Assessing Cattle for Slaughter this Autumn

With recently harvested feed barley making ~€280/t, it is expected that ration prices will be high this winter. The recent dry weather and good ground conditions are providing an excellent opportunity to finish some forward stores at grass. Aisling Molloy, Teagasc Future Beef Advisor has more

Finishing Cattle this Autumn

With recently harvested feed barley making ~€280/t, it is expected that ration prices will be high this winter. The recent dry weather and good ground conditions are providing an excellent opportunity to finish some forward stores at grass, instead of housing them over the expensive winter period.

Heifers and steers should be over 500kg before going onto a finishing diet. They can be fed 3-4kg/head/day where grass quality is good (covers 1200-1400 kg DM/ha) or 5-6kg/head/day where grass quality is poor or supply is low. A high energy ration with a low protein content is recommended to encourage cattle to lay down fat and to avoid burning excess energy when processing excess protein. Many seasoned finishers feed rolled barley, splitting the feeding once you go above 3kgs. No mineral is required a grass as it is a quick finishing period. All cattle should have full time access to clean drinking water during this time.

While weather conditions may deteriorate into the autumn, heifers and steers should easily achieve over 1kg/day where their health, genetics and diet allows. This will help to reduce the silage, ration and housing costs over winter if they can be finished sooner. Even if cattle have to be housed for a period of time, they will have achieved their ‘build up’ period on ration at grass. Reducing the age at slaughter in cattle can also help to reduce the methane emissions on your farm, the amount of feed required and reduces the amount of slurry produced.

A 600kg animal will eat approximately 12kg dry matter/head/day. If they are grazing 8kg DM good quality grass (cost 12c/kg DM) and supplemented with 4kg ration (cost 45c/kg DM @€380/t) it will cost €2.76/day to feed them at grass, excluding any other costs. If the animal was being fed a grass silage diet indoors they would eat 7kg DM of good quality silage (70% DMD) (23c/kg DM) and 5kg ration (cost 45c/kg DM @€380/t) it would cost €3.86/day to feed them, excluding any other costs. This results in a feed saving of over €1/animal/day so it makes economic sense to feed forward cattle at grass.

Autumn 2021 born bulls that are destined for slaughter under 16 months of age should be housed for finishing. They can do a lot of damage to paddocks, they may have a poor response to ration in poor weather conditions, they can have poor live weight gain if they are roaming a lot and there are health and safety risks associated with feeding bulls outdoors too. Spring 2022 born bulls that are to be slaughtered under 16 months of age can be forward creeped onto 3kg of ration before they are weaned and housed. 

Producing In-Spec Cattle for Slaughter

It is really important to monitor your cattle’s performance to ensure that they are meeting their targets and that they will be in spec when slaughtered. This can be done in a number of ways;

1. Weighing cattle regularly – Cattle on a finishing diet should be weighed at least once per month. This will show if they are meeting their target weight gains and will indicate if there is any underlying issues such as parasite burdens, respiratory disease or poor diets.
2. Handling cattle – It is important to assess the fat cover of your finishing cattle to make sure that they do not go over fat which is a waste of money and may also lead to severe financial penalties at the time of sale. Further details on how to judge this are outlined below.
3. Watch dates and weights - As well as watching the average daily gain of your cattle, you also need to be mindful of the expected carcass weights and the age of the animal. It is important to know your market and to chat to your agent to make sure you are producing animals to the desired carcass weight to meet consumer preferences. Slower growing cattle should be monitored to ensure that they are not over age (ideally less than 30 months) at slaughter which will again have financial implications.

The slaughtered animal is paid according to its classification, as illustrated in Table 1 below. The ‘0’ indicates the base price at the time of sale. The poorer the animal’s conformation, the more c/kg that is deducted from the base price. The better the animal’s classification, the higher the price/kg.

In addition to this, cattle must meet certain criteria to qualify for this payment;

1. Heifers and steers must be under 30 months of age
2. Meet the necessary fat and conformation grades
3. Have a maximum of 4 residencies
4. Be on a Bord Bia Quality Assurance farm for at least 70 days continuously before slaughter
5. Be on a Bord Bia Quality Assured farm for at least 60 days pre-slaughter on the last SBLAS farm

The Bord Bia Quality Assurance payment delivers bonuses ranging from 8c/kg to 20c/kg depending on the animal’s classification which is shown in Table 2 below.

Table 3 below shows an example of producing a finished heifer at 24 months of age that meets the classification criteria for financial bonuses and one that did not meet the criteria. There is a difference of €405 between an R=3+ heifer at 330kg carcass weight when compared to an O-4+ heifer at 272kg carcass weight. Over 40 heifers, this amounts to a massive €16,200.

Out of Spec Cattle Slaughtered in 2021

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine published the Beef Carcase Classification & Price Reporting Section for 2021. It shows that 7.7% of steers slaughtered in 2021 had a fat score of less than 2+, with 2.6% at 4+ or higher.

3.5% of heifers slaughtered had a fat score of less than 2+, with 11.3% scoring 4+ or higher. This results in a reduction of between 6-54c/kg carcass weight, based on the animal’s conformation. They also lost the quality assurance bonus of 8-20c/kg which significantly impacts the profit margins on these cattle.

24.7% of young bulls had a fat score of less than 2+, with 0.1% at 4+ which again has financial losses.

56.7% of steers, 43.6% of heifers and 33.2% of young bulls slaughtered in 2021 had a conformation of O or P. This results in a deduction of 12-54c/kg from the base price and a possible loss of 8-20c/kg from the quality assurance bonus. 

How Are Cattle Classified at Slaughter?

Prime cattle that are slaughtered in Ireland are assessed for payment based on the EU Beef Carcass Classification Scheme. The aim of this scheme is to standardise carcass classifications across Europe which allows the EU to have a standardised beef price reporting system. Most beef carcasses are analysed by a machine in the factory where video images are analysed for various measurements of the carcass and to determine the classification.

Cattle are classified by a number of means;

1. Conformation – The shape and development of the carcass, identified from the hind quarter, loin/back and shoulder of the animal. This is denoted by the letters E, U, R, O, P. This is then subdivided into -, + and = within some rankings. An E grading animal would be an exceptional double muscled animal with wide hips, a wide back/loin and wide shoulders whereas a P grade animal would be poorest with very narrow hips, back and shoulders.
2. Fat cover – The amount of fat on the animal which is denoted by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. A fat score of 1 would be very poor and a score of 5 would be over fat. This is then subdivided into -, + and = within some rankings. Fat cover for heifers and steers can be assessed around the tail head, ribs and loin. In bulls the topline of the animal also needs to be assessed, along with the scrotum area, the flank and the brisket.
3. Sex of animal – The cattle are denoted by letters based on their sex. A is a young bull under 16 months of age, B is a bull over 16 months of age, C is a steer, D is a cow and E is a heifer.

It is really important to ensure that cattle are presented to factories in spec to maximise the profit from your beef enterprise this year. Taking advantage of good quality grass, good weather conditions, taking precautions to ensure good animal health, noting the genetically superior animals and regularly monitoring weight gains are important this autumn.

Teagasc in conjunction with IFA are holding a Winter Finishing Event in Cillín Hill Matt in Kilkenny next Tuesday evening, 13th September at 7.30pm. Get further information at this upcoming Winter Finishing Mart Event.

The Teagasc Beef Specialists issue an article on a topic of interest to Suckler and Beef farmers every Wednesday here on Teagasc Daily.  Find more on Teagasc Beef here  Teagasc provides a Local Advisory and Education service to farmers. Find your local Teagasc office here