Category: Grid Marketing

Grid guidance as prime presses higher

Date: Jun 26 2019

Paul Dykstra shares lower market prices for the end of June. See how carcass traits need to be balanced but aren’t equal. CAB Prime pops under demand.

Quality pays, but what does it cost

Date: Apr 11 2019

There’s no doubt, cattle that earn the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand or Prime grade also earn premiums. In 2017 alone, packers in a biannual survey reported paying cattle owners $75 million in grid premiums specifically for CAB.

A packer buyer’s favorite cross

Date: Oct 28 2018

More CAB stimulates more demand

Date: Oct 28 2018

Economic theory suggests more supply will lower the price, and higher prices tend to lower sales for a commodity. “A commodity like beef,” older textbooks might say. Premium beef has not always borne that out, particularly in the decade since the Great Recession of 2008, says CattleFax analyst Lance Zimmerman.

850,000 record say: Marbling still matters

Date: Oct 28 2018

For many cattle across the United States that’s the difference in a marbling score of 492 versus 500. Those commodity Choice carcasses are just a few fat flecks away from upper two-thirds Choice and their share of the $50 million that packers pay each year for cattle earning that high-quality designation.

CAB grids pay $75 million per year

Date: Oct 27 2018

Certified Angus Beef ® is the Brand that Pays®. At a rate of $8,500 per hour, 24-7, that was $75 million for 2017, up from the $52 million paid in 2015; the linking year came in at $63 million. That brings the 20-year total for CAB premiums to $688 million, more than half of it paid in the last seven years.

Grid marketing, ranch view

Date: Oct 03 2018

Hitting a target takes practice, careful calibrations, attempts and recalibrations over time. Cow-calf producers make decisions every day, but how many of those relate to the calves’ ability to realize their potential and hit a high-quality beef target? At the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand’s Feeding Quality Forum this summer in Sioux City, Iowa, the brand’s own beef cattle specialist, Paul Dykstra, summarized the rancher’s dilemma.

2018 year in review

Date: Apr 23 2018

2018 beef cattle markets can be characterized by supply and demand. The U.S. beef cow herd remains in expansion, but slowing down. We need not fear a market more saturated with high-quality beef. Rather, we should embrace this shift, the fruit of a logical market response that will guarantee beef remains the preferred protein.

Not there yet

Date: May 08 2017

I understand why it’s tempting for cattlemen to ask, “Do we have enough quality? Can we start selecting for something else?”

Maternal instincts, predictable cattle

Date: Apr 07 2017

Some may take offense to comparing a herd of kids to fresh calves or a mom’s eye to maternal instincts, but I don’t think it’s out of line.