World first technology to assess marbling in live cattle

World-first technology will give cattle breeders the chance to see how their animals will perform as a carcass while they are still alive.

WORLD-first technology that can measure marbling and yield in cattle while they are still alive has been developed by an Australian company.

And capacities within the technology mean it could even predict how cattle will perform up to 50 days before they are processed.

MEQ Live was launched this week and will give instant feedback on cattle on levels of marking and potential yield.

MEQ Live will allow marbling levels to be measured on a live animal for the first time.

MEQ Probe chief executive Remo Carbone said there was a range of uses of the equipment.

“There hasn’t been an opportunity to know how much profit an individual live animal will eventually bring ahead of processing,” Mr Carbone said.

“This will drive objective data back into breeding programs, and it could also reduce carbon emissions.

“Previously, a producer might have been managing a high-value Angus or Wagyu for several hundred days only to find out that the marbling and yield are not what they expected, bringing down profitability and making it very difficult for them to fulfil an order.

“This will allow them to identify non-performers earlier.”

Mr Carbone said there were two ways to use the MEQ Live: a point of time scan which immediately gave feedback, as well as the predictive feature that allowed scans to be taken which indicated how the carcass would perform in 30-50 days time.

Marbling and yield levels can be measured on a live animal and give feedback before the animal is processed.

Further research work had shown that scans could provide accurate predictions at 70 days before slaughter, with the ultimate goal to be able to scan animals at induction in feedlots, knowing how they would then perform as carcasses.

MEQ Live is also expected to be useful to stud cattle breeders looking for quicker feedback on how their genetics are performing.

Harmony Fine Foods is a vertically integrated beef business and its chief executive Anthony Fellows said it had been “the holy grail of beef production” to be able to assess quality and yield in live animals.

“This will enable us to map how feed types affect marbling performance and pick out the best animals for breeding,” Mr Fellows said.

MEQ Live scanning for yield and marbling is seen as a game changer for the beef industry.

“This technology won’t just help us produce Australia’s best beef in the future, it also creates further sales opportunities today by helping us to determine brand segmentation far in advance of traditional grading methods and being more environmentally friendly,” he said.

“This technology is a true game changer for the red meat industry with the insight and data it provides.”

Mr Carbone said MEQ Live had been tested on “thousands of animals”, and found to be accurate.