Marbling Score In Beef Cattle

Like i said earlier some breeds are more inclined to marbling than others.

Marbling score in beef cattle.

Marble score descriptions marble score 3 and 4. It has slightly abundant marbling the amount of fat interspersed with lean meat and is generally sold in upscale. Quality grades are widely used as a language within the beef industry making business transactions easier and providing a vital link to support rural america. Marbling was significantly higher for purebred angus than purebred hereford steers and the angus steers were also fatter.

Wagyu beef for example can be extremely marbled due to its genetics so much so that it s prized for that marbling. Creep feeding is the easiest way to do this as shown by research from the university of georgia. As the cattle make fat the feed efficiency goes down and for consumers we trim off all the excess fat. But if marbling is what consumers want we can increase marbling at different times in the feeding cycle without making the cattle fatter and that would be a huge benefit for the beef industry marbling vs.

In addition to the quantity of marbling the distribution and texture of visible fat flecks within the ribeye are also considered during assessment of marbling score. A quality grade is a composite evaluation of factors that affect palatability of meat tenderness juiciness and flavor. The following factors affect marbling in beef. Cattle breeds such as angus murray grey herefords shorthorns japanese wagyu and kobe are all high quality breeds.

These cattle were fed to age constant average basis of 457 d and the means for carcass weight fat thickness and marbling score are presented in table 1. Non creep fed calves non creep fed creep fed marbling score 318 348. Feed and finishing may also impact marbling with grass finished cattle offering a leaner beefier flavor whereas grain finished beef are much milder. Marbling score score bulls 343 18 0 20a 56 74 0 03a 3 08 0 01 heifers 336 64 0 37b 55 57 0 06b 3 07 0 01 table 3 regression coefficient estimates of slaughter age and slaughter weight on carcass weight dressing percent and marbling score of crossbred fattened beef cattle traits slaughter age year p value slaughter weight kg.

These factors include carcass maturity firmness texture and color of lean and the amount and distribution of marbling within the lean. Marbling fat develops at a young age in beef cattle. Marble score or grades are a component of the aus meat beef quality grading system and is assessed within the ribeye muscle. Feeding higher energy feeds to young calves will help increase the amount of marbling.

Marbling scores of creep vs. Prime beef is produced from young well fed beef cattle.