Assessment of compliance in grassfed cattle and evaluation of increasing accuracy of BeefSpecs inputs and impact on compliance rates

Summary

This project was conducted to:
(1) gain a greater understanding of the economic impacts of non-compliance in grass-fed beef carcasses, and
(2) gain an understanding of the sensitivity of the BeefSpecs fat calculator to errors in key input traits.

 
The first component involved two large commercial datasets containing approximately 32,000 (dataset A) and 33,500 (dataset B) useable grass-fed carcass records, with each dataset containing steers and heifers. The second component assessed the sensitivity of BeefSpecs predictions to error in the inputs of frame score, initial P8 fat and initial liveweight. Compliance rates to market specifications of grass-fed beef cattle Non-compliances rates in each dataset were assessed using two carcass specification grids, supplied by the respective processors, with each grid based on hot standard carcass weight (HSCW) and P8 fat. As the two datasets contained rib fat measurements, rather than P8, the carcass grids were converted to indicative grids based on the former fat measure. The non-compliance rates of steers in dataset A (n = 18,860) were found to be 17.4% and 13.0% for HSCW and rib fat, respectively. These non-compliance rates represent a total gross income loss of $634,767 for all steers in dataset A.
When averaged across all steers (n = 18,860) this income loss equated to $33.66 per carcass. The non-compliance rates for heifers (n = 13,118) in dataset A were 15.6% and 19.1% for HSCW and rib fat, respectively. The total gross income loss was $325,619 for all heifers in dataset A. When averaged across all heifers (n = 13,118) contained in dataset A the income loss equates to $24.82 per carcass. The differences in HSCW losses between steers and heifers in dataset A were due to a higher proportion of the non-compliant heifer carcasses being under-weight compared to a higher proportion of steer carcasses being over-weight. The differences in rib fat losses were due to more heifers being over-fat thus attracting higher price discounts compared to steer carcasses.