The Australian Limousin Breeder's Society Ltd
The Carcase Breed
Comparison of Eight Sire Breeds over Brahman Cows
The Northern Crossbreeding project is part of the Beef Industry Cooperative Research Centre. It is a comparison of eight breeds crossed with Brahman cows.
Twelve Limousin sires were used in the project representing both "old" and "new" genetics in the breed.
Half of the cattle are finished on grass and the other half are finished in feedlots in northern and southern Australia. The progeny are grown to three slaughter weights; domestic, Korean and Japanese markets.
Liveweights
Limousin calves were intermediate for birth weight averaging 34.6 kg which was
2.0 kg lighter than Charolais sired calves but 2.6 kg heavier than Angus sired
calves (see Table 1). Due to the ability of Brahman cows to restrict the size
of their calves and their pelvic shape the incidence of calving difficulty was
very low for all sire breeds.
Limousin X Brahmans were significantly lighter than Charolais X Brahmans at weaning, 12 months and 18 months of age but much heavier than purebred Brahmans.
Table 1: Breed effects on birth and weaning weights (3 years of data) and weights at 12 months (2 years of data) and 18 months (1 year of data)
|
Sire Breed
|
Birth Weight (kg)
|
Weaning Weight (kg)
|
Yearling Weight (kg)
|
| Charolais |
36.6
|
212
|
279
|
| Limousin |
34.6
|
199
|
267
|
| Hereford |
34.4
|
204
|
266
|
| Shorthorn |
34.3
|
202
|
262
|
| Santa Gertrudis |
33.3
|
195
|
256
|
| Angus |
31.8
|
201
|
256
|
| Belmont Red |
31.9
|
189
|
256
|
| Brahman |
32.6
|
182
|
242
|
Carcase
The carcase results are where Limousin starts to show out. The average carcase
weight for Limousin cross steers of 300kg was only two kilograms lighter than
for Charolais X Brahman (302kg) and heavier than all other breed crosses. The
Limousin X Brahmans were 50kg heavier than pure Brahmans (see Table 2). Limousin
and Charolais cross steers had slightly less fat than the other breeds but had
adequate fat cover for all three market requirements. The lower fat levels on
Limousin cross heifers was an advantage because of the improved yield.
As expected Limousin cross had superior eye muscle area and percentage retail
yield to all other breeds. When compared for the weight of primals and total
retail cuts, Limousin cross cattle excelled.
Table 2: Effects of sire breed on carcase and meat yield attributes of steers.
|
Sire Breed
|
No. Animals
|
Hot carcase Wt (kg)
|
P8 Fat Depth (mm)
|
Eye Muscle Area (cm2)
|
Retail Beef Yield (%)
|
Retail Primals (kg)
|
Total Weight of Retail Cuts (kg)
|
| Limousin |
39
|
300
|
9.3
|
82.1
|
68.5
|
69.6
|
205
|
| Charolais |
17
|
302
|
9.3
|
80.8
|
67.3
|
68.7
|
203
|
| Hereford |
20
|
290
|
10.5
|
76.2
|
66.8
|
67.8
|
194
|
| Shorthorn |
15
|
289
|
10.8
|
79.3
|
66.0
|
66.5
|
191
|
| Santa Gertrudis |
33
|
274
|
12.9
|
75.4
|
65.9
|
66.6
|
181
|
| Belmont Red |
77
|
262
|
11.6
|
76.7
|
66.5
|
67.5
|
177
|
| Angus |
23
|
295
|
11.8
|
75.3
|
66.1
|
66.5
|
175
|
| Brahman |
78
|
250
|
10.8
|
76.3
|
66.6
|
67.2
|
167
|
Consumer Tests
Samples of sirloin from a proportion of the carcases were tested in the Meat
Standards Australia consumer testing program. Consumers ranked the grilled cuts
for tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall acceptability which are combined
to give a Meat Quality (MQ4) Score.
The minimum requirement for MSA grading is an MQ4 score of 46. The results for the carcases tested showed that the MQ4 score for Limousin cross Brahman carcases was slightly lower than Angus X Brahman but far superior to pure Brahman.
Sire Breed Effects on MQ4 Score
These results were extracted from "Producing and Processing Quality Beef from Australian Cattle Herds" 2000 edited by P Dundon, B Sundstrom and R Gaden. The complete paper is available from Alex McDonald, PO Box 262, Armidale NSW 2350, email alex@limousin.com.au