The age of an animal, or the maturity, plays an important role in how tender the meat will be. Beef from younger cattle, steers/heifers will be finer textured, making it more tender, and be brighter, more cherry-red in color giving the meat a more attractive appearance. Beef from older cattle will be coarser in texture, leading to a tougher product, and be darker in color making it be less appealing to the eye. As producers of Ohio Signature Beef we only allow younger cattle into our program. Most of the cattle are 12 to 20 months of age when harvested. This allows your family to enjoy a tender cut of Ohio Signature Beef every time.
Since all of the cattle marketed as Ohio Signature Beef must be USDA graded, this is also a guide to ensure our beef is tender. One of the steps for a USDA grader to establish the quality grade of a beef carcass is for the grader to determine the maturity or physiological age of the carcass at the time of harvest. Beef carcasses when graded are put into a maturity group. The ages per each maturity group are as follows: A = 9 to 30 months, B = 30 to 42 months, C = 42 to 72 months, D = 72 to 96 months, E = 96 months and older. When a USDA grader determines the maturity of a beef carcass they put into account the amount of ossification of cartilage, or cartilage turned to bone, as well as the texture and color the of the meat. Beef carcasses with A maturity will have no to very little ossification of the vertebrae and the meat will be very fine in texture and be bright red in color. As the animal becomes older and moves into the B, C, D, or E maturity groups, the cartilage becomes more ossified and the color of the meat is darker red in color and coarser in texture.
For a beef carcass to qualify for Ohio Signature Beef, it needs to meet the standards for A maturity. Knowing that Ohio Signature Beef is from younger beef cattle allows the producers to guarantee the consumers they will always have a tender cut of beef.