Meat+Poultry - February 2024 - 76

FROM THE CORRAL
Spreading the word
For the last 30 years, the National Beef
Quality Audits have provided valuable
information on both meat quality and
problems that need to be corrected.
Data collected in 2022 in 20 large
US commercial beef packing plants
indicated that the condition of cull
cows and bulls needs to be improved.
The industry has done an excellent job
conducting educational programs for
training producers on the importance
of both Beef Quality Assurance and
low stress handling. Unfortunately,
there are a few operations that are not
getting exposed to this information.
Recently, I talked to a veterinarian
who had a client who had absolutely
no cattle handling facilities. All
vaccinations were given with darts.
From a meat quality standpoint, this
is a really bad practice. Beef plants
routinely use metal detectors and X-ray
machines to detect foreign objects;
19% of the plants reported finding darts
and bullets in cull cows and bulls. A
shocking 100% of the plants reported
finding either buckshot or birdshot
in their animals. This resulted in half
the plants reporting customers had
complained about foreign objects.
In cull dairy cows, 47% had
full udders. This is considered a
defect because the meat becomes
contaminated when the udder is
removed. It is also a welfare problem,
and it may interfere with mobility. The
audit data also showed that a greater
percentage of cull dairy cows were
lame compared to beef cows. Eightysix
percent of the beef cows walked
normally compared to only 66% of the
dairy cows.
There is one bright spot, however.
Compared to audits conducted in
1999, the percentage of cull cows with
arthritic joints was greatly reduced.
Unfortunately, too many cows are
arriving at the plant too thin. Compared
to previous audits, the percentage
of very skinny cows has increased.
Bruising continues to be a major issue.
It is likely that many of the bruises
were caused by tall cattle scraping
their backs when they exit the bottom
deck of a trailer.
INFORMATION OUTREACH
I have observed there are still places
that are not receiving Beef Quality
Assurance information. Recently, I
made a presentation to a group of
small ranchers in Kentucky, and I
was surprised to learn that some
of them did not know what Beef
Quality Assurance was. The National
Cattlemen's Beef Association and
commercial companies have conducted
numerous low-stress cattle handling
workshops, but a few ranchers still
have not adopted better practices.
Several months ago, I talked to a
student who worked one summer on
a beef ranch. She quit because they
were running two-month-old calves
to exhaustion.
Unfortunately, there are a few
places that are not taking advantage of
all the educational materials that are
available to cattle ranchers.
A large survey of handling
practices at 76 beef cattle ranches was
conducted by Lily Edwards-Callaway
and her graduate student Elaine
Calaba at Colorado State University.
Seventeen percent of the ranches used
electric prods on 50% or more of the
cattle. Sixty-six percent were within
Beef Quality Assurance guidelines.
Unfortunately, several veterinarians
were not using proper cattle
handling practices.
It is likely that a relatively small
percentage of the producers are
causing the worst problems. Practices
such as using buckshot to move cattle
need to be eliminated. Dart guns should
never be used for routine vaccinations
or treatments.
On a positive note, I recently
visited some small ranches in Virginia
that were very progressive. The local
extension office provided a portable
handling facility that producers could
borrow. Many more of these types of
initiatives need to be started. There is
still a need for better outreach to small
remote producers.
TEMPLE GRANDIN | meatpoult r y@sos land.com
A shocking 100% of the plants
reported finding either buckshot or
birdshot in their [cull] animals.
76 MEAT+POULTRY | 02.24 | www.meatpoultry.com
Rosalie Winard
http://meatpoultry@sosland.com http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - February 2024

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