The economics just didn’t add up. Median household net wealth decreased 27% between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Consumer Price Index. Canadians were in the same financially leaky boat. “Research would show that during an economic downturn, people tend not to buy premium products, to a point where they will go to a private brand or a lower price competitor to save money,” University of Guelph (Ontario) business and economics professor Tanya Mark says. “For any premium brand, we would certainly expect sales to decrease.”
Modified-live vaccines. The flat iron steak. Timed breeding protocols. Without beef researchers, farmers and ranchers across the country wouldn’t have all the products and applied technology that help them manage better. Consumers wouldn’t benefit from the rising beef quality they’ve enjoyed during the last decade. Without people like Bridget Wasser, Larry Kuehn and Jon Schreffler the best answers might go unshared. These are the ones who not only do the research, but also help apply it.
The study of why we eat beef keeps pointing past tenderness. Given only certified tender strip steaks that varied in marbling and juiciness, a carefully chosen panel of 120 consumers said flavor is where it’s at. Sensory evaluation research, as part of a joint project among Texas Tech, Utah State and Mississippi State universities, scored the strip-loin steaks to get at the role of taste fat in consumer appeal.
It’s been talked about for 60 years. It’s better for animals, preferred by most cattle feeders and could provide a 169% return on investment. “2014 was the biggest ‘no brainer’ year in history to precondition your calves,” says Purdue University veterinarian W. Mark Hilton. “2015 could be even better.” Crunching the numbers, Hilton first turns to an 11-year analysis of Indiana beef herds that showed weight alone added $50.84 average profit on preconditioned calves.
Beef’s getting better, to judge by the uptrend in quality grades and resurgent consumer demand. However, an increasing share of that demand has been for ground beef – and an average pound of that versatile staple now sells for more than $4. Last year a Rabobank AgriFinance white paper entitled “Ground Beef Nation” (GBN) questioned the industry’s priorities now that Americans consume 11 billion hamburgers each year. It called for greater efficiency and retooling to fit a changed market for one-third to half of young cattle, and warned business as usual could lead to weakened market share for beef over time.
Some say that’s the origin of the popular “urban legend” in the Angus breed: high marbling potential is for “terminal” cattle, because they don’t make good mamas.
A few weeks ago I attended the two-day Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle (ARSBC) Symposium, held this year at Oklahoma State University.
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