Mon, 24 Jul 2017 14:58:40 +0000
BY Makeli Phiri
AGRICULTURE is a broad subject which some people, if not many, cannot understand.
But for a person involved in food production from this blessed soil of ours, I can understand how precious agriculture is.
There are so many arms or wings of agriculture which contributes and makes agriculture the way it is.
In the early sixties and seventies, agriculture did tick to the point that some secondary schools were supplied with free milk to boost the nutrition status of students.
Some institutions went to the extent of growing their own food to supplement what the government of the day used to give.
And today, we are trying to emulate the same system which is of course a very good thing.
The population of this country has grown and now we have more mouths to feed than it was in the past.
The need for improving and investing in this food industry is very important. God has blessed this land with a lot of natural resources therefore, as the stewards, we should utilise these resources to the best and when we leave this country someday, we must leave it a better place than we found it.
Toda,y let us look at the almost forgotten branch of agriculture and to be specific livestock – grading. In Zambia we are very fortunate that there is a system of live and dead carcass meat grading which has been practiced from the time the expatriate farmers came, that is from the United Kingdom, South Africa and other countries.
These expatriates were in charge of formulating and implementing policies regarding to livestock production in Zambia, at that time Northern Rhodesia. These services had to do with meat inspection as well as meat grading. It was because the livestock industry was growing hence, to put things together to help the livestock farmer produce good quality farm products.
The practical team of meat grades is rarely heard, are they in existence or not? In the years gone we had technical officers called meat graders under the Ministry of Agriculture who used to report to the Principal Meat Grader on the figures of animal slaughtered and graded throughout the abattoirs in Zambia but today we rarely hear of them.
These people do play a very important part in that their participation or role helps livestock farmers to produce good animals for the market that is if todays’ livestock farmer understand grading of live animals and carcasses.
To revamp or organise workshops or seminars for the meat graders (if they do exist) would provide a forum for these meat graders to come together and indeed those interested to share views and perhaps engage into useful discussions concerning how best to up – date grading practices country wide.
What is meat grading?
Meat grading is the grouping of animals live or dead into similar classifications of meat quality characteristics according to their breed, age, sex conformation/shape, finish/fatness, bone structure, muscle distribution and other characteristics affecting bruising, mutilation, trimmings, fat colour, odour, and texture. Based on these appropriate grades are given.
Generally, the purpose/ aim and objective of meat grading can be stated in four main points.
- To regulate the market (to have acceptable standards)
- It helps to cost and price so that one knows what he is aiming at in terms of profitability.
- It creates a common language among those concerned with meat or trade industry.
- It also helps the producers to improve their livestock and with correct animal husbandry practices, they are assured of good dividends and that way they will always be happy with the results at the time of slaughterin,g grading and marketing.
Significance of meat grading and how it benefits:
- a) Livestock farmers in the nation.
- b) The butcher engaged in meat trade.
- c) The consumer.
The significance or importance of a well-organised and co-ordinated system of meat grading would not be quite obvious from the outset unless one starts to have a grasp of what goes on at the farm with animals.
- a) Looking at the livestock farmers. Animal husbandry practices on the farm (e.g. breeding housing, feeding, use of drugs, handling and transportation of livestock before slaughter) may all be involved in disturbing the balance and influence the health of animals and the quality of meat.
Poor construction and valuation would result in infections or abscesses necessitating heavy trimming of the animal at slaughtering and the subsequent down grading of the carcass.
Age, sex, breed genetics and breeding can affect meat quality to a greater extent. Feeding livestock over a certain optimum age (18 – 24 months) will increase the proportion of fat in the carcass.
In the grading and classification of the back fat thickness and weight are two of the most important characteristics taken into account.
Meat from aged animals tend to be tougher than from young animals. This is due to changes in the structure of connective tissue in older animals and not to the actual amount of this fibrous type of tissue. Tenderness of meat is also influenced by which changes that occur after slaughter, such as rigor – mortis which is a last contraction of muscles after death.
Sex of animals influences body composition with fat content being one of the most noticeable differences. Carcasses from male animals have a lower proportion of fat and higher proportion of lean meat than those of female animals of a similar weight. This condition is also found in entire males when compared to castrated animals and this is the reason why together with better growth rate and feed conversion castration is not performed as commonly in the livestock breeding these days. Heifers mature much quicker than steers and although having a smaller bone structure do tend to carry more fat.
There are a lot of influencing factors into meat quality and they can adversely affect the grades of such meat carcasses. The most important ones from the point of view of the producer or farmer are:
– Early growth
– Good food conversion ratio
– High carcass yield/size of animal repeated sales.
– Growth, high proportion of lean meat yield of an attractive carcass for present day demand of the meat trade market.
The farmer would do well to concentrate on looking after his herd ensuring that when the results of meat grading come, these will be for maximum benefit to him for high grades and matching high market price achieved by slaughtered animals. In the longer term, carcass classification will encourage production of better livestock by providing financial rewards for better grades.
- b) Looking at the butcher. The butcher engaged in the meat trade, would have his interests focused on the following points:
– Confirmation/shape which is to be reasonable
– Finish/fatness cover to be adequate
– Amount of lean meat to bone ratio to be proportionate
– Meat quality – finess of the flesh in conjunction with conformation and finish. Age also affects quality e.g. the flesh of the young animal is more tender and palatable than of animals of advanced age.
It is evident therefore that a retail butcher is always looking for a well fleshed young carcass whereas the manufacturer is looking for the older, not so well fleshed carcass for his production.
Therefore, with the increasing method of dead weight purchasing of animals i.e. payment of the carcass weights as opposed to live weight purchasing it is necessary to develop a scheme of grading which would take into account the carcass quality.
The scheme would be very useful as the farmer can see how his animals kill out and make necessary adjustment to feeding, and produce the type of carcass required by the consumer.
Therefore, it goes with the experience and expertise of the meat grader to objectively grade a live animal and then to be able to match
