Carcass machine pays less for steers and heifers
A video image analysis (VIA) machine has been installed and tested for two weeks against the official standard, as represented by a jury of five licensed carcass graders, two from Britain and three from other EU member states (as required by EU legislation for testing mechanical classification).
Manual graders in the North have a five-point scale, and the machine grades on a 15-point scale. But assessors were able to calculate that the machine effect is an overall average reduction in the combined steer-heifer price of 1.5p/kg.
Video image analysis grading of carcasses has been used in southern Ireland since 2004. The trial in the North has shown the machine graded fewer Us than manual graders, more Rs, fewer Os, and more Ps. Four percentage units of Us moved down into Rs, one and a half percentage units of O-pluses moved up into Rs, and other Os moved down into Ps. Fatness was graded similarly by man and machine, except for slightly more 2s and fewer 4s with the machine.
According to the Livestock and Meat Commission of Northern Ireland, the most likely explanation for the downward shift in conformation grades with the machine was that it could not give the benefit of doubt on borderline cases. With the agreement of industry, manual graders have been giving the benefit of doubt. If there was doubt about whether a carcass was a top end R or a bottom end U, the U grade would be given by the manual grader.
The department in the North had estimated that graders were giving ‘benefit of doubt’ in 6% of cases; this has been confirmed by the almost equivalent reduction with the machine.
