High Quality Beef from High Nature Value Grasslands
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AnnaJamieson Coordinator WWF Pasture Beef Hiiumaa 20/4 2012
Semi natural pastures – conservaton and agriculture working as one
Today's subjects:
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Beef quality – what is it for us – and our customers? Feeding and management for quality Winter management – for the animal, for ourselves and the Baltic Sea
Beef Quality •
Juiciness
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Local identity
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Tenderness
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Animal welfare
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Flavour
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Climate and nature
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Health issues
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Hygienic aspects
What is the customer willing to pay for?
Estonian/Hiiumaa Quality Beef
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What is important to the Estonian consumer? What are you going to produce? Choose a few quality aspects and concentrate your production, and marketing, on them
Age influences beef quality
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Younger animals
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Older animals
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Lighter color
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Darker color
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More tender
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Less tender
Age influences beef quality
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Younger animals
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Older animals
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Less flavor
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More flavor
Sex influences beef quality
Heifers ●
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Steers
Most tender Smallest variation
Young bulls ●
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Most tough Biggest variation
A short cut to quality – intra muscular fat a.k.a Marbling Gives flavor and juiciness and makes the meat seem more tender
How do we achieve this?
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It takes time It takes food/nutrition It comes easier to bullocks and heifers Some breeds do it more readily than others
Marbling is visible to the eye at 2 % fat
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But are the consumers ready to pay for this?
Hanging method influences beef quality
Aich bone hanging instead of Achilles tendon hanging improves the back part cuts dramatically in young bulls
Maturing influences beef quality
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A minimum of 7 days
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After 14 days is the improvement not so big
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For tenderness, time is more important than type of maturing
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For flavor – maturing in air makes a difference
All farms don´t look the same... �
...therefore it is important to choose the right production system
Grass lays on arable land
Grazing land as feed stuff ●
Good grazing is comparable to grain feed
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11 MJ in young grass
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8 MJ in older grass
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Let the cattle out when there is 9-14 cm long grass On natural grasslands let them out on shorter grass and earlier
100% 90%
Protein
80%
Lipid
70% Cellinneh책ll 60%
Sockerarter
50%
Mineraler
40%
Hemicellulosa
30% 20%
Cellulosa
Cellv채ggar 10% Lignin
0% Trebladsstadie
Full axg책ng
How many animals per ha on different type of grazing Type of animal
Age
Grazing pressure, no of animals/ha Grazing on arable land Natural grassland Early summer
Late summer
Early summer
Late summer
Heifer
Less than 1 year
8
4
4
2
Heifer
More than 1 year
4
2
2
1
Bull
1 year
6
3
3
1,5
Steer
Less than 1 year
8
4
4
2
Steer
More than 1 year
4
2
2
1
3
1,5
1,5
0,75
Cow+calf
Under or overgrazing...
Numb er of plant specie s/m2
Degree of disturbance
Grazing systems ●
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Continuous grazing of a large area Managed large grazing area
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Rotational grazing
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Strip grazing
Management of different grazing systems Semi natural grazing ●
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Arable field grazing ●
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Top off the grazing after moving the animals Do not graze in September/Oct Harrow out the piles of manure
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Let the animals out early Don't overgraze in the autumn/winter Sensitive areas no grazing at all during winter
Possible growth rates on grazing
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Dairy bulls 1100 gr/day
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Beef bulls 1300 gr/day
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Heifer/steers 5-900 gr/day
But beware of the parasites...
Parasite life cycle
Development of parasite infection over time
The fight against parasites ●
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Let young animals out on parasite free grazing = land where no cattle grazed all last season for instance new lay or sheep/horse paddock Let out late on infected grazing land = overwintered parasites have died
Let adult animals “hoover” the grazing early in the spring Treat the calves with anthelmintics when putting them in for the winter
Production for quality
Planning the production
Feeding for growth Keeping the animals clean
Birth
Slaughter
When do you want the slaughter to be? ` How old should the animal be? How heavy should the animal be?
Feed the animals to plan ●
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A beef bull can grow 121300 gr/day on good silage Good silage or hay smells nice, looks good and has no moldy patches With less good silage the growth is no more than 5600 gr/day That bull is ready for slaughter after 30 months...
That makes him ready for slaughter in 15 months
Heavy beef breed bulls on ad.lib. good silage and 2-6 kg of hard feed
EU law says animals must be clean when slaughtered
40 – 200 euro/animal in charges from Swedish slaughterhouses
Winter housing
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Protects the animals
Protects yourself/your workers and the feed ●
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Protects the land
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And protects the Baltic Sea
Protecting the land...
Trampled land lets more nutrients run to the water and streams and ending up ....here.....
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Trampled land lets the weeds in
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Produces bad grazing
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Can spread disease
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Is unpleasant for the cattle to live on
...and the Baltic Sea.
Plastic net for reinforcing sensitive ground
Plastic web for reinforcing land
...you and your workers... How do you – in a SAFE way: • • • • • • •
Catch animals Treat sick animals Help a cow that is calving Separate animals Weigh animals Send animals to slaughter
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...without a building?
Using bark/wood chips for cow traffi c
Calculated average cost/m2 with different life span
Gravel/macadam on geo textile
Installation cost of varying reinforcement materials Reinforcement
Cost/100 m2 in euro
Grass web
1000
+ fiber weave
1300
Gravel + fiber weave
2300
Wood chips
780
+ fiber weave
2300
Inventive way of winter housing camping cattle!