Sharp rise in poorer grade bullocks

Factories: There has been a sharp overall increase in the scale of bullocks grading O3 over the first quarter of the year, when compared to the same period in 2004.

One of the most worrying findings is the huge variation in the changes at individual factories between those which show a major drop in O3 bullocks and an equally huge increase when results are compared to 12 months earlier.

Results for individual factories are showing an increase of up to 70% in the scale of cattle falling into the less-favoured O3 grade for the January-March period 2005 which has been the first spring for the operation of the new electronic grading machines at the factories.

They are also showing a drop of up to 72% in the scale of O3 bullocks in the kill at other factories, which suggests that these results justify very close analysis to determine if there has been such a major change in the composition of the kill or some factor associated with the calibration or operation of the new electronic grading as contributors to the change.

Returns for all factories show a 44% increase in O3 bullocks, which increased from 17.1% of the kill for January 1 to March 31 2004 to 24.6% of the kill during the same three -month period in 2005 following the introduction of electronic grading.

At one factory almost half the total kill of bullocks - 44% - during the three months were graded O3. Another factory recorded over 40% and the next highest almost 40%. These three factories recorded increases of 70%, 50% and 59% respectively.

At the other end of the scale one factory which had almost 20% O3 bullocks in 2004 has dropped to less than 10% this year and another dropped from over 36% to just over 10%, but one factory recorded a similar rate for both periods.