August 15, 2006

Beef company says nutrition plays a huge role in beef marbling 

Nutrition has a lot to do with marbling in beef and it has to start early, Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) supply development director Mark McCully said.

The company has been looking at early management factors that has a great impact on its value: marbling, or the intramuscular flavour fat.

Contrary to popular belief, marbling does not happen only after the animal is sent to the feedlot, but begins much earlier than that, said McCully. 

Cells begin developing into either muscle or fat before a calf is even born. After birth, the fat cells start to further differentiate into subcutaneous fat (back fat) and marbling.

While forage-based rations are more likely to result in cells being converted to back fat, corn rations result in more propionate, glucose and marbling.

People have been stressing too much on genetics but it is really management, said Francis Fluharty, animal scientist at The Ohio State University. Nutrition, from mid-gestation on, has a significant effect on how cells develop, according to Fluharty.

Pre-partum nutrition is crucial as the cow affects the calf's ability to marble, Fluharty says. The cow's body condition and quality of colostrum are very important as they determine the newborn calf's immune status, Fluharty said.

Early weaning and feeding a grain-based diet increase marbling significantly, Fluharty said, adding that the company is trying to get calves on a high grain diet much earlier in life.