proportion of heifer carcases meeting the market specification was maintained at 2009 levels by relatively better levels of conformation. And this despite some reduction in quality of finish resulting from the difficulties of the season.

Overall, finishing quality has improved markedly in both steers and heifers over the past five years. Fully 89 per cent and 77 per cent respectively classified ‘4L or Leaner’ last year compared to 81 per cent and 71 per cent in 2005. In contrast, conformation quality has remained stubbornly immovable, oscillating around 60 per cent throughout the entire period, underlining the particular need for greater emphasis on breeding improvement to secure continued carcase quality gains.