Texas Cattle Will Fit In New
Millennium, Specialist Avows

By Colleen Schreiber

COLLEGE STATION — Will Texas cattle fit the new millennium? That was the question Corpus Christi-based Extension beef cattle specialist Dr. Joe Paschal attempted to answer at the recent annual beef cattle short course on the Texas A&M campus.

In his presentation, Paschal used data taken from the 1995 National Beef Quality Audit conducted by the National Beef Cattlemen's Association. He compared that to data gathered on cattle that have gone through the Ranch to Rail program.

The 1995 audit was based on cattle from 36 on-site inspections of 27 different beef processing plants across the U.S., while the Ranch to Rail data encompassed 16,413 fed steers on 1564 ranches since its conception in 1991. Most Ranch to Rail steers were fed either at the Randall County Feedyard near Amarillo or the King Ranch Feedyard near Kingsville. More recently, Ranch-to-Rail south cattle have been fed at the Hondo Creek Cattle Company Feedyard in Edroy.

Paschal began his presentation with a description of results from the 1995 audit. A similar audit was conducted in 1991. Several improvements in quality aspects were noted by the time of the second audit, Paschal told listeners, including decreased injection site lesions, increased availability of closely trimmed beef, increased producer awareness, improved cutability, and extended shelf life.

Notable exceptions to these were an undesirable USDA quality grade mix (percent Prime and Choice vs. Select), heavier cattle (carcasses and retail cuts), and lessened eating quality (based on the percent USDA quality grade Select and Standard customer complaints, not consumer panels or tenderness testing).

Carcass results from the 1995 audit indicated that the average carcass weight was 748 pounds, average fat thickness was .47 inches, average ribeye area 12.7 square inches, average USDA yield grade was 2.8, average USDA marbling score (the basis for the USDA quality grade, an indicator of intramuscular fat but not necessarily eating quality) was "Small-," the minimum required for entry into the Choice quality grade, and the average USDA quality grade was "Select+." A total of 48 percent of the carcasses graded USDA Prime or Choice and 58 percent yield graded one or two.

The audit also evaluated the effects of management on the fed cattle coming into the plants and any carcass or hide defect that could be related to the management or lack of management. These results were compared to the 1991 audit as well.

Paschal noted that there was an increase in the number of branded hides from 51.3 to 45 percent, with increases in the number of cattle with butt (38.7 percent), side (16.8 percent), and shoulder brands (three percent), and an increase in the number of cattle with multiple brands (6.2 percent). Percentages of muddy cattle and cattle with horns remained relatively unchanged (5.1 percent and 32.2 percent, respectively). Bruises (one or more per carcass) increased from 39.2 to 48.4 percent, a 23.5 percent increase from 1991. Drop credit was also affected with slightly increased condemnation rates for livers and tongues (averaging 22.2 and 3.8 percent respectively), and a significant increase in tripe and condemnation, from 3.5 percent in 1991 to 11 percent in 1995. Condemnation of heads and lungs was essentially unchanged at .9 and five percent, respectively.

In terms of USDA quality grade, only one percent of the carcasses graded Prime, 11 percent graded in the upper two-thirds of the Choice grade (average and high choice), 36 percent graded low Choice, 47 percent graded Select, and five percent graded Standard or lower. To meet the demand of the retail beef, food service, export and beef processing industries, Paschal said, the ideal mix is seven percent Prime, 21 percent upper two-thirds Choice, 34 percent low Choice, 38 percent Select and no Standards.

He outlined overall industry targets for the beef carcass as: quality grade of average Select or higher; fat thickness of .49 inches or less; 600 to 849 pound carcass; ribeye area 11 to 14.9 square inches; and average yield grade of 3.4 or better.

"Only 77 percent of the 1995 audit carcasses met the quality grade target," Paschal said. "Of those surveyed, about a third of all the carcasses were Select; 17.17 were low Select. Only 60.4 percent of the carcasses in the audit met the fat thickness target, but 81.2 percent of the audited cattle fell within the appropriate weight range; 5.2 percent were lighter and 13.6 were heavier than the range.

"Also, 81.4 percent of the carcasses fell within the prescribed ribeye area range," he continued. "Almost equal percentages of carcasses had smaller (9.3 percent) or larger (9.2 percent) ribeyes than desired, but 80 percent of the carcasses in 1995 met the recommended target for USDA yield grade of 3.4 or better."

Feeding targets were gathered from various feeders across the state. Feeder cattle, the experts said, should be expected to make a profit of at least $25 per head. They should be preconditioned and should weigh between 600 and 800 pounds. They should only be steers and heifers, no bulls, and no horns. Feedyards, Paschal noted, no longer dehorn because of extreme weight losses and increases in morbidity and mortality.

Furthermore, cattle should be expected to gain on average 2.5 pounds per head per day. Cost of gain, he noted, is directly tied to cost of feed, principally corn, but the total cost of gain (including feed, processing, freight, medicine, fees, etc.) should be within $7 per cwt. of the feed cost of gain. Cattle should have a medicine cost of less than $5 per head or about a 20 percent one-time pull rate, as most single treatments are in the $20 range, Paschal said.

How then, did Texas cattle compare? Paschal reported that the majority of the sire breeds fed in the Ranch to Rail South program were Hereford, Simmental, Charolais, Romagnola, Braunvieh, Santa Gertrudis, Beefmaster, Brangus and Brahman. Many other breeds were represented but in small numbers, Paschal said. The majority of the cattle were 30 percent Bos Indus, primarily Brahman, and about equal percentages of European or British breeds.

In comparison, the genetics on the north cattle showed 10 percent or less Bos Indicus. Both readings, Paschal noted, are indicative of their respective regions.

Feeding data showed that the average steer went on feed as a calf-fed weighing 606 pounds and was fed on average 191 days. The on feed weight range varied from 591 in 1993-94 to 630 in 1997-98, while the days on feed decreased from 205 in 1992-93 to 172 in 1998-99.

Steers averaged 1169 pounds payweight when sold, and ranged from 1134 pounds in 1998-99 to 1183 pounds in 1994-95. The average daily gain was 2.95 pounds per head per day with a range of 2.77 to 3.05.

"The steers sent in more recent programs were only slightly heavier but were genetically superior and better prepared health-wise," Paschal told listeners. "Thus the average on-feed weight, ADG, and subsequent off-feed and payweights of the Ranch to Rail program cattle were above those desired by the feeders."

Feed costs of gain have averaged $53.03 per cwt. of gain and ranged from $45.81 in 1998-99 to $68.88 in 1995-96. Total cost of gain averaged $59.67 per cwt. The spread between the feed cost of gain and total cost of gain is within the range considered desirable by feeders, he said.

Medicine costs averaged $6.26 and ranged from a low of $2.85 in 1998-99 to a high of $12.19 in 1993-94. He attributed the decline in medicine cost to the fact that more cattle are being delivered with proper preconditioning.

Across the board, Ranch to Rail cattle have averaged a profit of $46.85 per head, almost twice the targeted amount.

"This was not done haphazardly, nor was it done with always the best genetics or selected cattle," Paschal told listeners. "Anyone who really believes that the Ranch to Rail cattle are somehow vastly different from the usual type of feedyard cattle being delivered needs to spend a delivery day at Randall County or Hondo Creek this October."

Of the 16,000 or so carcasses analyzed for carcass composition, 36 percent of the program's cattle graded USDA Choice or better (usually one percent Primes), while 57 percent were Select and seven percent Standards.

"Overall, quality grade on program cattle was similar to those cattle studied in the 1995 audit, except that the audit showed 10 percent more cattle grading Choice and 10 percent fewer grading Select," Paschal said. "The percent Choice-Select was lowest in 1992-93 (32-63 percent), and highest in 1998-99 (39-55 percent)."

Paschal also noted that the Choice-Select spread for the north versus the south is only slightly different even though the share of Bos Indicus breeding is 300 percent higher in the south.

One notable difference is that a higher percentage of the Choice grading cattle in the north are upper two-thirds Choice cattle, while a higher percentage of cattle in the South are in the low Choice category. A second difference is that cattle in the south program, which are processed at Sam Kane in Corpus Christi, were electrically stimulated after hide removal but before evisceration with high voltage to enhance tenderness. Finally, prior to 1998-99, carcasses were chilled only 24 hours prior to grading. Carcasses that have a longer chilling time tend to have higher quality grades, Paschal said, because the intramuscular fat hardens only after the ribeye muscle begins to chill.

Ranch to Rail cattle averaged 73 percent Yield Grade 1s and 2s and 24 percent Yield Grade 3. Only three percent of the cattle were YG 4s or 5s. Carcass weight for the steers averaged 747 pounds and ranged from 727 to 766 pounds. Average fat thickness was .39 inches and the average ribeye area was 13.6 square inches, ranging from 13.3 to 13.7 square inches. Ribeye area per hundredweight of carcass weight has averaged 1.82 square inches, above the recommended 1.8.

The Extension specialist concluded that the Ranch to Rail cattle were acceptable in terms of carcass yield grade, carcass weight, fat thickness and ribeye area.

Although no data exists for evaluating the tenderness of the national beef supply in the 1995 audit, from 1995-98 nearly 400 Ranch to Rail carcasses were sampled for tenderness using Warner-Bratzler shear force determination. The one-inch thick rib steaks were aged 14 days prior to cooking to a medium degree of doneness.

The average shear force was 6.45 pounds with a small level of variation, Paschal said. A tough steak will shear at 10 pounds or above. The range in the shear force was from 3.13 to 15.58 pounds.

Sire breeds exerted a measurable effect on shear force results. Steaks from carcasses from British breed sires averaged 6.08 pounds in shear force compared to 6.3 pounds for steaks from European breed-sired steers. Steaks from steers sired by "American" — meaning Brahman cross — breeds averaged 6.59 pounds, while those from Brahman-sired and full Brahman steers averaged 7.14 pounds.

Paschal noted that though the average for all these breed types is acceptable, the percentage of steaks above the 10-pound threshold increased from 10 percent in the British-sired group to almost 40 percent in the Brahman-sired and full Brahman group.

Overall, Paschal said, Ranch to Rail cattle are indicative of Texas cattle and were acceptable in terms of on-feed performance and yield grade. However, a 10 percent increase in the percentage of USDA Choice and a 10 percent decrease in the percentage of USDA Select would put Texas cattle at the same level as the 1995 audit cattle in terms of USDA quality grade; a higher percentage of Prime and Choice cattle would be needed to meet the specifications for the ideal mix. In terms of tenderness, with little national data to compare to, the cattle are more than acceptable.

"Texas cattle will fit the needs of the consumer in the new millennium," Paschal concluded, "providing that cattle producers pay attention to performance of their cattle in the feedyard and on the rail."