2006 Annual Report 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a Specific Cooperative Agreement between ARS and Clemson University. Additional details of this research can be found in the report for the parent project 1932-21630-002-00D entitled Pasture Based Beef Systems for Appalachia. This project is in support of the programs at WVU, VT and USDA-ARS and conducts essentially the same analytical procedures on a yearly basis to evaluate treatment effects during cattle production and finishing on meat quality. After slaughter of the animals (which were produced in 2005) at a commercial packing plant, ribs (IMPS 107) were removed from each carcass and shipped to meat laboratory for various meat quality analyses. The 9-10-11th rib section was dissected into lean, fat and bone. Longissimus muscle and subcutaneous fat color are measured objectively. Samples of the longissimus muscle are removed for further analytical analyses including: fatty acid composition, Warner-Bratzler shear force, trained sensory panel evaluation, collagen content, proximate and mineral composition, fat and water soluble vitamin content, antioxidant capacity, flavonoid concentrations, and other phytochemical content. Samples of subcutaneous fat are also removed for fatty acid compositional analyses. Results from this project show that beef produced from steers grazing alfalfa, pearl millet, or naturalized pastures for the final 41 d of finishing were leaner with 43% lower total fat and 17% greater fat-free lean in the 9-10-11th rib section than beef from steers.