Changing the carcass size, shape and value of sheep

Transcription

1 Changing the carcass size, shape and value of sheep

2 Beginnings

3 First frozen shipment of carcasses to London in 1882 on board the Dunedin

4 Lamb meat statistics For the year ending September ,000 tonnes of lamb meat exported $2.57B in export earnings (+$0.45B for mutton) 82% exported as cuts and 16% as boneless

5 What work was behind the 1st shipment? first known method of refrigeration demonstrated by William Cullen at the University of Glasgow Northam sailed from Australia to the UK. Refrigeration broke down and entire cargo lost Chilled beef was sent from USA to UK. High spoilage but encouraging result

6 1877 two steamers carried frozen mutton from Argentina to France, proving concept, if not the economics 1879 Strathleven (compression refrigeration) sailed from Sydney with 41 tonne frozen beef and mutton as a small part of her cargo, and this meat was found to be in good condition

7 How easy was it? Loading began December 1881 After 6 days of loading, the crankshaft of the compressor broke and 640 carcasses were spoiled It took a month for a local machinist to rebuild the crankshaft and associated machinery

8 In February 1882, the Dunedin sailed with 4331 mutton, 598 lamb and 22 pig carcasses, 246 kegs of butter, as well as hare, pheasant, turkey, chicken and 2226 sheep tongues. Some problems sparks from the compressor's boiler which provided a fire hazard Air flow in the hold Captain got hypothermia working in a duct NZALC made a 4700 profit from the voyage

9 Epitaph Within 5 years, 172 shipments of frozen meat were sent from NZ to the UK Only 9 had significant amounts of meat condemned Dunedin and sister ship lost with all hands in 1890 presumed going around Cape Horn

10 NZ sheep numbers to 2011

11 Number (million) Declined by 1.46M/year since Year

12 Lamb exports (1000 tonnes) Average Bone-in equivalent ( ) 385.0

13 Lambing percent Reproduction (+0.91%/year) Year

14 Carcass weight Carcass weight (+192g/year) Year Without increasing carcass fatness!

15 Genetic improvement needs: Pedigree Measurement of performance Live weight at docking, weaning, autumn Ultrasound scanning CT scanning In-plant measurement (VIAscan/Marel/DEXA)

16 Ultrasound scanning NZSAP 25 June 2009 Late 1940s - Ultrasonic energy was first applied to the human body for medical purposes by Dr. George Ludwig at the Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda John Wild first used ultrasound to assess the thickness of bowel tissue (A-Mode scanner) After about two years of work, Holmes, Wright, and Meyerdirk developed the first compound contact B- mode scanner

17 Medical ultrasound

18 Agricultural ultrasound

19 Ultrasound eye muscle image EMW (A) EMD (B)

20 Ultrasound Inexpensive ($3-5 per head) Fast hundreds of animals per day On-farm measurement Measures just the loin Improve meat and fat content of the whole carcass, but with a limit to accuracy

21 CT scanners

22 Example CT images

23 Example CT images (Cont.) 2D cross-sectional image 3D lamb hindleg primal

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27 CT Very accurate. True measure of full carcass Comparatively slow (tens of animals per day) Expensive (~$350/hd) and not portable Lean in the hindleg, loin and shoulder primals, carcass fat 3D scanning and potential for IMF measurement

28 VIAscan carcass grading

29 VIAscan carcass grading

30 Single genes e.g. Callipyge (beautiful buttocks)

31 Callipyge

32 Genomics Test for thousand of DNA markers simultaneously Significant benefits for meat quality traits - measure in the live animal what you would otherwise have to kill to measure Big impact in the future, but needs calibration

33 Meat eating quality NZSAP 25 June 2009 Not yield Lamb is a high cost protein compared to poultry and pork, so expectation of quality product Meat ph, colour Meat tenderness, flavour, juiciness, texture Intramuscular fat content

34 Intramuscular fat (IMF) Marbling in beef

35 IMF in lamb NZSAP 25 June 2009 Average around 2.5 to 3.0% in New Zealand 3 to 4% required to give meat quality benefits, i.e flavour, juiciness Healthfulness healthy fats in IMF 4.9% 1.0%

36 Summary Genetics have been used to make huge changes to carcass size and fatness/leanness Medical scanning equipment has enabled substantial improvements Focus moving to eating quality