What kind of beef will different breeds produce?

[CESpeed]

I've gone through the thread and don't see this specific question addressed. I've seen advice on choosing cattle based on climate and temperment but I haven't read anything that discusses the characteristics of the meat that different breeds produce. I know the latest trend is "angus" this and "angus" that but why is angus considered a better quality of beef than say Brahmas? Does the cross breed of Angus and Brahmas (Brangus) produce better meat? btw, Kobe beef is suppose to better than Angus, does anyone know why or is this just really great market on behalf of Angus and Kobe breeders?

I apologize if I sound cynical, but I've been taken in by clever marketing with a different type of livestock and I don't want to repeat that mistake. Thank you for understanding and for your help.

 

[jhm47]

Angus cattle are traditionally quite high in marbling, tenderness, and taste. Kobe beef (the correct name for the breed is Wagyu) is the highest marbling breed that I know of. However, neither of these breeds will be great to eat if they are not fed the correct diet before slaughter.

I have quite a bit of experience with Angus, and a little with the Wagyu breed. The Angus have also been bred to grow rapidly, and the Angus cow is a pretty good mother. Personally, I like to cross Angus with Simmental. The Simmentals are better milkers and grow faster than a straight Angus. Simmentals have also been getting better with the marbling aspect, so the crosses are pretty much like Angus. It has been my experience that the Simmentals are also more docile than the Angus.

As to the Wagyu, they are a Japanese breed. In my experience, they are not very hardy, and grow quite a bit slower than the other beef breeds. They will often be 6 - 8 months slower to reach slaughter weight.

As to marbling, there is now a lot of research being done that indicates that marbling starts in the womb of the cow. A poor diet for the cow while she's pregnant will decrease the marbling of the calf at slaughter. An interesting theory.

 

[CESpeed]

I've never heard of Simmentals before; so you sent me straight to Wikipedia . Considering your endorsement and what I read there, they will definitely be on my short list. THANKS!

To quote Number 5, "More input, please"

 

[WildRoseBeef]

I've never heard of Simmentals before; so you sent me straight to Wikipedia

If I were you, I'd go anywhere except Wikipedia. Try the An Sci OK state University's Cattle Breeds page, or even TheCattleSite.com for great (or better, rather) information on the various breeds of beef cattle, including (but not limited to) Simmentals.

Ever heard of Belgian Blue or Piedmontese? These two breeds have a genetic trait called double muscling that enables an animal, from birth (for Belgians it starts in the womb), to develop more muscle on their frames than normal. The name "double muscle" does not imply that the animal has two muscles for every one that a normal bovine has, it merely implies the excessive growth of muscle tissue that occurs from the time the calf is born to when he reaches maturity. The gene that is responsible for this abnormal growth is called the myostatin gene. BB's and Pieds have very lean meat, and it is considered a delicacy in Italy and Belgium or in any other European country that these breeds are raised in.

Now, yes, there are Angus cattle and beef, and people have been made aware of this breed because of a marketing campaign that has been designed by the American Angus Association. This marketing campaign is called Certified Angus Beef or CAB, and is a marketing tool designed to entice or catch the interest of consumers into eating a meat product that, just like with what the poultry industry has done, has consistency that can be relied upon. Other types of beef that is not labelled as CAB seem to have less consistency because people are less aware where that particular meat came from or from what breed of steer or heifer it came from. Consumers LOVE consistency, and since CAB is able to provide such a product, it has become so well known that Angus has become a common household name in America, so much so that people don't really know if Angus beef is just a name or if it came from cattle that are called Angus cattle. Some folks don't even know if there IS such a cattle breed called Angus!

So the CAB marketing tool is THE reason why Angus beef is considered a better product than any other breed like Brahman, Hereford, Shorthorn, Charolais, or even Simmental.

And the funny thing of it is, CAB certified beef does not have to come from purebred Angus cattle! It can come from ANY breed, just so long as that breed has an Angus Sire and those calves, because they have been sired by a purebred Angus bull, can be registered by producers into the AAA's Angus Source program. Initially I had thought that any bovine that has a black hide is able to get the premium tag by auctioneers selling them and the butchers labeling carcasses in the slaughter plant (and this is probably still true, but, as mentioned, I could be wrong), but the key to this is that Angus Source program. The dams of these calves can be any breed, from Hereford to Brahman and everything else in between, but put an Angus bull in with these mutt cows (or even cows of an entirely different breed, simply for the act of producing calves with AWESOME heterosis), a producer can get a nice premium for those Angus Source calves he or she sold at the sale barn today.

Now, as far as differences in meat quality among other breeds, there really isn't much of a difference between them. The meat from a finished Shorthorn will look very much the same as meat from a finished Angus or Speckle Park steer. The meat from a Charolais or Limousin steer tends to be leaner than that of the British breeds, but as far as the finished product is concerned, most consumers can't really tell the difference (unless there's a CAB sticker on the cellophane-wrapped piece of rib-eye their looking at on the meat shelf).

The main difference in the finished product is all due to what the animal ate before he was slaughtered. THAT is what makes the difference in quality versus comparing breeds! A grass-finished Angus steer will have more yellow fat and leaner beef than a grain-finished Angus steer that was slaughtered at a younger age than the grass-finished one. How an animal was fed also has an impact on meat quality: A steer that was fed a high-quality ration when he was still in the stage when he needed to be backgrounded (a term used by us producers to refer to young cattle that are raised for meat that are fed on a high-forage ration that includes pasture; these type of cattle are referred to as stockers or feeders) instead may be a steer that has a higher fat-to-muscle ratio than one that has been properly backgrounded THEN fattened on grain.

The milk from the dam has a lot to do with how a steer finishes as well, not to mention the quality nutrition she received during gestation, as JHM mentioned. If a cow produces lots of milk, then the calf will grow into what we producers call a "soggy calf," or a calf that has great condition (is not thin, but nicely filled out). Another saying to go by is "lotta milk, lotta calf." During pregnancy, the quality of feed that the cow consumes during (and especially) the third trimester determines the health, vigor and growing ability of that calf. The dam and sire's genetics for growth also play a role in how a calf grows to slaughter. Herd bulls, often selected either as terminal sires (produce calves with high growth rates and muscling abilities), are the key to getting calves that do well in the feedlot prior to being "harvested" for meat.

Finally, the main reason that Kobe beef is supposed be so great is mainly because of the really high fat-to-muscle ratio. Wagyu, or Japanese cattle (which comprise of any breed; "Wagyu" is simply a word in Japanese that means "cattle") are primarily used for Kobe beef. Kobe beef is so high in fat that it is the most tenderest, juiciest, falling-apart, melt-in-your-mouth beef ever produced in the world. And all it takes is feeding a 90% high-quality grain diet for several months.

Hope that's enough input for you, CES.

 

[herfrds]

Don't forget they give the Kobe beef animals beer and massages too.

You want to talk beef quality take the hide off at the processing plant then look.