What makes a champion steer?

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is just around the corner and with show season heating up, some producers will now be thinking about the led steer and carcase competitions set to happen across the country throughout the year.

Jeff House is a livestock consultant with more than a decade’s experience judging led steer and carcase competitions for many of Australia’s major metropolitan and regional shows. Here, he shares his thoughts on what many judges look for in a champion steer.

Striking a balance

To begin with, Jeff always approaches any led steer competition with the knowledge that those animals are set to be processed within a day or two of judging.

“I’m far less concerned with the animal’s structural soundness at that stage – they’ve been entered for a reason and as long they’re fit and healthy in the ring, they’ve done their job,” he said.

“I’m effectively trying to look under that animal’s hide and assess whether it’s got the right balance of fat cover and muscularity to deliver a really high-yielding carcase that meets the specifications for the class,”.

Fat coverage

“As a starting point, most competitions will set fat specifications depending on the live weight of the cattle or the target carcase specifications for each class, so it's really important for both exhibitors and judges to be aware of these,” Jeff said.

“My first assessment happens as they walk into the ring, when I try to get a broad overview of their fat coverage before giving each animal a fat score.”

He’ll start by looking at the animal from the front to see what sort of fat development there is in the brisket, before moving along the underline to the flank.

“I’ll then look at the animal from behind to observe fat coverage over the pin bones and around the tailhead,” he said. “These areas don't tend to have a lot of muscle development, which makes it easier to assess the animal’s fat coverage.”

Muscularity

Once the fat coverage has been assessed, Jeff looks for the right amount of muscling.

“I’ll consider things like the width through the hind quarter and whether it’s flat or if there’s some visible bulging there,” he said. “I’ll then look down through the stifle joint to assess its thickness because that will also indicate muscling.”

“A wide back is also a good sign the animal has a big eye muscle area, indicating plenty of meat along the backline and running in behind the shoulder of that animal.”

Judging a carcase

In general, points are awarded for carcase attributes in line with the set market specifications of the competition.

How this is assessed can vary from one competition to another, but Jeff would usually allocate points based on meeting market specifications, saleable meat yield and meat quality. Traits assessed include:

• Fat depth: This is measured at the P8 (rump) site, as well as the rib fat thickness at the carcase quartering site. Points are allocated based on the fat depth specifications set for the class.
• Fat colour: This should be on the whiter side, rather than yellowing, and judges often use the AUS-MEAT chips from 0 (white) to 9 (yellow).
• Meat colour: Meat colour is assessed using the AUS-MEAT meat colour standards (1a to 7), with bright pink to cherry red (1B or 1C) likely to score higher.
• Muscle Score: This is an assessment of the overall thickness and volume of meat in the carcase.
• Rib Eye Area: Measured using a grid to determine the area of the eye muscle at the quartering site of the carcase. Points are allocated based on rib eye area relative to the weight of the carcase.
• Meat quality: In some competitions, points are awarded based on the MSA Index, while other competitions allocate points to traits that contribute to the MSA Index such as pH, weight for maturity, marbling and fat distribution.
• Marbling: The optimum marbling score will vary depending on the target market specifications set for the competition.
• Fat distribution: Judges will assess the evenness of fat coverage over the carcase, and whether all the primal cuts are adequately covered.
  
  

Breeding a champion

Producers breeding steers for the carcase competitions, the focus will tend to be on producing heavier muscled animals with the ability to lay down the correct amount of fat.

“We tend to see a lot of Limousin cattle in the steer competitions, relative to the commercial industry, because they’re a more muscled breed.”

However, Jeff said it comes down to understanding the requirements of the market you’re targeting and breeding to meet those demands.

“If you’re looking at those lighter classes that don’t require as much fat coverage, you’re going to be breeding a different type of animal from the heavyweight classes.”

Feeding a champion

Many competitions will require steers to retain their milk teeth, so it’s often young cattle that are being judged.

“Many of the animals I see will have been on high-energy rations to ensure they are growing well throughout their life and are able to quickly reach that optimum carcase and eating quality.

“They’ll then be finished well – often on high quality pastures or with some grain in their diet to get the energy density needed to reach the weight, fat and eating quality specifications demanded at such a young age.”