Many farmers are still missing carcase spec, says QMS

The red meat promotion body said that close to 40% of sheep and 30% of beef cattle in Scotland were being presented off-spec, resulting in financial, productivity and efficiency costs up and down the chain.

To remedy this, the levy-funded body wants more farmers to use its virtual carcase grading tool Meat the Grade, which was launched in late 2020.

QMS cattle and sheep specialist, Beth Alexander, who helped develop the tool, said that two of the most common reasons for ‘out of spec’ carcases were livestock which were overfat and overweight.

“Only 72.7% of the steers and 60.9% of lambs processed by Scottish price reporting abattoirs in 2020 met specification,” said Ms Alexander.