Feeding Quality Forum: high-quality beef production takes focus

The world has changed, cattle have changed and those managing them must keep up. The 19th annual Certified Angus Beef (CAB) Feeding Quality Forum in Dodge City, Kan., gave 260 attendees tools and information to do just that.

For 17 years the United States’ top trading partner was China, taking in $37 billion of U.S. agriculture goods every year. That’s not the case today, and it has rippling effects, said Dan Basse, Ag Resource Co.

Farm revenue is down $69 billion, or 37%, since 2022.

Yet, the beef sector remains a bright spot. Cow-calf margins are estimated at more than $500 per head, and retail meat prices are at record highs. Since 2017, only 14 months have shown month-to-month declines.

“Talk about demand, what a change, but a testament to everything that Certified Angus Beef in the industry is doing to get the consumer to pay higher prices over time,” Basse said.

Those who pay attention to all the details could reap additional rewards, said Paul Dykstra, CAB director for supply management and analysis.

“We are truly offering our customers to consumer a much better-quality product today than we ever have before, and it's responsible, I think, for that retail price increase trend,” he said.

Today, 22% of all fed cattle qualify for the Certified Angus Beef brand, but there’s still room for improvement. A full 10% of all Angus-type cattle entering packing plants today miss the brand’s standards by just 30 degrees of marbling.

Shifting the grade makeup would add $46.94 per head to all cattle sold on a carcass basis versus the industry average, Dykstra said. Taking it a step further, improving the average marbling by 70 points would move the average to 20% USDA Prime and the premiums for the entire group to $65.74 per head.

The genetic effect

Cattlemen often ask, “But if I select for that much marbling, what will it do to my cow herd?”

For Randall Spare, veterinarian with the Ashland (Kan.) Veterinary Center, it’s not an either/or choice.

“We can have it all, people,” said Spare, who said he enjoys consulting with clients on matters beyond treatment protocols to enhance profitability.

“I would encourage you to think about the whole picture when we look at marbling,” he continued. Spare shared results from herds using genomic technology to help cut the bottom 20% and move the results of the whole population.

Conveying that investment in genetics to the next segment has historically been a challenge, but the feeder panel discussed ways they use that information today. Tom Fanning, Pratt Feeders; Grant Morgan, Pokey Feeders; and Troy Marshall, American Angus Association director of commercial industry relations, covered tools from genomic testing to the AngusLinkSM Genetic Merit ScorecardSM that give feeders more information about the cattle coming into their yards.

“If they've got great genetics, then what we can do is we can leave them there or we can mess it up, and that last part gets really expensive,” Fanning said.

Marshall said the scorecard allows for that data flow without having to study pedigrees, making it more readily available to make decisions on.

"I think having the information to incorporate genetics into our management and marketing protocols is really the key to profitability,” he said.

Making use of data, technology

Yet, the key components of the profitability equation are different than they were decades ago.

Consulting nutritionist Pete Anderson, Midwest PMS, told the audience to rethink the way they calculate when to sell cattle. Regardless of whether the cattle are sold live or on a carcass basis, that carcass cost of gain (COG) is an important number.

“Very simply, profitability increases until the incremental cost of gain exceeds the sale price,” he said. “Yield grade premiums are nice, but they don’t drive your grid results. It’s all about quality.”

Justin Gleghorn, Cactus Feeders and A.J. Tarpoff, Kansas State University, talked technology—everything from growth to management types.

“We look for opportunities to utilize new technologies and put them into production as quickly as we can,” Gleghorn said. The Texas-based cattle-feeding company does extensive research with its own internal team on anything it’s about to implement.

“We can go out there and find opportunities to increase margin or capitalize on efficiencies. That gives us what we believe is buying power out there in the feeder market,” he said.

Packer perspective

Being competitive in marketplace is top of mind for Chad Barker, National Beef Packing Company, as the packer looks to buy as many CAB and Prime-producing cattle as possible.

To solidify its commitment to quality, National recently announced a $5-per-head premium for all cattle that come into its plants with an AngusLink Genetic Merit Scorecard Beef Score of 100 or greater.

“I spend just as much time forecasting grade with our production scheduler as I do about anything, because he’s putting availability out to all of our sales guys and they’re trying to sell that product,” Barker said. Having more predictability in how those cattle will grade empowers those marketing it down the line.

Packers are also using more data in the evaluation side of the business, too.

A trio of experts—Abram Babcock, Adams Land & Cattle; Glen Dolezal, Cargill Protein; Derek Vote, grading consultant—spoke on the evolutions in objective grading systems. They noted that all major packing plants in the U.S. are now using camera-based grading, with oversight by the USDA.

“It’s extremely important that we get accurate, consistent data back from that because we use that information to purchase external cattle,” Babcock said. “What we see with the camera is a very consistent outcome, as far as that it removes some of the subjectivity.”

Dale Woerner, Texas Tech University, explained the current yield grade (YG) equation and its limitations. Based on old data, today’s standard for predicting red meat yield misses the mark.

“Ribeye area alone only explains 3% of the total variation in true red meat yield coming from these carcasses,” Woerner said. “We have to begin to transition our mindset.”

He shared options currently in development to get 3-D imaging on carcasses. New technology that does a better job accurately assessing red meat yield is important as breeders think about making genetic change, he said.

The beef industry has a history of letting research help steer its course.

Bob Smith, Veterinary Research Consulting Services LLC, closed the program with improvements that the National Beef Quality Audit (NBQA) and Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) programs have stewarded through the decades.

“I view the Beef Quality Assurance program as not something that's a single event,” Smith said.

Injection-site lesions are almost a thing of the past and the quality grade has skyrocketed to meet consumer demand. “It is an evolution, not necessarily a revolution, and it is a continual improvement through the years.”

To view presentations or for more information, visit www.FeedingQualityForum.com.