Improve carcase weight and meat quality

“Shorter lairage will improve carcase weight and meat quality.  It is really all about stress and fear.  The practice is inherently cruel.  Transporting the animals long distances to modern “efficient” abattoirs is another factor.  If we can, through sustainability and regenerative farming practices, de-intensify livestock production it will also help.”

{Earth and Leaf Editorial}

Shorter lairage will improve carcase weight and meat quality

Shorter pre-slaughter lairage improves carcase weight and meat quality, study shows

SHORTER waiting times before slaughter for cattle at Australian Country Choice’s Cannon Hill processing facility could produce a 4.64kg/carcase weight advantage, according to a new study.

Shared across the wider Australian red-meat industry, the research findings could offer a way to improve economic returns for livestock producers and meat processors and improve meat eating quality for consumers.

University of New England honours student Holly Speers found that reducing waiting time from the industry standard (16 to 24 hours) to as low as two hours increases dressing percentage, carcase weights – both hot and cold – and eating quality, without compromising food safety.

She focussed her four-month study on 1896 crossbred steers coming from ACC’s Brisbane Valley feedlot to Cannon Hill from June to September 2024.

Her research suggested that the shorter waiting time in lairage increased hot standard carcase weight, cold carcass weight and dressing percentage, compared to longer lairage times.

Lairage is the period cattle spend resting in holding pens after arriving at a processing facility, allows animals to recover from transport stress, facilitates inspections and ensures logistical coordination.

Ms Speers said: “This management step is essential in maintaining animal welfare and operational efficiency in beef processing.

“Typically, Australian facilities maintain lairage durations of 16-24 hours to provide cattle with sufficient rest, to reduce gastrointestinal contents and to comply with food safety standards.”

Shorter lairage will improve carcase weight and meat quality.  Lets all work much harder to improve animal welfare across the board.  Lets strive to improve carcase weight and meat quality with sustainable and regenerative farming.

Further reading from Earth and Leaf . . .

Australian Cattle Industry Suggests Shift from Net Zero

Link to the International Fund for Animal Welfare

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