Boosting market cow value

摘要

A new checkoff-funded study classifying the palatability traits of 21 muscles is aimed at boosting market cow prices. The popular perception is that market cows end up as ground meat. "We sent her to McDonald's" is a common refrain. But the 1999 National Market Cow and Bull Study found that almost 44 percent of the marketings in 19 cow plants surveyed across the U.S. went into whole-muscle cuts, while 56 percent were trimmings. On average, it's estimated that 10-20 percent of a producer's revenue isfrom market cow and bull sales. Thus, wringing more value cuts from older cow carcasses should boost prices for beef and dairy market cows and, by extension, producer income. That's the impetus behind the Cow Muscle Profiling Study released at the 2002Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Reno in mid July. Funded by the national beef checkoff, the study is the most comprehensive compilation of palatability data on muscles from cows more than 2 years of age.