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Ultrasound isn't limited to helping parents decide whether
to buy pink or blue baby clothes. Now it's helping cattlemen
provide better steaks. It's giving them a virtual look at
beef cuts long before their animals head for the stockyard.
"The success of beef producers depends on their ability
to provide high-quality, consistent end products to consumers,"
said Dean Pringle, a University of Georgia animal scientist
who works closely with the state's cattle producers.
Many management practices help farmers improve beef quality.
But ultrasound is one of their most effective technologies.
It's been around since the 1950s, Pringle said, but only in
the past five to 10 years has the beef cattle industry fully
embraced it.
Ultrasound can give farmers estimates of the ribeye area,
back fat, rump fat and the percentage of intramuscular fat
in the ribeye. Using its high-frequency sound waves to "see"
under the animal's hide is harmless to the animal, according
to Pringle.
From a sound-emitting probe placed snugly on the animal's
back, sound waves penetrate its tissues. They then reflect
off the boundaries between hide, fat and muscle layers.
"Ribeye area and back fat are measured between the animal's
12th and 13th ribs," Pringle said. "These traits,
along with rump fat, are highly related to the retail product
yield."
As the fat measurements increase, they have a negative effect
on the yield of beef cuts. An increase in the ribeye area,
though, creates a positive effect, he said.
By enabling farmers to predict meat quality, ultrasound is
helping them select their best breeding stock at a younger
age.
Ultrasound carcass traits are considered highly inheritable,
he said. "So now selection of bulls and replacement heifers
can be based on these traits," he said, "and producers
can bring about genetic change in their calves."
To get accurate measurements, ultrasound images must be taken
by a certified technician, Pringle said. They cost $12 to
$16 per head. Those images are sent to a centralized computer
lab for interpretation.
Pringle has trained animal ultrasound technicians as part
of his faculty responsibilities in the UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences. Next month, the UGA animal and
dairy science department will host the national beef cattle
ultrasound certification program in Athens, Ga.
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UGA
Animal Scientist Dean Pringle is helping farmers judge the quality
of beef with ultrasound long before animals are sent to market. 
