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How to breed 70% more beef
naturally using common sense
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By: JOHN DEVONPORT
We live in South Africa with lots of poverty and have a
nation to feed with large
quantities of efficiently produced saleable meat.
The economic
situation is placing a huge financial strain on the
consumer, making it difficult for people to have access to
nutritious food.
Feedlots
discriminate against our local indigenous breeds, namely the
Afrikaner, Boran, Nguni, & Tuli, because they do not carry
enough meat. They are penalised by the feedlots with a
negative percentage per kilogram versus the other breeds,
which carry more meat with better average daily gains and
feed conversions.
The feedlots,
unfortunately, look at beef as a ‘commodity’ and are not
like the chicken industry that starts with the producer &
seedstock genetics of chickens that can convert feed into
meat with excellent average daily gains and feed conversion
rates (1.38kg of feed to produce 1kg of chicken vs 6kg of
feed to produce 1kg of beef).
Meat processors
make much more money with round, beefy, lean carcasses when
they process them into saleable beef. There is no extra
reward for farmers to produce these types of animals.
As a beef
industry, we
are competing with
other sources of protein like chicken, pork, and fish, and
yet we invest very little in making it genetically more
efficient.
If we do, the producer is unfortunately not rewarded,
resulting in no incentive for the farmer to
breed with the right type of animal to cross on the local
indigenous breeds to produce much more beef naturally.
These are the serious problems, amongst others, that face
our beef industry.
The question we should be asking is what will give the SA
beef industry a ‘competitive advantage’ over other sources
of protein? This article is being written to illustrate the
extent of this lost opportunity.
So, let’s look at this issue with a good dose of ‘common
sense’ and knowledge that we are all aware of.
The benefit of ‘Hybrid Vigour’ to the farmer
If one crosses our local indigenous breed with a Bos Taurus
animal like a Limousin (easy fleshing, muscular, short on
the leg and adaptable to African conditions).
1 + 1 = 2.4
.... 20 % & more quantity of beef naturally with F94L profit
gene for the farmer.
The amazing
F94L profit gene increases the number of the muscle fibres
with no increase in calving difficulty, allowing the farmer
to sleep at night.
The benefit to the Feedlots
Better average daily gains and feed conversions of at least
10 % and maybe more of the quantity of beef produced in the
feedlot with this cross-bred animal.
The benefit for the Abattoirs
The average slaughter % of SA animals being slaughtered is
50 % carcase and 50 % waste.
With this ‘hybrid vigour’ cross animal, the average
slaughter % rises to 60 % naturally with the F94L profit
gene.
That is 20% (10
% of 50%) more carcass quantity of meat for the abattoir.
The benefit to the Meat processors
Visit
www.askthemeatman.com/yield_on_beef_carcass.htm.
They have been cutting meat off the bone for the past
50-plus years.
When one compares a fat, flat carcase like a Wagyu/Jersey to
a round, beefy, bulky carcase like a Limousin.
There is a massive 35 % differential in saleable meat
quantity from the two extremes because of the F94L profit
gene.
This is at the extreme, but let’s assume it’s an average of
20 % more saleable meat!
In summary, the quantity benefit of the meat profit driver
derived from using the right type of bull on our local
breeds can be added as follows:
Farmer 20 %
Feedlot 10 %
Abattoir 20 %
Meat processor 20 %
Total quantity of more meat 70 %
That’s massive, and all the role players in the value chain
can benefit hugely.
There is nothing to be afraid of when everyone benefits, and
more meat is being produced naturally by using the right
type of bull with the F94L profit gene on our local
indigenous breeds.
What is the solution?
We have a classification system that has a conformation
score on the carcass score 1
to 5, which is
not being used.
1 being a
fat/flat carcase. 5 being a
round/ beefy carcass.
Suggest take 10
% of the meat price. Let’s say it’s R50 per kg, i.e., R5.
Reward (10%) a
conformation score of 5 with R5 and penalise a score of 1
with -R5.
Reward (5%) a conformation score of 4 with R2.5 and penalise
a score of 2 with -R2.5.
It’s simple & easy to understand for all users and would not
cost the industry a cent!
The rewards
This would automatically incentivise the farmer to use the
right type of bull in his herd to produce the type of animal
with much more beef naturally, so everyone in the value
chain could benefit.
If the farmer fed his animals, then he could also be
rewarded up to the carcass stage.
It would help the rural/ emerging farmers to produce more
meat naturally by using the right type of bull on their
indigenous females. They could also enter the formal meat
chain, as there would be a demand from the feedlots for
their animals.
The feedlots will be very happy as they will be feeding
animals that have better average daily gains, feed
conversions, and produce much more meat.
The abattoirs will have higher slaughter %’s, resulting in
greater quantities of beef.
The meat processors will cut & yield a much larger quantity
of meat from the carcass.
This quantity of beef profit driver is a huge opportunity
waiting to be exploited if we only made a small change to
our classification system and rewarded and penalised the
conformation score.
It would help the consumer with more cost-effective
beef and make
all the role players more profitable, as there would be
greater quantities of beef produced.
The benefit to
the SA beef industry could be enormous, running into
billions of rands and giving a huge competitive advantage
with large quantities of naturally saleable meat being
produced to feed our nation efficiently and
cost-effectively.
Something needs
to change! |
