Poorer grading sparks review call

Marts: Beef grading figures for the first quarter of 2005 have shown a further decline in the percentage of animals qualifying for the superior grades - the first full quarter of the operation of mechanical grading at the factories.

The classification figures for the three months Jan-March 2005 also show that finishers are killing both bullocks and heifers at heavier weights with more freedom to choose slaughtering dates following the removal of the requirement to meet Census Dates.

First quarter 2005 results for bullocks compared to the same period in 2004 show a drop in R Grade from 48.6% of the kill to 43.5% with a corresponding increase in the scale of O Grade animals up from 38% of the kill to over 42%. The average weight of bullocks increased from 329kg to 347kg.