Under The Hide
EDUCATING EXHIBITORS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RAISING A QUALITY MEAT FOR A CONSUMER’S TABLE by CCA Associate Director of Communications Maureen LaGrande It’s a warm summer day, the sound of industrial fans, cows mooing and the aroma of funnel cakes drifts through the air. All signs point to the county fair, where the youth of local 4-H and FFA groups come to show and sell the market animals that they have diligently raised all year. For exhibitors who bring market steers to the fair, their investment of time taken to raise these animals is close to nine months. A dream for many who participate in the livestock show at the fair strive to be the one who has the judge select their animal and be handed a blue ribbon. The achievement of a champion animal is an accomplishment in itself, but there are other ways in which a steer can be judged and classified. While the physical appearance, confirmation, feet and structure of a steer are important, what lies beneath the hide shows the quality of the animal’s carcass. The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) along with the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association (CBCIA) have worked to create a set of standards and guidelines that an animal carcass must meet for weight, quality and yield grade for the Carcass of Merit Program. Amanda McKeith, an assistant professor and graduate program coordinator for the animal science and meat science programs at California State University, Fresno, started helping out nine years ago to update the CBCIA’s guidelines for the carcass contest. McKeith shared, that when she came in, the standards, while still beneficial,
24 California Cattleman October 2024
were not as applicable to the animals being seen at fairs for their hanging weights were heavier, compared to animals from the eighties and nineties. “We wanted to be more reflective of what was happening in the industry,” said McKeith. To reflect these industry changes, the CBCIA revised the standards, for the yield grade, ribeye size and other contributing factors to create a price grid based on the industry market to reflect what the animal carcass grade would be worth. Every year in May before the fair season begins, McKeith revaluates the markets and pricing to put together a new grid system that fairs can utilize for their county contest. The objective of the carcass contest is to help educate exhibitors on what the standards of quality carcasses look like and how they can raise an animal to meet those standards. “We are trying to show exhibitors that what they do with their animal while it is alive will affect the impact of the end results when it reaches the consumer’s plate,” said McKeith. While the information that the CBCIA provides to county fairs is only a set of guidelines, fairs that utilize them can see the classifications for the Carcass of Merit and Gold Seal Criteria. Today, there are two ways in which carcass contests can be judged, physically observing the hanging carcass by a USDA grader in a processing facility or via ultrasound done by a certified technician. Both forms are accepted and enable counties whose animals may not all go to the same processing facility to still