Better Beef Marbleing
Cattlemen’s College will once again be a highlight of the annual Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Trade Show on January 27th in San Antonio. You might wonder what kinds of things a cattleman learns at beef college. How about how to increase marbeling?
We all know marbling is important to the flavor, juiciness and tenderness of beef. It turns out that starch is a big driver in marbling development. To offset higher feed prices - alternative production strategies are needed for beef producers to remain viable and competitive in the beef industry.
Researchers are now examining new feeding strategies that will allow for the development of cost effective, high quality beef that consumers crave. While calves are typically weaned at 205 days – University of Wyoming Beef Extension Specialist Dr. Scott Lake says new research is focused on weaning and feeding a high concentrate diet at 100 days of age: “Whether it’s corn or wheat or any cereal grain, we need that starch component. So what we’re trying to do is feed them that starch, that expensive grain early in life and they don’t eat that much. The grain may be expensive but their intake is low. So if we can do it early in life and later in life, feed more of a by-product type feed and then throw in some more starch right at the finish phase, we can actually decrease total corn or starch consumption throughout its life.”?
Preliminary data suggest those feed strategies result in high quality grades of beef with similar weights to traditionally fed cattle. More research will need to be conducted before this concept is recommended to producers.
