However, using external fat thickness and breed type as tools to predict quality grade, is still, at best, an inexact science. There are other important considerations affecting meat quality. For example, Mies noted that while nervousness in cattle is an inherited characteristic that can result in dark cutters, rough handling of cattle of any breed in the days prior to slaughter can lead to the same problem. How and where cattle receive injections is also important. So, said Mies, management plays a big role in delivering meat of a suitable quality.
Good management can also result in more uniformity.
Mies said one of the most common mistakes is allowing steers to get too heavy. Instead, said Mies, the grower needs to be thinking in terms of the size of that ribeye. Ranch to Rail is not rocket science. It's soil testing. Producing for an alliance is another way to achieve uniformity, he added.