Drought’s silver lining

Just last week, I visited a club calf breeder when the topic turned to how things have changed in the last few years. He said the drought forced him to reduce his cow herd by almost 100 head, but he now has a better, more profitable herd because of it. With only the best and youngest cows remaining, he’s poised to spend less and make more.

On the commercial side, it’s more of the same — and consumers are reaping the benefits.

Mark McCully, vice president of supply, says the big story continues to be improvement in grade.

“We see weeks where the industry continues to have an all-time record high percentage of Choice and Prime, and that then coincides with record-high Certified Angus Beef® brand acceptance rates. And in the month of June, for the first time ever, we exceeded 30% CAB across the nation for the entire month,” he says.

That typically leads to the discussion of “How?” and “Why?” Tight supplies and relatively inexpensive feed, coupled with premiums and market incentives to produce a higher quality product, have encouraged feeders to feed cattle longer.

Mark explains the heavier carcass weights have allowed us to offset some of that shortfall on cattle numbers. We’ve had fewer numbers, but each one of those individuals is heavier. Additionally, the drought left us with a younger, higher-quality cow herd and more and more cattleman have turned to using Angus bulls. All of these things have worked together to cause the record-high grades.

And that’s good news for everyone.

-Katrina

Katrina Huffstutler is a freelance writer based in Electra, Texas. She’s a frequent contributor to the Black Ink team and lover of functional cattle and quality beef.

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