Market weight, slaughter age, and yield grade to determine economic carcass traits and primal cuts yield of Hanwoo beef.

This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship among market weight, slaughter age, yield grade, and primal cut yield in Hanwoo. A total of 403 Hanwoo (Korean native cattle) was assessed for carcass traits such as carcass cold weight, backfat thickness, ribeye area, dressing percentage, yield index, and marbling score. The production yield of the individual major primal cuts of Hanwoo beef was also measured. Carcass cold weight, ribeye area, and backfat thickness, which affect meat quality increased with increased market weight (p < 0.05). The production yield of the ten major primal cuts also increased with increased market weight (p < 0.05). In terms of slaughter age, carcass cold weight, ribeye area, and backfat thickness all increased from 25 months to 28-29 months, and the production yield of all prime cuts also increased with increasing slaughter age. According to the meat yield grade, carcass cold weight and backfat thickness increased from grade A to grade C, although the ribeye area was not affected. The combined findings of the study suggest that slaughtering Hanwoo at the weight of 651-700 kg and 701-750 and age of 28.23 and 29.83 months could be desirable to achieve the best quality and quantity grade of Hanwoo beef. However, the positive correlation of carcass cold weight and backfat thickness, and the negative correlation of the yield index according to primal cuts yield indicated that it is necessary to couple the slaughtering management of cattle with improved genetic and breeding method of Hanwoo to increase the production yield of the major prime cuts of Hanwoo beef.

Comparison of Beef Palatability Characteristics between Longissimus Thoracis and Vastus Lateralis Muscles from Different Grades during Postmortem Aging.

The objectives of this study was to compare palatability changes of the longissimus thoracis (LT) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles of Hanwoo steers from different beef quality grades (1+ and 1) during 28 d of wet-aging in order to improve the utilization of the VL muscle as a steak. The VL muscle showed a higher collagen content and a lower intramuscular fat content than the LT muscle (p<0.05). As expected, the Warner-Bratzler shear force value was greater in the LT 1 grade (LT-1) muscle than the LT-1+ muscle (p<0.05); whereas no difference was observed between the grades in the VL muscle at 24 h postmortem. Compared to 0 d of aging, tenderness scores significantly increased after 14 and 21 d of aging in the LT and VL muscles, respectively (p<0.05). Additionally, there was no difference in tenderness score between the VL-1+ aged for 21 d and the LT-1 at 24 h postmortem, although tenderness score was greater in the LT than the VL at each period (p<0.05). Moreover, the VL-1+ steak exhibited a higher tenderness score than the VL-1 steak at 21 and 28 d of aging (p<0.05). On the other hand, the effect of aging time on juiciness and flavor in the VL muscle was somewhat limited unlike the LT muscle. Taken together, the VL muscle requires a longer aging time than the LT muscle to improve consumer preference. Considering the tenderness, using a higher quality grade for aging is more useful in the VL muscle.

Characteristics of Pig Carcass and Primal Cuts Measured by the Autofom â ¢ Depend on Seasonal Classification.

The objective of this study was to investigate slaughtering performance, carcass grade, and quantitative traits of cuts according to seasonal influence by each month in pigs slaughtered in livestock processing complex (LPC) slaughterhouse in Korea, 2017. A total of 267,990 LYD (Landrace×Yorkshire×Duroc) pig data were used in this study. Results of slaughter heads, sex distribution, carcass weight, backfat thickness, grading class, total weight, and fat and lean meat percentages of each cut predicted by Autofom Ⅲ were obtained each month. The number of slaughtered pigs was the highest in early and late fall but the lowest in midsummer. Only in midsummer that the number of females was higher than that of castrates. During 2017, carcass weight was the lowest in late summer. Backfat thickness was in the range of 21-22 mm. In mid and late spring, pigs showed high 1+ grade ratio (37.05% and 36.15%, respectively). For traits of 11 cuts predicted by Autofom Ⅲ, porkbelly showed lower total weight, lean weight, and fat weight in midsummer to early fall but higher lean meat percentage compared to other seasons. Weights of deboned neck, loin, and lean meat were the highest in midfall compared to other seasons (p<0.05). In conclusion, characteristics of slaughtering, grading, and economic traits of pigs seemed to be highly seasonal. They were influenced by seasons. Results of this study could be used as basic data to develop seasonal specified management ways to improve pork production.