Market Compliance
Carcases that are not compliant to specifications cost the producer and processes extensively each year. Checking how well your livestock matches the target market carcase specifications for weight and fat can be done in myFeedback platform comparing grids.
The greater the number of carcases receiving penalties for missing the target, the lower your average price will be. There may be a different target market grid that better matches your lambs. To assist you in assessing this you can change the target specifications by selecting a different industry grid, or by creating a user defined grid with your own weight and fat ranges for an alternative market, to see how your animals fit.
Meeting market compliance can be influenced by a number of factors. To understand more about meeting carcase compliance please see below.
Check how well the weight/fat pattern of your carcases matches the target market specifications.
The greater the number of carcases receiving penalties for missing the target, the lower your average price will be. There may be a different target market grid that better matches your lambs. To assist you in assessing this you can change the target specifications by selecting a different industry grid, or by creating a user defined grid with your own weight and fat ranges for an alternative market, to see how your animals fit.
There may be a different weight/fat grid from another market that matches your sheep better.
You can change the target specifications and put in your own weight and fat ranges for an alternative market to see how your animals fit.
If you have enough lambs to sell, it may be possible next time to reduce the variation in the mob and have more lambs meet specifications and receive a better price by splitting the mob and selling to two different markets. Investing in a set of weigh scales and time in improving animal assessment skills will help you to better target specific market requirements.
Further Information:
It is much easier to market groups of animals if they have similar specifications.
You can reduce variation in a sale mob by working on the main causes. Some are easier than others to control. They include:
- The number you have to pick from – the more you can draft out, the more uniform you can make the sale lot. Looking for extras to “make up the numbers” always adds to variation.
- Weighing and assessing fat of lambs will also assist in drafting a more even sale mob. The person drafting and sorting the lambs may need to improve their skills at assessing weight or fatness.
- Variation in background if lambs were bought for finishing i.e. entry weight, genetics, nutrition, health etc. The more information you have about the lambs you are purchasing the more successful you will be at targeting the correct market
Variation in weight can be reduced in home-bred lambs by ensuring ewes are in good condition for joining. This ensures ewes are cycling, therefore getting in lamb easier and also better able to support foetal growth.
Processors set basic market specifications so they can produce meat products that meet their customer demand for consistent portion size, leanness and eating quality.
The most important specifications include:
- Hot standard carcase weight (HSCW) - determines the range in size of primal and retail cuts.
- Fat depth (GR measurement mm) - determines both yield and quality. Over-fat carcases require trimming which is costly to the supply chain. Very lean carcases can have inferior eating experience and shelf life.
Fatness of sale lambs can be estimated quite accurately in live lambs. To see how, go to Fat Scoring Lambs and Sheep to assess carcase weight with reasonable accuracy it is highly recommended that you weigh the lambs live and use a dressing percentage guide. By assessing weight and fat you will be able to estimate carcase weight and target specific market requirements more accurately.
Consumers assess the acceptability and quality of meat by its colour, fatness, tenderness, flavour and juiciness. Today’s consumers prefer to purchase meat with low levels of external fat, but in many cases prefer to eat meat with some intramuscular fat, commonly known as marbling. To meet consumer demands some markets require carcases to meet additional specifications for eating quality, this is done using Sheep Meat Eating Quality (SMEQ) or MSA Grading.
What is the GR Measurement?
The GR site is located 110mm from the backbone over the 12th rib. It is a measurement of both fat and tissue and is measured in mm. This site is used as a reference point because it is easy to measure on both the live animal (by manual palpation) and the hot carcase (by measure mm) and provides a good indication of the overall fatness of the whole carcase.
Further information
Eating experience and shelf life
Manage the production system to meet market specifications
Making More From Sheep Module 3: Market focused lamb and sheepmeat production
Sheepmeat Eating Quality Guidelines (MSA)
Maximising lamb growth - pre and post weaning
More productive progeny through better ewe management
Optimising weight and fat for a given market will increase producer profitability and give the processor more carcases that meet their customer’s requirement.
The following factors have an influence on compliance to markets.
How does nutrition affect lamb growth?
Lambs on a diet that is not limited or varied within reason for protein and energy over the growing period tend to have less connective tissue toughness and have improved eating quality, and will score better under MSA grading system
Pastures provide the most cost-effective way of supplying nutrients to sheep. The nutritional requirements of individual mobs on a farm will vary through the year, as will the capacity of its pastures to supply those needs.
Further information
Intensive sheep and lamb finishing systems
How does genetics affect lamb growth?
Developing an effective breeding plan for your lamb business will help you to plan a breeding program that will meet your target market requirements.
Improving the genetics within your flock is one of several options to more effectively meet your target market requirements. Follow this link for more information on Getting Started with Sheep Genetics.
Improving fat cover using genetics:
Stock with higher, more positive fat ASBV are likely to produce progeny that are fatter, or more earlier maturing, on average than stock with lower or negative fat ASBV’s. Increasing fat depth alone leads to a decrease in retail beef yield, however most market specifications require a minimum fat depth.
Improving dressing percentage and lean meat yield:
Lean Meat Yield (LM) is the weight of muscle and tissue that has been trimmed free of visible fat, expressed as a percentage of cold carcase weight (Dressing Percentage). Breed, Maturity, sex and nutrition all have an effect on meat yield. These are production issues that you can control prior to slaughter. Processing affects yield, such as weight loss pres slaughter and transportation. Minimising stress and transportation time can improve yield. Follow this link for more information on Selecting for growth and lean meat yield.
Further Information:
How do carcase attributes affect lamb growth?
Improving lambs that are too light and too fat for the target market
- These lambs may have been better suited to a lighter weight market before the lambs became too fat. Investing in a set of scales and gaining skills in live animal assessment will help you to accurately assess which animals are suited to the target market.
- You could use genetics to make them more suitable to this market by using lambplan.
Improving lambs that are too fat for the target market
- These lambs may have met the specifications if sold earlier before they became too fat. Consider targeting a lighter weight market and sell them earlier, when they are finished. You may need to gain skills in live animal assessment to enable you to meet specifications.
- Increase the stocking rate, this may slow their individual growth and reduce fatness while increasing lamb produced per hectare.
- Use genetics to reduce fat coverage while maintaining yield. This can be done by ram selection using lambplan carcase plus ASBV’s.
Improving lambs that are too heavy and too fat for the target market
- These lambs would probably have hit the target specifications if they had been slaughtered earlier, when they were lighter and leaner. Their natural growth pattern should suit this market. Investing in a set of scales and gaining skills in assessing lambs for market will help you to better meet target specifications.
- If you bought these lambs to finish for this market, they needed less time to finish. Follow this link to see how you can address nutrition.
- If you have a longer growing season and want to keep them longer to get paid for extra weight, you can make them more suitable to this market by addressing excess fat through genetics.
- Ram selection using lambplan carcase ASBV’s for growth, yield and fat depth.
Improving lambs that are too light for the target market
- Lambs may have suited a lighter weight market you may need to gain skills in live animal assessment to enable you to meet specifications.
- The lambs may have met the specifications if they had been fed good quality nutrition for longer, provided they did not get too fat.
- Address genetics by breeding for growth and muscling using lambplan ASBV’s to add weight without adding fatness
- Investing in a set of scales and gaining skills in live animal assessment will help you to accurately assess which animals are suited to the target market.
Improving lambs that are too light and too lean for the target market
- These lambs may have met the specifications if fed for longer. You may need to gain skills in live animal assessment to enable you to meet specifications.
- If not possible to feed for longer on farm they may have provided better returns if they were targeted to the feeder lamb market rather than slaughter lambs.
Improving lambs that are too lean for the target market
- These lambs either did not grow fast enough during the finishing period to put on the required amount of fat or needed better quality feed for a longer time to ensure they put on the required amount of fat.
- These lambs may have been more profitable if targeted to a heavier weight market if you had kept them on good quality feedfor longer.
- You may need to improve your skills in live animal assessment to help you target the correct market.
- It would also be possible to consider changing the genetics of the lamb so they are easier to finish at this weight.
Improving lambs that are too heavy for the target market
- The easiest thing to do would be to target a heavier weight market or to sell them earlier before they get too heavy. Gaining skills in live animal assessment and investing in a set of scales so that you are able to weigh your lambs before they go to market will help you in assessing which market to target.
- If you bought these lambs to finish for this market, they were possibly too heavy at the start or you have underestimated their weight and targeted the incorrect market. Gaining skills in live animal assessment and investing in a set of scales will help you target the correct market
- There should be no need to consider major genetic changes unless these lambs are already very heavy and no heavier markets are available. If this is the case then lambplan should be used to select rams that are more suitable.
Improving lambs that are too heavy and too lean for the target market
- The lack of fat indicates carcases are unfinished and would have been better suited to a heavier weight market. Keep feeding until lambs hit target specifications for fat.
- Nutrition: Better nutrition early in the lamb’s life could be addressed to see if lambs can hit specifications earlier. In order to do this the lambs would need to have grown faster to put on more fat at a lighter weight. Hence they would reach the target weight at a younger age but with more fat.
- If your production system does not allow you to feed them for longer selling them as feeder lambs may be a more profitable option for you.
- Genetics: If your production system does not suit growing the lambs out more then you may need to address genetics by using lambplan and selecting ASBV for earlier maturing rams to breed from.
Caution on making changes
Some changes can be quite easy, such as feeding them longer, or adding supplementary feeding, or improving their health management.
More significant changes such as upgrading pastures to boost nutrition need careful evaluation to ensure they are viable and fit in with the whole farm program.
Be especially careful about changing the maturity type of your cattle by introducing new breed types or a new breeding system. These can be very successful in finding the best match between your production environment and available markets, but mistakes can be costly and slow to fix.
Before making the bigger changes, it is vital to get good advice and plan them carefully, as these have complex effects on the whole balance of your pasture/livestock system.
Seek support from a livestock advisor, agent or trusted party before making big changes in your system.