Why selecting for marbling could pay dividends for lamb

Lamb should follow the beef industry in incorporating marbling in breeding strategies, according to one expert.

Lamb carcasses might look the same, but they don’t eat the same.

As technology advances, the industry will likely follow in beef’s footsteps and embrace branding underpinned by product quality.

Traits such as intramuscular fat or ‘marbling’ should be on the radar of producers as they consider ram genetics as payments around quality, not just basic lamb weight and fat cover likely to become more common, according to Sarah Strachan.

Ms Strachan works with meat processors as part of her role with Meat and Livestock Australia.

Ms Strachan told producers at a recent field day at Jerilderie, NSW there had been some exciting developments around MSA for sheepmeat, which could ultimately “unlock’’ the potential for product branding.

Meat and Livestock Australia group manager of adoption and commercialisation Sarah Strachan. Picture: Nikki Reynolds

MLA recently released an MSA cuts-based model for sheepmeat, which allows individual carcass cuts such as loins or shoulders to be graded to predict meat-eating quality.

It stems from new technology that allows traits such as IMF to be measured in lamb carcasses.

“We are now getting the systems in place that can measure carcass traits to predict meat eating quality on individual carcasses, and it will be possible to segregate lamb by eating quality,’’ Ms Strachan said.

“We are seeing significant potential for sheepmeat brands based on eating quality – just like we have seen the considerable growth in beef brands underpinned by MSA in recent years.”

Ms Strachan said data now showed that while lambs often looked the same, they didn’t don’t always eat the same.

“As an industry, we have to accept that there is a huge variation in lamb even though they might all look similar,’’ she said.

“And that translates to eating experience, and we know if a consumer buys something and has a poor meal, they are unlikely to return to the product again very quickly.’’

IMF is a key driver of sheep meat eating quality. Nearly 40,000 lamb carcasses were assessed by MLA in the past 12 months, and the intramuscular fat range varied from 1 per cent to 9 per cent, “highlighting the huge range in eating quality across the commercial supply chain’’, Ms Strachan said.

Using a 24kg lamb carcass with a 55 per cent lean meat yield as an example, the difference in IMF and its impact on meat eating quality included:

– Lamb loin grilled with 1 per cent IMF would score 56 points for a grilled steak (3 star) at 4 per cent IMF it would earn 64 points (4 star), and at 8 per cent IMF, it would be a ‘premium’, or 5 star, eating experience;

•A lamb with 1 per cent IMF on the topside cut would score 45 points (unacceptable), to 51 points for 4 per cent IMF to 55 points at 8 per cent IMF.

Ms Strachan said research showed how there could be a product range in eating quality of three-star MSA to five star MSA loins bulk packed into a box from lambs coming off a kill chain when all lambs in a line are packed as a single brand.

The next step was for processors to grade lamb to maximise value and potential re-sale price in the supply chain.