How to add value to meat from grass-fed Salers crossbred heifers?
Comment valoriser la viande de génisses croisées Salers élevées à l’herbe ?
Abstract
The Auvergne region is representative of a mid-mountain environment, with specific plant and animal resources, permanent grasslands and hardy and mixed breeds that are well adapted to this environment. At present, the survival of suckler farming depends on the Mediterranean grazer market, for which live exports (60% of the animals) are the main outlet. However, grazer production has not been spared by the erosion of the main export markets, raising the question of how to develop finishing in grassland areas. To maintain employment and the long-term viability of agricultural production systems based on grassland, in response to the social and environmental challenges of agro-ecology, the meat industry needs to capitalise on its strengths to produce differentiated, high added-value ruminant meat that will increase its economic profitability. Among the possible strategies, mastering the relationship between products and consumer expectations (authenticity, quality, hygiene and safety, environment, animal welfare, etc.) is essential. However, to be able to communicate efficiently, it is essential to have reliable analytical resources that are easy to use and inexpensive. The aim of the project was to provide the meat industry with the most general indicators possible for analytical purposes in quality control, so that meat from pasture-raised Salers cross-bred heifers could be better valued. To do this, the project aimed to highlight the most effective criterion(s) for discriminating between animals and to identify the most reliable method(s) that could be used in the field by comparing several complementary approaches such as visible and near infrared spectrometry (SPIR), image analysis (Meat@ppli type), molecular approach (omic), etc. This project has shown that feeding grass to Salers cross-bred heifers, even though it reduces their performance and therefore lengthens the fattening period, provides a better margin on feed costs for the farmer. The meat of grass-fed heifers has more interesting nutritional qualities for humans than that of heifers reared on corn silage, without their sensory qualities deteriorating. It is possible to authenticate grass-fed heifers quickly at the abattoir using visible spectrometry and to quantify the marbling of the LT using image analysis. There is still hope for the identification of plasma proteins mathematically linked to meat quality or animal management (assays in progress). Finally, the Angus x Salers cross, despite the precocity of the Angus, offers no particular benefit compared with the crosses usually used (Charolais x Salers).
Origin | Files produced by the author(s) |
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