Feeder Calf Grades
The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 originally mandated the standards for feeder calf grades. Changes were made to the grading standards for live feeder cattle in October 2000. They offer a valuable tool for marketing of cattle and calves and certify the grades used to make contracts for cattle on the futures market.
The grade of feeder cattle is determined by evaluating three general value-determining characteristics: Frame size, thickness, and thriftiness. Frame size is a skeletal measurement that takes into consideration height and body length in relation to age. Thickness refers to the development of the individual animal’s muscling in relation to its skeletal size. Thriftiness is an appraisal of the apparent health of the animal and its ability to grow and fatten normally.
Frame size standards for thrifty feeder cattle are assigned one of three marks, L (large frame), M (medium frame), and S (small frame). Large–frame steers and heifers would be expected to reach a U.S. Choice carcass grade at Yield Grade 3 (about 0.5 inches of fat at the 12th rib) at a weight heavier than 1,250 pounds. The chart above shows the other weight/frame size relationships for both steers and heifers.
The thickness (muscling) grades range from Number 1 to 4. "Inferior" cattle are unthrifty and are not expected to perform normally in their present state and include those that are "double muscled." Inferior cattle can have any combination of thickness and frame size.
Therefore, where we have had only four grades or so to concern ourselves with in the past, we now have 13. They are L1, L2, L3, L4, M1, M2, M3, M4, S1, S2, S3, S4, and Inferior. This will give potential buyers an even clearer picture of the calves offered for sale. Producers and buyers alike will benefit as the entire beef industry looks to improve the quality and consistency of the product that eventually finds its way to our dinner table.
| Steers | Heifers | |
|---|---|---|
| Frame Size | Estimated harvest weight lbs. | |
| Small | 1100 | 1000 |
| Medium | 1100–1250 | 1000–1150 |
| Large | >1250 | >1150 |
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Montana Beef Quality Assurance,
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Billings, MT 59102,
406-896-9068,
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Montana Beef Network,
119 Linfield Hall
Bozeman, MT 59718,
406-994-4323,
mharbac@montana.edu