Classification of beef carcasses is carried out by officials of my Department in accordance with a standard EU system, using criteria laid down in Council and Commission regulations. Classification is based on a visual examination of the dressed carcass and its characteristics.
The relevant EU Regulations, as well as Statutory Instrument No. 8 of 1994 which transposes these Regulations into national law, provide for the conformation, fat cover and category of a carcass to be determined by a classification officer by examining the carcass within one hour of slaughter of the bovine animal concerned.
Any producer who is not satisfied with the decision of the classification officer may lodge an appeal while the carcass is still intact on the premises.
Since the cattle movement monitoring system does not include a record of all calvings it cannot be used to establish the category of a female bovine. The CMMS provides a record of calving where the calf is born alive and survives to registration time. As the incidence of peri-natal mortality for calves born from first calving bovines can be up to 8%, a significant number of once calved cows would continue to be identified as heifers within the CMMS system.
