Readiness For Harvesting

The consumer faces an on-the-go lifestyle that demands consistent, high-quality foodstuffs that are convenient to prepare. These and other attributes are important in driving consumer purchasing of meats. Producers recognize that management practices could affect product quality and are important to consumers. You want consistently high quality, safe, and nutritious foods that are easy and convenient to prepare.

Therefore, you as producer should take the following into consideration:

• Consumers want meat products that are tender, safe, nutritious, and conveniently available.
• You should measure the consumers’ acceptance and willingness to pay for new products and different product attributes.

When you harvest products (meat), you should do it as early as possible, meaning, when the animal is produced economically. For example, for animals that are used for lamb, production must be early matured so that they can be slaughtered at a very early stage e.g. 4 – 6 months (± 40 kg live mass). At this stage, the animal’s daily requirements are still low and its feed conversion ratio (FCR) is still high.

Readiness of Meat

Both beef and mutton can be harvested at different stages. Breeding stock is slaughtered only at the end of their productive lives, but their offspring are slaughtered when they will produce the best quality meat. For most mutton sheep breeds this is when a body mass of between 35 and 45 kg is reached depending on the breed.

Breeds that tend to put on fat at an early age such as the Dorper, Persian and fat-tailed breeds will be slaughtered at between 35 – and 42 kg. At this stage, the lambs will have very little fat and tender meat.

The mass of the carcass is approximately 45% of the live body mass of approximately between 17 – and 20 kg. This will give a high-quality carcass.

Other breeds such as the S A Mutton Merino, the Dormer and other breeds that put on fat later will produce carcasses with weights between 20 – 25 kg with the same characteristics as the lighter carcasses.

Mutton and lamb differ from each other in that lambs are slaughtered very young and before much connective tissue has developed, hence their meat is very tender. Mutton, having more connective tissue, is less tender but also very tasty on account of its higher proportion of connective tissue. During cooking, the white connective tissue (collagen) is converted into gelatine, which makes mutton as tender and tasty as a lamb.

To assess if a sheep is ready for slaughter one must measure its weight, deposition and distribution of fat on the potential carcass. There is a method that can be used to determine these qualities in the crush before the sheep is slaughtered.

While the sheep is standing in the crush one can easily feel the amount of fat deposited on the back of the animal. By placing the thumb and middle finger on either side of the spinal column at the juncture to the ribcage, when moving the hand back and forth whilst having a firm grip, the handler will feel the amount of fat distribution as a soft rubbery mass under the skin.

If the feeling underhand below the skin is still bony and sinewy it is a good indication that the animal is still too lean to be slaughtered.

By weighing the animal, the handler will also have a good idea of its readiness for slaughter and by observing the measure of muscle development on the shoulders and thighs.

Remember the modern consumer market prefers a fairly lean product which is tender and that must be the focus of the inspection.

Pork is tender meat derived from animals of approximately six months. Only carcases of 21 kg to 55 kg are made available to meat traders for selling. Heavier and older carcases are marked as "sausage" pork or "rough" pork and used for processed products such as sausage. "Suckling pigs" are piglets of less than three months of age weighing less than 20 kg and are popular for Christmas and special occasions.

Young cattle vary more and are mostly fed in a feedlot (a place where animals are fattened for slaughtering) until they reach the correct slaughter stage. They are then slaughtered depending on their fatness and depending on the breed. The carcass mass can vary a lot.

Readiness of Fibre

The animal produces wool, mohair, cashmere and other fibres from birth, but the fibre diameter and length play an important role in the quality and price of the final commodity. The wool and hair produced by the young merino lamb or Angora kid, respectively, will attain better prices at auctions than that of older animals.

Wool and mohair are sheared at certain stages. Wool will be sheared, most of the time between eight to twelve months of growth. That will produce a fibre with a length of between 50 – 60 mm for eight months of growth and 80 – 90 mm for twelve months of growth.

Depending on the breed, it will either produce wool with a fibre diameter of less than 20 μ for fine wool, between 20u and 21u for medium wool and more than 22 μ for strong wool. The fibre diameter of merino wool will be determined by the age of the animal, the breed of the merino; whether it is a fine, medium or strong wool animal as well as the diet it receives during the wool growth period.

The length of hair growth in Angora goats is determined by the growth period but the fibre diameter is influenced primarily by the age of the goats. Young kinds up to 6 months of age will produce hair that grows approximately 25 mm a month depending on the availability of adequate, nutritious food. The fibre diameter of the hair will be in the range of 20μ to 25μ and will be the most sort-after hair on the market.

The next 6 months will produce hair with more mass but also with a thicker fibre diameter of between 25μ and 30μ. The length grown will be more or less the same: 25 mm per month of growth. The growth rate will vary very little if a constant feed supply is given. The fibre diameter will increase up to 34 – 38μ in the peek adult stages depending on the breed and nutritional level of the goat.

As mentioned above the biggest factor determining the readiness of wool to be harvested is its length. The length of wool that is sheared may vary but should be at least 50-60 mm. This length is measured on the back of the sheep to be sheared behind the shoulders. When measuring the length of the wool the handler can also assess the quality fines of the wool to be shared by using his/her senses

Factors That Impact Wool Quality

The following will give you an idea of the quality of the wool.

Colour: An off white, creamy colour that shows shiny in direct sunlight is preferable.

Lanolin: When touching wool of high quality, a fair amount of lanolin must be felt between the fingers.

Foreign material: Check for foreign material within the wool e.g. seeds, thorns etc. that has a detrimental effect on the wool.

Tip: The tips of the wool tufts must be stained dark to give the handler an idea of the amount of lanolin and the flow thereof to the tips of the individual strands of wool.

Fibre crimp/curvature: The higher the crimp frequency of the fibres the finer the thickness of each fibre. This will give the handler an indication of the expected micron / µ that can be measured when the wool is sampled at the factory where it will be processed for different uses. The finer the wool, the higher the market value thereof.

Readiness of Feathers for Harvesting

Feather production in geese and ducks will depend on the growth stage of the feather. As long as the feather grows, it will be unsuitable for plucking. If the feather stem is dry it is an indication that the feather is mature and then the feathers can be plucked as well as the down. The down is used to make very light commodities like sleeping bags and light, puffed-up blankets like eiderdowns and comforters.

The down is very soft and light. These are the soft feathers that are found amongst the bigger feathers.

Ostrich feathers are harvested at the mature stage. The feathers are either plucked or cut with a side cutter depending on the type of feathers. Feathers from the wings are more sort-after than the body feathers.