John Simons ranches with his family near Enning, S.D., where they’ve focused on reducing variability in their Angus-based cowherd for the last 20 years.“If your calves all look the same, they’re just a pretty package,” he says. “And pretty sells.” Sticking with one breed and bloodline for several years lets Simons produce calves that not only have the same phenotype but also perform similarly in the feedlot and on the rail.
“The Relevance of Marbling to the Beef Industry” appeared on Meatingplace.com last month as a response to the fact that beef quality grades and marbling don’t get the street credit they deserve.
You decide. Each time you buy a bull, keep a heifer or cull a cow, you choose a future for your herd and, collectively, for a beef industry that is either blessed or burdened with high prices. “I don’t want record prices because of the lowest beef supplies in 50-some-odd years, said a University of Missouri livestock economist. “I want the highest price because demand is pulling us along.” Most everybody in the cattle business would want what Scott Brown wants. There were certainly nods of agreement at the March 12 Midwest Section, American Society of Animal Scientists meetings in Des Moines, Iowa.
Last fall I sat down with owner Mike Hendrickson and operations manager Stacey Plautz to chat about the destination restaurant for people in greater Nebraska.
I headed toward Martin Ranch, near Keystone, Neb., on a beautiful Thursday afternoon to learn what all had changed since they family won a Feedlot Cooperator of the Year award from CAB in 1998.
When visiting with commercial producers it’s not uncommon for them to cite a good relationship with their seedstock suppliers as a pillar of their success.
T-bones, sirloins, filets and strips—these are the beef cuts referred to as “middle meats.” Such steaks make up 12% of the carcass, but represent just under half of its total value. That and the difference in cooking method lead many to believe it’s the only place where beef grades matter. Not according to experts like longtime market reporter Bruce Longo, of Urner Barry, and the data he tracks.
Selling fed cattle on a live basis is no longer standard practice, and some day it could end up as no more than historical reference. “The old selling-them-live method has given way to formula sales,” says Mark McCully, assistant vice president for Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB). Data from Cattle-Fax and the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows a sharp decline in cash sales in the past seven years, from 52.1% in 2005 to just 26% in 2012. The inverse of that is the steep gain in negotiated sales, like grid marketing and other arrangements, which moved up from less than half of sales to more than three-quarters during those years.
You may think we preach ALL THE TIME about managing to increase marbling in your cattle. We tell you how it’s a profitable goal, we point to examples of ranchers doing it right, and we tell you how to get there. But just the other day, I came across a blog post that reminded me […]
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