Meeting Consumer’s Needs Cattle Feeders Leant About Managing For A Satisfactory End Product MICHELLE KUNJAPPU Lancaster Farming Staff NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster Co.) A recent Beef Quality Symposium is one of a series of educational meetings that are part of Pennsylvania’s Blueprint For Success program. Conducted at Yoder’s Restau rant, New Holland, the event drew about SO attendees and ad dressed beef quality issues such as tenderness and palatability, besides producer topics such as implants and dark cutters. Dr. Edward Mills, associate professor in the dairy and animal science department at Penn State, opened the day by addres sing factors affecting beef palata bility. Beef, which is on 97 percent of menus in America, is served more than seven million times a year in restaurants 56 percent of entrees ordered, he said. “What is the main driving force for that choice?” asked Mills. “People buy beef products because they like the taste of beef, and that’s what we have to focus on, to keep our eye on that goal throughout the production process.” The palatability of cooked beef is determined by flavor, juiciness, noncorrosive Delnn valve is self cleaning & simple to operate ' • 12” in diameter & 8” deep. • 3 gallon capacity- 6 times that of other bowls! • Fast recovery- 3 gallons per minute at 40 psi. • PVC construction- guaranteed unbreakable, inhibits bacterial growth. • With nonrestrictive splash guard. • Cleaner- water fill located at bottom. • Bottom drain- for easy cleaning. • Adjustable water level. 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Living muscles have a pH of about seven. This number will drop to below six, which is important in determin ing the characteristics of the meat. “By day 10, most of the tender ization has already occurred,” he said. Dark cutters have a high pH above six which actually in creases the meat’s water-holding capacity. “The challenging in marketing live animals is communicating the things that have been done,” such as genetic selection for ten derness, he said. “You want to WB9SPZ Zimmerman Water Bowl ■LY! Heavy duty steel clamp & mounting bracket totally supports bowl. 295 Woodcorner Rd. • Lititz, FA 17543 • 717/738-7365 1 mile West of Ephrata get paid for all that.” Dr. Robbi Pritchard, depart ment of Animal and Range Sci ences, South Dakota State Uni versity, addressed influences on marbling. “Marbling is a tricky deal,” he said. “You can’t see it happen.” Pritchard highlighted energy demands in cattle. For instance, an animal’s priorities for the en ergy they have consumed is bone, then muscle, then fat. “When they are bom, a bull calf is four percent body fat,” he said. “When a steer grades Choice, it is 28 percent body fat.” With this in mind, he ad dressed proper timing and use of implants. “Implanting cranks up frame size. That means they’re bigger when you get done, but it also means more groceries while they are growing.” he said. A produc er will have to “feed harder for fat deposition.” It is not that larger-framed an imals may are genetically unable to marble “it may be because there is not enough time to get up to target fat content,” he said. “We need to change the energy level of the diets for the bigger framed and implanted cattle.” Genetics are a set point in Water Supply Cows! Now you can give your cows the water they need to produce more milk. 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Hours Mon -Fn 7-b Sat 7-11 Speakers at a recent Beef Quality Assurance Symposi um included, from left, Dr. John Scanga, Colorado State University; Dr. Edward Mills, Penn State; Dr. John Come rford, Penn State; and Dr. Robbi Pritchard, South Dakota State University. marbling. “We can’t enhance it, all we can do it screw it up,” he said. Over implanting “will make them grow faster but will create an even bigger disparity between the lean gain potential and what they actually get” at the feed bunk, he said. Marbling is not put on simply at the end of the time in the feed lot, noted Pritchard. “Things start happening early.” After conducting his own research, he “realized that the difference in marbling happened on the front end. This told me that the differ ence in quality gained happened in the first two months on feed rather than the last two months on feed. Marbling starts much earlier than is generally recog nized.” DS is Distributor for: SUPER CHIMNEY m 2100 Stainless Steel 11 II ■ I Chimney Systems Super Pro 2100 Chimney DS/316 Stainless Features 25 Year Warranty Chimney Liners Also Available D.S. Machine Shop Ni Pf e " ose stove Stoves & Chimneys R t. 3 box"^ 2388 Old Leacock Rd., Gordonville, PA 17529 Williams Port, PA 17701 717-768-3853 717-745-3253 Repels deer both by taste and smell. All organic... made from fish & beef-by products. Ideal for tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries at transplant time. Prevents late season damage to sweet corn, pumpkins, and melons. Long lasting (up to 2 months with one application) No phytotoxcity...does not burn the foliage. No petro chemicals...needs no special handling. Exempt from ERA registration under FI FRA 25-B. Concentrated (10:1)... 1 gallon makes 11. Can be dilutecM 5:1 on special applications. s lB4 P ius shipping. 5 gallon pail. (Makes 55 gallons) Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 22, 2002-A37 To test his ideas, Pritchard split his fail feeder calves in three groups. He didn’t implant one group, implanted one group right away, and waited until February to implant the last group. “If we waited and let marbling get into the cattle, we got ride of the downside” (lowered marbling ex pression) of implanting. One key to marbling is to match caloric intake with genet ics. “it isn’t just caloric intake, it’s caloric intake for this ani mal, ”he said. Implants need to be matched with cattle and calories. “Find combinations that work. Maxi mize caloric intake on the finish ing diet before they get that big implant. Prevent deer damage to sweet orn and pumpkins. All organic deer repellent effective ip to 8 weeks...will lot wash off in rain. Bobbex Call:(800) SBS-9bJ4 www.deemnntroS, ’ >m (Turn to Page A3B)
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