Just because an animal is flighty in the yards, that doesn’t mean it will produce poor quality meat.
This could just be a finding by Meat Standards Australia (MSA) from a trial being carried out to pinpoint a method of predicting an individual animal’s stress levels.
The MSA has suggested ways to reduce livestock stress levels, and therefore ‘dark cutting’, such as not mixing cattle, having animals directly consigned to slaughter and limiting time from farm to slaughter. But as MSA program manager Sarah Strachan says, stress levels vary in individual animals and a method to ‘grade’ all cattle would be a ‘game changer’ for producers.
With the aim of further reducing some cattle being ineligible for MSA grading, she said a research trial had been set up to examine the effect of mixing cattle, transport and livestock selling methods on meat quality.
Ms Strachan said the trial had included taking 61 animals from four farms on King Island and 60 animals from four farms in Tasmania. After being individually assessed, the animals, which were both heifers and steers, were mixed in a combination of ways, and then transported in different methods by truck and then by boat to be slaughtered. The animals were again assessed at the abattoir, and once killed, samples of meat were assessed for quality.
Ms Strachan said an important part of the trial was using a number of technologies, such as FLIR thermal mapping and retinal readings, to assess an animal’s temperature, heart rate and respiration. “We are researching what technologies could be commercially feasible for producers,” she said. “For instance, a camera needs to be robust enough in a farm environment.”
While the results of the trial are still being collated, Ms Strachan said the outcome of the trial could change the way producers assess stock for meat quality. “We may find that a flighty animal does not have a dark cutting problem,” she said. “We want to reduce MSA non-compliance, and with MSA approved stock making $65 a head more in general over a year, it is worth it for the producer.”
The MSA will also carry out a trial on cattle transported by train to slaughter.
