IN A development that may prove valuable in marketing high-quality Irish beef, scientists have found tail hair can show if cattle are grass-fed.
The researchers at University College Dublin and Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, have shown that by chemically analysing the tail hair, it is also possible to tell if and when a grass diet has been substituted for other types of feed over the previous 12 months.
Most Irish cattle are grass-fed.
The collaborative study between UCD and Teagasc research centres at Ashtown and Grange used micro-analytical techniques, micro-array analysis and chemometric techniques to identify biomarkers that reflect dietary and geographical differences in beef.
The techniques used will form the basis of a traceability system to authenticate Irish grass-fed beef.
This feeding system is more acceptable to the consumer from an environmental and animal welfare perspective than the more intensive, grain-based feedlot systems used in continental Europe and elsewhere.
“We can no longer depend on paper work alone to trace production methods or feeds given to farm animals,” said Prof Frank Monahan from UCD, the lead author of the study. “A tail hair of approximately 30cm in length contains over a year’s information on the animal’s diet, with the hair closest to the skin holding clues to the most recent diet.”
Scientists can identify, almost to the day, when a grass diet was substituted for cereal or concentrate.
The findings, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, show a clear scientific traceability and verification of grassland production.