Holstein steers can compete in the beef stakes, says leading expert

Scibus founder and managing director Professor Ian Lean presented the latest findings from the Charles Sturt University/Meat & Livestock Australia research into the dairy beef supply chain.

He was speaking at the Dairy Australia Growing Beef From Dairy conference, Melbourne.

"The dairy industry identified a major problem in terms of risk - that there is a perception that there is a problem of euthanasia of day old calves," Prof Lean said.

"We also think there is a really serious issue around the potential of wastage of really high-quality beef.

"These issues we have addressed, and we have also been able to calculate there is a substantial opportunity in turning off about a half a billion more dollars a year in terms of high quality beef."

The CSU/MLA study looks at the impacts of genetics, nutrition and management on the performance and eating quality of beef from dairy breeds.

The study is evaluating a number of different cohorts of animals, with dairy steers being reared on farm.

'We had two growth paths, one was 0.9 kilograms a day, the other was an accelerated growth path, targeted at 1.2kg a day," he said.

The project started in 2018 and involves 1100 Jersey, Holstein-Jersey cross, and Holstein cattle, all following a range of pathways, alongside beef breeds including British and Euro-cross cattle.

The growth pathways used low-cost and high-cost feeding regimes, made up of a range of timeframes and combinations of pasture feeding, feed supplements and grain feeding in feedlots, to reach a target of 300kg carcase weight.

"The focus here was on the consumer eating quality, what does the consumer decide is a good steak, or a bad steak?" Prof Lean said.

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On key measures, Holsteins in feedlots and raised on grass had the same eating quality as beef breeds, he said.

"There are no grounds, presently, to discriminate Holsteins against beef breeds," Prof Lean said.

"What we could see was once the animals went into the feedlot, the weight gain was similar across the Holsteins and beef breeds.

"The Holsteins compared particularly well with the beef cattle, in the feedlot."

Initial Meat Standards Australia estimates showed that dairy breeds "would not" have a lower eating quality than straight beef animals.

Eye muscle weight in Holsteins and beef breeds was similar, although the muscle was longer in the Holstein.

"You end up with a very similar weight of eye muscle and that raises opportunities, because the consumer may be looking for a smaller steak," he said

"The steak can be a little bit smaller and there will be more of them."

There was a problem with ultimate pH in Holsteins dropping to the critical level needed for MSA standards but Prof Lean said he didn't think this was related to eating quality.

"And the colour score tended to be much higher in Holsteins, but the Australian consumer doesn't discriminate around meat colour.

"Some of the buyers are still discounting it [meat from dairy breeds] because it is dark, but the eating quality is still the ultimate determination and what we need to do is help educate the buyers rather than accede to a discounting on that product."

There might be an advantage in targeting certain markets, he said, with parts of the Asian market being receptive to the leaner carcases.

Eating quality in beef cattle may well have been a function of the calves spending more time on their mothers.

"The carcase weights were really good from the Holsteins and MSA and the eye muscle area are all actually quite positive, when it comes to the dairy breeds

"The dairy breeds have performed particularly well in this study," he said.