Yield and Quality Grades Pay
Premiums to Piedmontese
On September 26 and 27th, 2002 – 320 head of Piedmontese cross heifers were slaughtered by IBP at Pasco, Washington.
The majority of these heifers had British-breed (Angus) dams, and all were sired by 2-copy Piedmontese bulls. They had been born, raised and fed-out in Montana.
The “Chart A” below is taken from the 2000 National Beef Quality Audit, which collects data from across the United States. The chart tells us the percentage of carcasses, nationally, that fall into the Yield Grade categories. Yield Grade, as you know, is the indication of carcass “cutability”. There are two types of beef grades in the United States--quality grades and yield grades. Beef carcasses may carry a quality grade, a yield grade or both a quality and yield grade.
Quality grades indicate expected palatability or eating satisfaction of the meat; yield grades are estimates of the percentage of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts from the round, Join, rib and chuck
Yield Grade 1 has the highest or best “cutability”; Yield Grade 5 the lowest. Finding cattle that with perform well in Yield Grade (or Retail Product) plus will fit into the top-paying Quality grades, such as Choice and Prime is the cattlemen’s goal today.
Federal meat grading is a voluntary service packers request and pay for on an hourly fee basis. Meat grading should not be confused with meat inspection, which is mandatory and ensures the safety and wholesomeness of our meat supply.
National Beef Quality Audit–2000 Percentage distribution(a)
of carcasses stratified by USDA quality(b)
and yield grades. Chart # A
|
Yield-Grade Prime Choice Select Standard Commercial Utility
Cutter Canner |
% of the national population in each yield grade. |
1 7.62 0.02 0.00 |
2
16.22 18.37 0.00 0.01 |
3
1.10 13.24 0.22 0.22 0.00 0.00 |
4
0.57 0.07 0.05 0.00 0.00 |
5
0.10 0.89 0.03 0.01 0.00 0.00 |
(a) Rounding error prevents all
from summing to 100.0.
(b) USDA quality grade was
affected by maturity and dark cutting.
The chart below shows the results by number
of head, and by percentages, of the 320 Piedmontese cross heifers that were
slaughtered in Sept/2002 by IBP at Pascoe, WA. There were 233 head out of 320 animals that
fell into the Prime and Choice categories; and 258 head out of the 320 that
fell into the Yield Grade 1 and 2 top slots.
|
Yield Grade |
YG 1 |
YG 2 |
YG 3 |
YG 4 |
|
# Prime Pied-heifers |
0 |
6 head |
4 head |
4 head |
|
% Prime in group of 320 Pied. |
0 |
1.88% |
1.25% |
1.25% |
|
Prime Nat’l Average % |
0.02% |
0.23 % |
1.10% |
0.54% |
|
# Choice Pied-heifers |
75 head |
110 head |
31 head |
3 head |
|
% Choice in group of 320 Pied. |
23.44% |
34.37% |
9.68% |
0.93% |
|
Choice Nat’l Average % |
2.69% |
16.22% |
22.69% |
6.62% |
|
# Select Pied-heifers |
30 head |
37 head |
6 head |
0 |
|
% Select in group of 320 Pied. |
9.37% |
11.56% |
1.87% |
0 |
|
Select Nat’l Average % |
7.62% |
18.37% |
13.24% |
2.85% |
From the 2000 National Beef Audit – the “average” carcass in the USA is reported as a Yield Grade 3 and the mean quality grade as Select. Only 12.2 % of carcasses, nationally, fell into the Yield Grade 1 category, while we see here that 32.81% of these Piedmontese heifers were Yield Grade 1. In the national survey, 37.4% of carcasses were Yield Grade 2, and these Piedmontese heifers averaged 47.81% in the Yield Grade 2 category.
The quality grades from the national survey see only 2% of carcasses in the Prime category; here the Piedmontese have 4.38% in Prime grades! The national percentage for Choice grade is 49.1% of carcasses, and these Piedmontese heifers have 68.42% in the Choice grades.
Prices for the various Yield and Quality Grades paid on Sept.26 and 27, 2002 for these Piedmontese cross heifers tell us clearly the value of getting cattle the high Yield and top Quality categories. The difference between a Choice Yield 1 and Choice Yield 4 was $26.50 per hundred weight.
The pay difference between a Select Yield Grade 1 and Select Yield 4 was also $26.50 per hundred – and the spread from Select Yield 1 to Select Yield 3 was $6.50 per hundred.
By far, the highest numbers of these Piedmontese heifers came into the Choice Yield 1 and Yield 2 pay frame, which on those days were $113. and $109. dollars per hundred weight. If we use the figures paid on those days for the Select Yield 3 category ($98./hundred), which is reportedly the “national average” carcass, then we can see that the Piedmontese heifers gained between $11. to $15. per hundred weight or some $82. to $112. dollars per carcass over the “average”.
The first chart from the National Beef Quality Audit shows that 22.69% of carcasses in the US fall into the Choice Yield Grade 3 class. Using the pay scale from Pascoe on Sept. 26 and 27th, 2002 – the Choice Yield 2 to Choice Yield 3 spread was $2.50 per hundred; and Choice 1 to 3 was $6.50/hundred. By using the high yielding Piedmontese sires as terminal cross on the “fatter” British breed dams, this producer moved most of his cattle into the higher yielding, better paying Choice 1 and 2 categories and made between $18.63 and $48.43 more for each 745 lb. carcass than if they were Yield Grade 3’s. He did this in one crossbreeding season, with no change to his management practises other than using Piedmontese 2-copy sires on his current cow herd. (A “2-copy” sire means “carrying 2 copies of the gene for in-active Myostatin” – the particular genetic make-up for the Piedmontese that consistently produces higher yielding, more tender carcasses.)
For further information, please contact the North American Piedmontese Association (NAPA) at PO Box 330, Valleyford, WA. 99036-0330. Phone 306-329-8600 or email NAPA.
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