Page 43 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

Dairy cross animals raised on regenerative farms have a different diet.

positive comments around taste that Tracey’s meat products Meat testing
had garnered? A striploin from each of the 18 animals in the nine pairs was
Tracey also had a country upbringing on a beef farm, but like sent to AgResearch, aged for two weeks, then frozen. Once all
a lot of rural youngsters found country living too slow and says striploins were on hand they were thawed again, with samples
she couldn’t get off the family farm fast enough. As a beautician taken at the same place on each strip.
and salon owner she became interested in the relationship A range of tests were performed to assess meat quality
between diet and skin problems, which led to an interest in including pH, moisture content, elemental analyses, fat-
healthy diets for the animals we eat. Eventually, she returned soluble vitamins, intramuscular fatty acid profile and colour.
to the farm, with its Friesian-Hereford dairy cross cattle. This Most tests showed no significant difference between farm
flowed on to marketing the farm's meat and that of other types in the levels of fatty acids considered to be beneficial
regenerative farmers as Grandad's Beef. to human health (see Table 1).

Investigating premium potential mg FA/g dry meat
If there was a marked difference between the meat of Fatty acid
regeneratively and conventionally raised dairy cross cattle, and profile Regenerative Conventional P-value
the regeneratively raised cattle had improved meat quality, there farms farms
may be an opportunity to market a premium meat product. Omega 3 2.2 1.9 NS
Dairy cross cattle make up about two-thirds of beef animals Omega 6 3.6 3.3 NS
in the industry. As they have a big influence on the beef sector,
there has been increased interest in recent years in finding Omega 3: Omega 6 0.59 0.58 NS
ways to produce dairy cross animals that are more valuable % IMF 17 12 NS
for beef, including using easy calving, short gestation, high
growth beef breed sires. Table 1: Fatty acid content of beef striploins from regenerative
Tracey and Steve’s project covered a lot of different areas vs conventional farms. There were no significant differences
to see if anything really stood out in meat quality, and if that between regenerative and conventional farms in Omega 3 or
could be connected to pastoral biodiversity. From there, more Omega 6 fatty acids. NS: Not significantly different (P>0.05).
scientifically robust studies could be conducted.
Nine conventional farms were paired by geographical Pasture testing
location with nine farms their owners considered to be farmed On each of the 18 farms a typical paddock was looked at that
regeneratively. The paired farms were in the same region – had not been used for cropping, hay or silage within the last
either Bay of Plenty, Waikato or Northland, and generally five years, had a less than 15-degree slope, and was ready for
within 25 km of each other. grazing within two days. An additional paddock was selected
One of the cattle on each of the paired farms was also for a post-grazing assessment.
matched to another of the same breed, sex and age to form Herbage mass, botanical composition, herbage mineral
nine pairs. Most were either Hereford-Friesian cross or Angus- content and nutritive value, and soil nutrients were assessed
Friesian cross. in pastures prior to grazing, and the residual herbage mass of
The animals were sent to slaughter from each farm in late a pasture that had been grazed within two days.
autumn 2021 to two Waikato processing plants. Pastures were Both farm types had similar amounts of herbage on their
assessed around the same time. pasture before grazing. The amounts left after grazing were

Year 2023 HEREFORD MAGAZINE 41