Herefords – Ranking highest in Meat Eating Quality Trials

There has been good news on the Meat Eating Quality evaluations for the Herefords once again.

ICBF, in conjunction with Teagasc & the meat processing industry, have been carrying out trials over the last five years, on the effects of breed on Tenderness, Flavour and Juciness of beef and the results are very positive for Herefords. The trial involved 6,000 genotyped animals.

ICBF have proven that after trialing various breeds for Tenderness, Juiciness & Flavour – they can now determine that Tenderness has the highest heritability meaning that genetics can directly affect the tenderness of beef.

From the research carried out; Herefords have ranked at the top of the table across all breeds for tenderness with a result of 85% satisfactory. Docility may also be hugely influential towards this trait. The top three Hereford bulls in terms of tenderness scoring have been named as; Moyclare Lucky, Moyclare Lieutenant & Gageboro Morgan. Herefords are also ranking at the top of the charts for juiciness & flavour (see chart below).

With the trial coming to an end; ICBF have have said that the move now is towards having Meat Eating Quality data available on animals as they are slaughtered which could link with future payment systems. They have also confirmed that work is underway to add this data directly into economic indexes.

This is an exciting development for the Hereford breed which will hopefully lend an edge to the breed & add to the marketability of Hereford beef in both domestic and export markets.