Meat Standards Australia in Western Australia 

K. Thomson 

September 2010

• Uses critical control point approach to manage & predict eating quality

• Identifies eating quality of individual muscles

• Identifies product will not meet minimum eating quality standards

Meat Standards Australia

1. Overview - WA MSA

• 2009/10 > 1 million head graded• 17.3% of cattle graded, 87.4% met MSA specs• 2004/05 grading % WA = 40%, NSW = 8% & QLD = 6%

Source: MSA 

2. WA MSA Compliance

Source: MSA database

2008-2009

0

2

4

6

8

10

1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Reason for ungrade

% of

cattl

e ung

rade

d

WA

National

Grade Code Key

9. Hide puller damage

8. Outside AUSMEAT specifications

7. Miscellaneous

6. Fails company specifications

5. Meat colour 1A or greater than 3

4. pH greater than 5.70

3. Fat distribution

1. Fat depth

Source: MSA database

2. WA Compliance 2008/09

2. pH & meat colour

High pH ‘dark cutting’ = lower eating quality

- High water holding capacity= less juicy

- Increased bacterial growth = reduced shelf life

- Cooking inconsistencies and reducedtenderness

3. The cost of non-compliance

4. Fixing dark cutting

Its all about muscle glycogen! Glycogen levels are determined on farm

Nutrition

Nutrition:• Fill the bucket up

Management:• Stop it leaking

Handling Stress

Time offfeed

MUSCLE MUSCLE GLYCOGENGLYCOGEN

Mixing Stress

What is required to fill up the bucket?

Weight gain of 0.8 to 1.0kg/day

= high quality pasture (>10.0MJ/kg DM)

or= additional supplementation

MetabolisableEnergy

MuscleGlycogen

4. Fixing dark cutting

4. Fixing dark cuttingDigestibility decline of annual grasses and clovers

in a Mediterranean climatesource: M. Hyder, DAFWA

   

What are the causes of our dark cutting issues? • Are we trying to beat the end of the season & overestimating

pasture quality?

4. Fixing dark cutting

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

1 Oct 22 Oct 12 Nov 3 Dec

Dry

Mat

ter

Dig

esti

bili

ty (

%)

Kojonup

Harvey

Moora

What are the causes of our dark cutting issues? • Are we trying to beat the end of the season &

overestimating pasture quality?

• Are we constrained by our production systems?– Constraints - calving time, growing season etc.– Industry integration

• Are we measuring our performance appropriately?

4. Fixing dark cutting

Maximising compliance in 2010 • Action is required now to reduce dark cutting:

– Develop feed budgets & identify cost-effective finishing strategies – Can you achieve the product with your production system?

– Pastures – When has digestibility reached critical points (<70%)

– Achieve required growth rates – Are you weighing?– Manage cattle to minimise stress (time of feed, handling

& mixing)

4. Fixing dark cutting

Thank you

http://www.mla.com.au