While consumers may have little first-hand knowledge of beef production, many decisions taken on a modern beef farm are geared to their taste.
"Consumers have signalled a preference for certain meat cuts which are tender and full of flavour and producers are always trying to develop animals that have those characteristics," explained John Duynisveld, a beef research specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Nappan, Nova Scotia.
To help identify and foster those characteristics, the Maritime Beef Testing Society is undertaking a multi-provincial project with financial help from the Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food (ACAAF) Program. ACAAF is a national funding program designed to help implement innovative projects that will benefit the production and processing sector, bolster the industry’s capacity to address current and emerging issues and position the agriculture and agri-food industry to seize new market opportunities. The PEI ADAPT Council, which administers ACAAF funds in Prince Edward Island for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, is contributing $14,500 toward the three-year project.
Duynisveld explained that weaned feeder steer calves from farms in all three Maritime Provinces have been shipped to Nappan where they will be fed and managed in a typical feedlot setting. The animals will be marketed next spring to the Atlantic Beef Products’ plant in Albany. Feedlot data will be collected on all the animals including total weight gain, dry matter intake and feed efficiency. Each animal will be genetically tested to determine its predisposition for carcass characteristics (marbling, tenderness, rib eye size and lean yield). As well, economic performance data will be gathered including the cost of the weight gain in dollars and cents.
Working with the Albany beef plant, the project will also make use of functional genomics or characterizing the genes that may explain functional differences in the appearance or performance. The testing will be used to identify the characteristics of each animal on taste, tenderness and yield. The hope is to use the tool to predict optimum harvest time. Duynisveld said at the end of the project, the industry should have a benchmark for animal performance. He added this will better enable industry to meet the ever changing needs of the marketplace and to participate in value chains.
"Producers will be able to use this information to make both short and long term decisions on their farms," he said.