Comparison of Limousin with British,
Continental and Tropical breeds in Australia.
Presented at the International Limousin
Conference
September 2000
Background and Industry
Context
This project is part of an
overall Co-operative Research Centre breeding strategy to identify, by progeny
test, the sires, breeds and crosses of Australian beef cattle best suited to the
meat quality specifications of our domestic and export markets.
The experiment used nine
sire breeds (Brahman, Santa Gertrudis, Charbray, Belmont Red, Charolais,
Limousin, Hereford, Angus and Shorthorn) mated to Brahman cows. Belmont Red is a
composite breed derived from Africander, Shorthorn and Hereford.
The offspring from each
sire were allocated to finishing on pasture in northern Australia or to feedlots
in northern and southern Australia. They were fed to three market end points;
Domestic (180 - 260 kg. carcase wt.) Korean Export (220 -280 kg. carcase wt.)
and Japanese Export (280 - 400 kg. carcase wt.). Twelve sires per breed were
used with a target of 15 progeny per sire. The CRC experiment was designed to
achieve these targets over three years of mating. Approximately half the sires
were replaced each year to provide links between years and increase calves per
sire from some sires.
Cattle targeted for the
domestic market were fed for 70 days on a commercial feedlot ration. For the
Korean Market they were fed for 100 days and for the Japanese market they were
fed for 150 days.
The trial includes a
comparison of Limousin X Brahman with pure Brahman and also a comparison of
Limousin X Brahman with Charolais X Brahman.
Results
The breeds were compared
for a wide range of traits including weights, carcase traits and meat quality
traits.
Table 1 shows the effect
of sire breed on birthweight, weaning weight and yearling weight.
The Charolais sired calves
were heavier at all weights than the other breeds. Limousin X Brahman were 25 kg
heavier at yearling age than Brahmans.
|
Table 1. |
Effect
of Sire breed on birthweights, weaning weights and yearling weight. |
|
Breed |
Birthweight |
Weaning Weight |
Yearling
Weight
|
|
Charolais Limousin Hereford Shorthorn Santa Gertrudis Angus Belmont Red Brahman Charbray |
36.6 34.6 34.4 34.3 33.3 31.8 31.9 32.6 33.0 |
212 199 204 202 195 201 189 182 183 |
279 267 266 262 256 256 256 242 230 |
Table 2 shows the effect
of sire breed on carcase weight, rib eye area, fat depth and retail yield
averaged across all market end points.
While Charolais X Brahman
had slightly heavier carcases than Limousin X Brahman the Limousin X Brahman had
the highest weight of retail cuts due to their higher percentage yield
Table 2. Carcase
results for sires progeny retail Yield (kg)
|
Breed No. |
Carcase
Weight (kg) |
Rib
Eye area (sq cm) |
Rump
Fat Depth (mm) |
Retail
Yield (%) |
Retail
Yield (kg) |
|
|
Limousin |
300 |
82.1 |
9.3 |
69.6 |
209 |
|
|
Charolais |
302 |
80.6 |
9.3 |
68.7 |
207 |
|
|
Hereford |
290 |
76.2 |
10.5 |
67.8 |
197 |
|
|
Angus |
295 |
75.3 |
11.8 |
66.5 |
196 |
|
|
Shorthorn |
289 |
79.3 |
10.8 |
66.5 |
192 |
|
|
Santa Gertrudis |
274 |
75.4 |
12.9 |
66.6 |
182 |
|
|
Belmont Red |
262 |
76.7 |
11.6 |
67.5 |
176 |
|
|
Brahman |
250 |
76.3 |
10.8 |
67.2 |
168 |
|
Table 3 shows the effects
of sire breed on measures of meat quality in steers.
Limousin X Brahman cattle
had the lowest levels of intra muscular fat percentage (IMF%), were intermediate
for cooking loss (%) and ultimate pH. They were low for peak force and instron
compression which both indicate greater tenderness.
Limousin X Brahman were
slightly better than Charolais X Brahman for all objective meat quality
measurements except IMF%. They were significantly better than purebred Brahmans
for all objective meat quality measurements except IMF%.
|
Table 3. |
Effect
of sire breed on intramuscular fat percentage (IMF%), cooking loss,
ultimate pH, peak force and instron compression in steer progeny. |
|
Sire breed |
IMF% |
Cooking loss (%) |
Ultimate pH |
Peak force (kg) |
Instron compression (kg) |
|
Angus Belmont Red Brahman Charolais Hereford Limousin Santa Gertrudis Shorthorn |
2.66 2.62 1.95 1.98 2.41 1.89 1.96 2.62 |
22.5 22.7 23.7 22.8 22.0 22.5 23.1 21.3 |
5.57 5.55 5.55 5.57 5.58 5.56 5.56 5.59 |
4.58 4.78 5.89 4.90 4.64 4.63 5.01 4.76 |
1.72 1.70 1.81 1.79 1.84 1.75 1.80 1.73 |
Eating Quality
To test the objective
measurements of eating quality a striplion sample from each animal was tested by
untrained consumer panels.
Breed effects on the
eating quality (MQ4) scores are shown in figure 1. The MQ4 score was made up of
tenderness x 0.4 + flavour x 0.2 + juiciness x 0.1 + over all acceptance x 0.3.
Angus X Brahman carcases
were assessed to have the highest eating quality. Limousin X Brahman had similar
eating quality to all other breeds except Brahman which had substantially lower
eating quality.
It is clear from these
results that marbling has little impact on objective measures of tenderness or
eating quality as assessed by Australian consumers.
The eating quality of
Brahman cattle is substantially improved by crossing with Limousin.
