At the end of April 2009, 15 farmers gathered at the cattle slaughterhouse in Tønder near the German border to take a closer look at seven animals, four young bulls and three heifers, to assess them before and after slaughter. The aim of the exercise was for the farmers to become better at assessing their own animals before sending them for slaughter.

To learn how to assess their own animals, cattle producers have been attending courses at the slaughterhouses.

The animals were carefully appraised in the pens, and there was a lot of talk about feeding strategies, muscularity and fat distribution. After a quick lunch, the same animals were finally assessed and compared with the initial assessment.

I have misjudged the heifers. The young bulls were considerably lighter. It’s hard to assess breeds which you don’t normally work with, says Jens Gert Nielsen, a Blonde man who comes from Gram in southern Jutland.

Long legs
It was the first time that some of the participants had visited the slaughterhouse, such as Søren Andersen from Tommerup on Funen, who felt he learned a lot about classifying animals.

I think it’s the long legs that make it hard to judge an animal correctly. Basically we look at the rump and back, explains Søren Andersen.

This was DC’s first classification course, and there has been a lot of interest in all three events – in Tønder, Holstebro and Aalborg.