Dulverton Jackpot J267
Cohort 6 – Benchmarking Program Performance
Eating Quality is my go – 2/41 MSA Index
4/41 for MSA Carcase Marbling
Sire: PAPA EQUATOR 2928
Sire: ARDROSSAN EQUATOR A241PV
Dam: ARDROSSAN PRINCESS W38PV
Sire: BOOROOMOOKA FRANKEL F510PV
Sire: BON VIEW NEW DESIGN 1407
Dam: BOOROOMOOKA TRACEY Z5PV
Dam: BOOROOMOOKA TRACY T4SV
Sire: CIRCLE A 2000 PLUS
Sire: FIVE STAR YARAMDU Y29SV
Dam: FIVE STAR LOWAN W47
Dam: DULVERTON DELL B112
Sire: DULVERTON VANILLA V049SV
Dam: DULVERTON DELL Z067
Dam: DULVERTON DELL W37
The Traits:
- Calving Ease – No assistance reported.
- Birth Weight: 37.9kg rank 23 of 41. Have targeted maximum survival rates, 36-40kg as preferred birth weight range thereby ensuring adequate growth potential in progeny. Growth rates essential to achieve daily gain targets to maintain profitability and build pelvis areas in females enabling calving ease in the ensuing generations.
- Gestation Length: 278.3 rank 6. Have always selected for shorter gestation length, A foetus grows at the rate of 0.6-0.7 kg/day during the last 4-5 weeks of the gestation. Note that J267 is 5 days short of the average gestation length, meaning his calves are 3.0-3.5kg lighter at birth. This certainly ensures easier, quicker births helping to guarantee reduced dystokia and maximum calf survival.
- Growth
- 200 day: 14 of 41
- 400 day: 12 of 41
- 600 day: 10 of 41
- Carcase Weight: 20 of 41
Suits our requirements to satisfy:
– Adequate skeletal development enabling females to fulfil role of delivering live calves.
– Growth of sufficient magnitude in slaughter progeny to enable even and adequate gains so as to result in the preferred Saleable Beef Yields. Uneven growth will result in increased fat deposition between the muscles (inter muscular fat eg the Fat Kernel separating the LD and the Spinalis – Cube Roll) and usually higher fat concentrations subcutaneously.
Too high a growth rate can result in cattle being killed before they actually deposit sufficient fat to fulfil Eating Quality expectations and food processing preservation requirements.
- Carcase Measurements
- EMA: 91.9 cm² – Rank 15 of 41
- Rump Fat: 17.6 mm – Rank 36 of 41
- Rib Fat: 14.7mm – Rank 17 of 41
Not sure what this what this data tells us. My fundamental question gets back to what is the Retail Beef Yield from J267’s carcases? Suffice it to say consumers are concerned with:
– Price per serve – how big does the muscle need to be?
– Surplus fat: 3-5mm across the portion sufficient – its about the TASTE FAT (Intra Muscular Fat – Marbling) not the WASTE FAT (Subcutaneous and Intermuscular). Carcase Grids do not provide PREMIUMS for muscling yet most DISCOUNT bodies with excess of 17mm p8 Fat. Note J267 right on target, his progeny scored 17.6mm of P8 fat.
- Marble Score: 554. 6 MSA Score Rank 4. A 555 MSA score correlates to an AUS-MEAT high 3. The change from an AUS-MEAT 3 to a 4 occurs at 560-570 MSA score which coincides with a measured LIPID% (fat) of 6.2%/6.3% (based on ether extraction). The ‘Western palate’ prefers Lipid range of 3.5%-8% (MSA consumer testing)Must keep remembering MARBLING is the combination of TOTAL amount plus the Fineness and Distribution of the fat across the surface of the muscle, IMF% on the other hand is simply the amount of fat within the confines of the muscle in this instance the Longissimus dorsi.
- MSA Index: 65.8 – Rank 2
It has been our MISSION since the early 1980’s to breed SEEDSTOCK to sire progeny that will breed the BEEF PEOPLE CAN EAT. It’s a real BUZZ for Sal and I that Jackpot J267 has proven to be such a wonderful “Meat People Can Eat” performer. He has supported his superior carcase attributes with the fertility, gestation length, docility and growth outcomes we aspire to.
- NET FEED INTAKE
We promote four traits, they are the PROFIT drivers for our industry – STAYABILITY/LONGEVITY
EATING QUALITY
SALEABLE RETAIL YIELD
FEED EFFICIENCY.
These traits are all encompassing and comprise sub sets of additive traits eg Stayability is all about Females remaining functional within the herd therefore it encompasses Fertility, Live calf production, Adequate growth, Docility, Structural soundness. It is currently a shortcoming of our Breedplan system that we don’t have a means of determining stayability – the genetic component of.
JACKPOT J267 has performed amazingly well for the TRAITS that appear to matter with respect to eating quality – he ranks 4/41 for marbling, 9/41 for MSA Ossification, further confirming his growth is ideal; 2/41 for MSA Index, he does produce the meat people can eat.
One of the four traits we are adamant about is NETT FEED INTAKE. Unfortunately Jackpot J267 has not performed up to expectation regarding this trait, he ranks 38/41. We had high expectations re his performance for NFI-F as his sire Booroomooka Frankel F510 is in the top 1% of the breed for this Value Determining Trait.
Breeding for improvement in the Value Determining Traits, Eating Quality and NFI-F is no easy task. Reasons:
- It’s a one-off observation but consider the fact that DULVERTON JACKPOT J267 performed poorly for the NFI-F Trait in his COHORT group yet his sire B. Frankel F510 was the No 1 performer for the trait in his Cohort group.
- The Bio-chemistry occurring within the muscle cells of beef animals is complex and possibly not totally understood. This Bio-chemistry controls, amongst ‘other things’, the rate at which muscle cells grow, develop and replace themselves – Growth. This same process has a major influence on:
- Beef Tenderness / Toughness
- Beef Ageing and the rate at which beef will age post slaughter.
The presence of one of these particular Bio-chemical compounds – calpastatin is known to cause a reduction in the rate at which muscle cells replace themselves and a reduction in the amount of and rate at which beef ages (phenomena outlines above).
On the flip side it is postulated that this complex Bio-chemistry involving Calpastatin may reduce cell protein turn over to a point where less digestible ‘food’ is required to be ingested to maintain economically sound Growth Rates.
Put simply, the traits of such economic significance, Eating Quality and NFI-F, appear as though they maybe antagonistic, that is to single trait select for Eating Quality will be at the detriment of NFI-F.
Unfortunately price competitive beef production does require us reducing the feed intake of cows at pasture and we cannot ignore the absolute need to have a strong focus on Eating Quality.
How valuable is Booroomooka Frankel to the Beef Industry? He ranked 9/41 (65.6) for MSA index; 7/41 (551.2) for MSA Carcase marbling and 1/41 (-3.7kg) for NFI-F. He is also right on target for fatness, his progeny having measured 18mm of p8 fat (30/41), grid reductions commence at 17mm p8fat.
Clean Frankel daughters are truly worth their weight in gold. It is definitely our intention to maintain vigilance re our selection for:
- STAYABILITY / LONGEVITY – Fertility, live calf production, adequate growth, docility, structural soundness.
- EATING QUALITY
- SALEABLE RETAIL YIELD
- FEED EFFICIENCY
It is imperative we drive industry research fund providers and researchers themselves to concentrate hard on the Bio-chemistry of Eating Quality (Tenderness, Juiciness and Flavour) plus the interactions with Feed Efficiency. To reduce the feed intake of a cow at pasture by 50-100 grams/day has an as astronomical flow-on effect re our feed budgeting and hence the price competitiveness of Beef – “The King of Proteins” at the retail cabinet.
The Dulverton program through bulls like B. Frankel, D. Jackpot J267 etc can deliver you, our valued clients, bulls capable of passing on these important traits.
