Principles of Evaluation and Showmanship

Principles of Evaluation and Showmanship

Beef Age Classes • Calves: less than one year of age • Cattle: one year or older • Veal calves: less than 3 months old

Beef Age Classes • Slaughter calves: 3 months to one year old • Feeder calves: 6 months to one year old

Beef sex classes • Steer: male castrated before reaching sexual maturity • Heifer: female that has not had a calf or matured as a cow

Beef sex classes • Cow: female that has had one or more calves or its mature • Bull: uncastrated male • Stag: male castrated after reaching sexual maturity

Beef Grades • Quality grades: • Prime, choice, select, standard, commercial, utility, cutter, canner

Beef Cattle • Yield grades: • Yield Grade 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5

Swine classes • Use classes • Slaughter: to be killed and sold as meat • Feeder: to be fed to heavier weights before slaughter

Swine classes • Sex classes: • Barrow: male castrated before sexual maturity • Gilt: young female that has not had pigs

Swine classes • Sex classes: • Sow: older female that has had pigs • Boar: uncastrated male • Stag: male castrated after reaching sexual maturity

Swine grades • Quality and Yield determine USDA grades for slaughter swine • US 1, 2, 3, 4, and Utility • Logical slaughter potential and thriftiness are the basis for feeder pig grades

Other classes • Feeder cattle grades are determined by frame size, muscle thickness and thriftiness • Slaughter cattle have both quality grades and yield grades

Characteristics of grades • Beef: • Quality grades are determined by the animal’s age, muscling and the amount of marbling of fat distribution in the lean meat

Beef Quality Grades • Maximum age of standard, select, choice, or prime grades is 42 months • Commercial grade is over 42 months

Beef Quality Grades • Utility, cutter, or canner grades have no age limit • Cows do not have a Prime grade • Adequate marbling must be present for tenderness in the higher quality grades • Low choice or higher grades are the most desirable

Beef Yield Grades • Affected by muscling and amount of fat • Yield 1-Best muscling with least fat waste • Yield 2,3,4 • Yield 5-worst grade, less muscle and more fat waste

Swine grades • Grade is determined by the percent of carcass weight made up of ham, loin, Boston butt, and picnic shoulder • Backfat and degree of muscling are used to evaluate live hogs for yield

Feeder Steer and Heifer Grades • USDA No. 1, 2, and 3 • Each USDA grade has Large, Medium, and Small frame categories

Slaughter Steer andHeifer Grades • USDA Grades from Prime down to Canner, about 80% of grain fed grade choice • USDA Yield grades from Yield Grade 1 down to 5

Feeder Swine • USDA Grades from US No. 1 down to US Utility, which is diseases of unthrifty, has a head that appears too big for the body and has wrinkled skin. • US No. 1 has thick muscling, large frame and is trim

Feeder Swine • Potential for feeding out to slaughter weight and grade affects feeder pig grades

Slaughter Barrows and Gilts • USDA grades from US No. 1 down to US No. 4 • Muscling from thick, average, and thin is last

Slaughter Barrows and Gilts • US No. 1 must be no less than average muscling Thick muscling compensates for or effectively subtracts 0.25 inch of backfat, and thin muscling adds 0.25 inch of backfat to the formula

Slaughter Barrows and Gilts • Backfat- Maximum backfat for US No. 1 is 1.0 inch or 1.25 if muscling is thick. Maximum backfat for US No. 3 is 1.49 or 1.75 if thick muscling

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Principles of Evaluation and Showmanship