UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
Dark cutting beef has a higher pH than normal beef.
Normal beef.
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
Plan now to avoid
dark cuttingthisbeef spring
Breeding for docility and managing your cattle’s stress are vital ways to ensure great beef BY PHIL BASS
University of Idaho assistant professor-meat science It’s January, there’s snow on the ground, and many Idaho cattle producers are thinking about the next calf crop making its appearance soon. For those on the other end of the cattle life cycle, in the feeding world, this is actually a great time to begin considering the upcoming spring season. Although it’s a few months away, spring is a time of year that we meatwww.idahocattle.org
heads expect to see an uptick in a beef carcass quality defect that, albeit a small percentage, is a huge hit to producer bottom lines: dark cutting beef. Let’s discuss what it is; why it occurs; and how we can attempt to manage the condition in our finished beef cattle. Dark cutting beef is a stress-induced carcass defect that occurs in a small percentage of fed beef cattle, but it’s still significant enough that we should remain aware of it and do our best to prevent the condition.
In an average year, the United States will harvest around 27 million head of fed beef steers and heifers. According to the 2016 National Beef Quality Audit, the monthly percentage of dark cutting beef carcasses ranged between 0.33% and 0.74%. If all we experienced was the low end of the incidence rate, that is still over 800,000 head of cattle each year. According to USDA-reported pricing, the value discount assigned to dark cutting beef carcasses is on CONTINUED, PAGE 38 IDAHO CATTLE ASSOCIATION
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