Potentials and challenges in quality meat production
By Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha
PAKISTAN is the fifth largest milk and second largest goat meat producing country of the world. The livestock production accounts for 49.1 per cent of the agricultural value-added and about 11.4 per cent of the GDP.
The country has 80 million and 49 million heads of small and large ruminants, respectively The highest annual increase is in goats with 3.70 per cent followed by buffalos 2.92 per cent and cattle 1.61 per cent. The ratio of sheep has remained static in the past decade. The increase in numbers was 0.11 per cent only.
Small farmers and landless peasants are responsible for producing 80 per cent of the milk and meat in the country.
During 2003~04 the total red meat production was 1.09 and 0.72 million tons for beef and mutton, respectively. The per capita consumption indicates a growing demand of meat in the years to come.
Worldwide consumption of meat during 1983 for developed world was 74kg compared to 14kg for developing states, and 11 kg for Pakistan. The data for 1993 indicates 76kg, 21kg and 16kg for the three, respectively. The challenge for Pakistan now is to achieve 47kg per capita consumption by 2020.
The current red meat production system is both traditional and inefficient. Beef mostly comes from the end of career, or emergency slaughtered animals. A lot of baby buffaloes and calves are slaughtered when these are only 1-2 weeks old. Few calves are raised to 60-80kg but on extremely poor and unbalanced diets. Lack of commercial, on-farm livestock feeding could be blamed for existing price ceiling which is fixed too low to recover the production cost. Traditional and unhygienic slaughtering techniques are major constraints which are not acceptable to those who believe in health and hygiene.
The livestock resources hold potential for increasing the production of meat. It is estimated that about 6-7 million buffalo/cattle male calves if raised on balanced diet could double the production. Sheep and goats can also be raised for quality meat production.
Though livestock production is fragmented and most units in Punjab are small with 10 per cent holding around 10 to 20 buffalo cows, and only five per cent over 20 heads each. Such units are often run by capable and business-oriented farmers who are open to change and eager to adopt improved production practices.
They would respond positively to incentives and workable production programmes. In mid 90’s the US Feed Grain Council introduced commercial meat production. A number of farmers from Punjab and Sindh participated in the programme. They produced many ‘lots’ of fattened animals but felt difficulty in selling the animals at proper price.
The livestock production research institutes and universities have conducted many studies to ascertain the beef and mutton production potential of indigenous livestock under the feedlot fattening regimes. Weight, growth and efficiency are chief factors influencing the economical meat production.
The carcass yield depends upon several factors such as breed, age, sex and degree of finish. The studies suggest substantial live weight gain and carcass yield from the buffalo and different indigenous breeds of cow calves. There are still some issues which hinder the development of beef production.
The absence of calf weaning programme is a snag to the development of beef industry. Too many young male calves are slaughtered quite young due to high cost of milk required to feed them. Those left are generally underfed and stunted thus unable to achieve the normal growth. A suitable plan could provide animals of 70-100kg in weight which could be raised to the desired market demand.
An efficient programme aims at moving the calves from liquid to dry feed as quickly as possible. High quality calf starter feed with digestibility, palatability and composition should be fed free of choice from the third day of birth. Quality of diet is the key to a successful early weaning system. Weaning could be started once the consumption reaches 800 grams a day which would provide healthy and thrifty calves.
The changing of this system by small farmers and peri-urban dairy farm entrepreneurs will be a long and difficult process to which some incentives are essential. Another option is to buy feeder calves from the cattle markets.
Attention must be given to the selection of animals. Once the calves are purchased and placed in pens farmers would face many technical problems affecting the success of their operation. It will be worthwhile to get technical assistance from the livestock professionals. It is advisable to purchase fattening rations initially from the public or private sector feed mills. Once the experience is gained and practices are established, feed processing equipment, such as the grinder-mixers can be installed as per capacity of the farm.
Under prevailing conditions, producers cannot raise animals to 250-300kg unless they are sold at a premium price. Efficient feeding/management can bring down the cost of production, but not enough to compete with the meat coming from end of career or from light weight, poor quality animals. A positive measure could be to terminate the ceiling price policy and create integrated production-distribution projects.
Progressive meat retailing firms are needed to promote the sale of processed and quality meat cuts to consumers. It should be packed and labelled at a price, including the cost of processing, packaging and quality. Development of slaughtering and processing operations can help in obtaining maximum value. There is a considerable scope for increasing the efficiency of slaughtered stock and its bye products by reducing the wastage. The value of hide or skin may be enhanced by improving the handling, especially during the skinning process as these are the most valuable slaughter bye products. The development of a modern beef industry should start at distribution level.
