Meeting the ‘in-spec’ criteria for finishing cattle

Aisling Molloy, Future Beef Programme Advisor, shares tips and advice for farmers finishing cattle over the winter months, highlighting the importance of monitoring performance, understanding the payment grid and what to look for when drafting animals for sale.

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 finished. 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 finishing which will again have financial implications.

The finished 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.

Table 1: Price differentials on the QPS grid

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 four residencies
4. Be on a Bord Bia Quality Assurance farm(s) for at least 70 days continuously before finishing
5. Be on a Bord Bia Quality Assured farm for at least 60 days pre-finishing on the last SBLAS farm

Quality Assurance

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 2: Bord Bia Quality Assurance Bonus rates

Financial differences

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.

Table 3: Financial differences between in-spec and out-of-spec cattle

Out of Spec Cattle Finished in 2023

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine published the Beef Carcase Classification & Price Reporting Section for 2023. It shows that 13.8% of steers finished in 2023 had a fat score of less than 2+, with 0.3% at 4+ or higher.

5.3% of heifers finished had a fat score of less than 2+, with 4.5% 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.

22.1% of young bulls had a fat score of less than 2+ which again has financial losses.

62.3% of steers, 51% of heifers and 36.9% of young bulls finished in 2023 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 finishing?

Prime cattle that are finished 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.

Figure 1: Areas for assessing conformation of a heifer

Figure 2: Areas for assessing the fat score of 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 precautions to ensure good animal health, noting the genetically superior animals and regularly monitoring weight gains are important this winter.

The above article was adapted for use on Teagasc Daily from a piece Aisling Molloy supplied to the autumn edition of the Beef HealthCheck Newsletter. Access the full Beef HealthCheck Programme newsletter (PDF) here.

Diary date - Teagasc National Beef Conference

The Teagasc National Beef Conference 2024 takes place on Tuesday, 19 November at 5pm in the Landmark Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, N41 N9W4.

The theme of the conference is 'Sustainable Beef Farming: Pathways to a greener future'

Also read: Setting the scene for the Teagasc National Beef Conference