Carcass winner a first

A NEW kind of carcass competition has underlined red meat farmers' doubts about the EUROP grading system which is commonly used to value their animals.

By The Newsroom

Published 21st Jan 2011, 15:15 BST

Updated 21st Jan 2011, 15:15 BST

A recent competition for Beeflink farmers – Asda suppliers through ABP – is believed to be the first in the UK in which the overall championship was decided on retail value after boning out.

A Blue-cross steer carcass from Shropshire farmer Peter Gore, graded U+3 on the conventional grid, which goes down through the letters EUROP, beat several E-graded entries to scoop the championship.

The carcass weighed 387.8kg at 23 months and four days old and gave 0.82 per cent greater return than the first-placed young bull, an E2-graded 379.2kg Limousin-cross. And it gave a 1.09 per cent greater return than the first placed heifer carcass, an E3-classified 405.6kg Limousin-cross.

Asda and ABP are moving towards video image analysis (VIA), which is designed to read real yield and is already in use in Ireland.

CW 22/1/11

ASDA