Prime cattle slaughtered in Northern Ireland in the final quarter of 2013 produced noticeably better carcass grades than the previous year.

According to a report by the Livestock and Meat Commission, the proportion of suckled prime cattle awarded a U grade increased from 24.9% in the final quarter of 2012 to 27.4% in 2013. The proportion of R graded cattle was relatively unchanged at 53.3%, with O grades dropping by 2.5% to 17.5%.

“The general improvement in grades achieved by suckler origin cattle has occurred despite a decline in average carcass weights,” said the report. In quarter four of 2013, carcass weights averaged 340.5kg compared to 351.5kg in 2012. “The cattle killed this back end are likely to have performed poorly at grass during summer 2012, which will have affected their lifetime performance and thus final carcass weight.”

Prime cattle from the dairy herd had shown a similar trend, with carcass weights dropping from 298.9kg to 291.4kg over the year. Those achieving an R grade increased from 14.8% to 16.1%, while O grades rose by 2.8 percentage points, to 55.6%. P grades fell from 31.3% to 27.1% over the same period.