Market Classes and Grading Flashcards
What are market classes and grades designed for?
Designed to “ accurately” describe livestock that is being sold around the country
- type, prices, trends
- makes sales understandable by all parties
- case-ready products( we buy parts)
Encompasses carcasses and products
Describes terms for understanding different groups or buyers
What are market classes?
Groups of animals separated according to use
- slaughter
- feeder
- bred hefiers
- pairs ( cow with calves; ewes with lamb)
Subclasses
- age
- sex
- weight
What are market classes?
Groups of animals separated according to use
- slaughter
- feeder
- bred heifers
- pairs ( cow with calves; ewes with lamb)
Subclasses
- age
- sex
- weight
What are grades?
- designed to group animals according to relative merit within a market class
- grades for slaughtered animals generally fall into quality or cutability
- feeder grades are subjective and utilized less frequently
Feeder cattle are described as-
OKIE or crossbred( genetics or breed)
What does the number indicate in the feeder grade?
Muscling ( 1,2,3,4)
What does quality describe?
Denotes eating quality or palatability
What does cutability refer to?
Refers to the leanness or trimness
USDA grades are ________
voluntary
- some packers have their own standards
What are cattle sex classes?
heifer, cow, steer, bull, bullock
What are swine sex classes?
barrow, gilt, sow boar, stag
What are sheep sex classes?
ewe lamb, wether, ram, ewe
What are the qualities of a feeder cattle?
Frame size( small, medium, large)
- an indication of weight when an animal should grade choice
Muscle thickness( 1,2,3,4)( 1= thickest)
-an indication of muscle mass when the animal reaches market weight
- inferior- unthrifty and not expected to perform normally; includes double muscled
What are the qualities of feeder pigs?
- grades correspond to slaughter pigs
- U.S #1,2,3,4, utility, and cull
- rarely used because swine industry is commercialized
What are the qualities of feeder lambs?
- less than 100 lbs
Feeder cattle grades for steers
Large: >1250 lbs
Medium: 1100-1250lbs
Small: < 1100lbs `
Feeder cattle grades for heifers
Large: >1150lbs
Medium: 1000-1150
Small: <1000lbs
What are the 2 things we look at when grading feeder cattle?
- Frame size
- Muscling
What is dressing percent?
carcass weight/ live weight x 100
What factors influence the dressing percentage?
- fill( contents of viscera)
- when fat increases, DP also increase
- when muscle increases, DP also increases
- mud
Animals are often excessively ____ when ___ plays a major role in the pricing equation.
fattened, DP
The purpose of grading is to sort carcasses from ____, _____groups into smaller ______ groups of similar ___.
large, heterogeneous, homogeneous, sex
What is beef yield grading?
- is an estimate of the yield of boneless, closely-trimmed retail cuts from the round, loin, rib, and chuck
-are numerical values given to a carcass( 1.0 to 5.9) - assigned by the USDA grader in plant
What are the factors when evaluating in yield grading beef?
- carcass weight
- fat thickness
- ribeye area
- kidney, pelvic, and heart fat
Amount of external fat ( beef yield grading)
- measured 3/4 of the way up the ribeye perpendicular to the chine bone.
- preliminary yield grade( PYG)
Amount of Kidney, Pelvic and Heart Fat ( beef yield grading)
- KPH
- % of carcass weight
- as the amount of KPH increases the percentage of retail cuts decreases
Ribeye area( beef yield grading)
- ribeye area = longissimus dorsi
- measured in in sq. inches (.10)
- An increase in ribeye area (REA) indicate an increase in the percentage of retail cuts
What is the average % of beef a cattle give?
60% of live weight
