Pre-slaughter behaviour and beef quailty

Abstract

Behaviour during lairage of 215 steers (7 mobs) and 44 bulls (3 mobs) was observed and related to meat quality measurements. Each individual animal was allocated an activity / temperature scale (ATS, 1 = active; 5 = calm) based on the observer’s impression after half an hour and a dominance scale (DS, 1 = dominant; 5 = subordinate) as determined by two-way win: loss table. Ultimate pH (pHu), meat colour and fat colour was recorded 24 hr post slaughter for each individual carcass. ATS = 1 steers has a trend for higher mean pH (5.64 relative to 5.49), with no significant differences occurring in any meat measurements for DS. Number of mounts in bulls (p<0.05) and the number of wins in steers were related to higher pHu. The inter-relationship of ATS and DS showed an effect on pHu, with ATS = 1 DS = 1 steers showing a rapid increase in mean pHu, with a more gradual rise occurring in DS = 5 animals. These measures of behaviour are of some use in identifying individuals at risk of high pHu and darker meat colour.