“Research shows that the trait for carcase weight is 62% heritable. Likewise, carcase fat-score and carcase confirmation are 56% and 78% heritable, respectively.”

This was just part of data was presented by Dr Michelle Judge from Meat Technology Ireland at the inaugural ICBF genetics conference, which took place in Athlone on Wednesday.

Dr Judge explained that the goal of the research is to examine the effect genetics can have on meat quality and yield. Following on from that is the potential to predict the weight of primal cuts given by an animal through genetics alone.

“As a general rule of thumb, bigger animals will give bigger primal cuts and smaller animals will give smaller cuts,” she said. “What we are trying to identify is the potential to get bigger primal cuts from smaller carcases.”

Bearing in mind the heritability of carcase traits, Dr Judge then presented some preliminary results on tests she had carried out on cuts of meat.

Animals were ranked based on genetically-predicted performance from very-light cut-size to very-heavy cut-size. After actual results were obtained following slaughter, they showed rump cuts were 10% heavier in the very-heavy ranking group compared to the very-light ranking group. Similarly, striploin cuts were 12% heavier and fillet cuts were 7% heavier. All carcases were of adjusted to the same weight.