Submission of Images

Images can be submitted to the lab via Expedite, internet or by CD/USB through a courier. All images must be accompanied by a Chute Order Recording Form (CORF), barnsheets, and payment.

Image Interpretation

Upon receiving images, CORF, barnsheets, and payment our staff reviews the images and creates the scan session in our database. Certified lab technicians will determine image quality (R=reject, M=marginal, A= acceptable) of fat thickness measurement, ribeye area measurement, rump fat measurement, and percentage intramuscular fat prediction. For ribeye and rump fat images, if one technician marks the image as marginal, that image is flagged to be reviewed by the cross check technician. If the cross check technician marks the image as either marginal or acceptable the two interpretations should be within .5 sq. inches for ribeye area, and .05 inches for fat thickness or the image is rejected. If the second technician rejects the image, the image is rejected. For longitudinal images, data will not be used from any rejected images. Using data from marginal images will be at the discretion of the interpreting technician and the Quality Assurance Manager. An animal must have three independent data points for %IMF to be reported. If fewer than three data points are available the animal is rejected and will not have a IMF value reported for that animal.

Data Reporting

The measurement data is merged with the breeder's barnsheet information and electronically sent to the appropriate breed association or back to the breeder as commercial data.

Please review this flow chart of how data moves through the lab.

Track breeder data using your CUP Lab technician, exclusive, member login.  View this tutorial to learn how!