Prosperity for any industry depends on consumer demand, a Western Kentucky University animal scientist points out. Of course, that includes the beef industry or cattle community. Nevil Speer, in a new white paper, “Consumers, Business and Breeding Systems: Charting the Beef Industry’s Path,” says the implications are clear. “All business decisions on the ranch, as everywhere along the beef supply chain, should be made with an eye on consumer demand for beef,” he says.
Winners of the 2013 Carcass Data Project (CDP) didn’t leave a lot of room for outliers. The top three contestants’ data in the Kansas Angus Association (KAA) annual contest were of exceptional quality and within 3 percentage points, at 89%, 88% and 86% Prime and Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand acceptance. Final standings were based on the top three calves from any owner, taking gain and CAB acceptance into account. With eight of John Wendling’s nine steers qualifying for the CAB brand, he edged out the competition and took home top honors with a $500 cash prize.
When Daryl Strohbehn retired as an Iowa State Extension beef specialist there was one project he wasn’t ready to give up the reins to.
Since 2003, he has tracked the profit values for sires of calves enrolled in the Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity (TCSCF). “To make things work in the cattle business today, it takes information based on sound data,” Strohbehn says. “I enjoy figuring out what that sound data is and what it might tell us.” The cooperative’s Sire Profit Analysis has grown from data on 35 sires in the initial report to 3,451sires evaluated in 2012.
When David Bechtol is honored at the 2013 Feeding Quality Forums with the Industry Achievement Award, colleagues and clients will catch a glimpse of recent history that laid the foundation for many of the ways they handle cattle health today. “As one of the very first veterinary feedlot consultants, he evolved with a very young cattle feeding industry as it was starting up and maturing,” John Pollreisz said. “The role of the veterinary feedlot consultant grew as the industry did – it went hand in hand.”
The drought has eased in places, but it persists in 40% of the U.S. and another 10% could revert if seasonal rains stay away this summer. That outlook from the USDA Drought Monitor has many ranchers short on grazing or water at a crossroads. Do they sell out with hopes of getting back in once the drought subsides? Or do they spend the money to feed and water their cows to preserve the genetics? “It’s a scenario we’ve heard an awful lot about,” says Vern Anderson, Extension animal scientist at North Dakota State University. “Farmers and ranchers are scrambling for ways to keep their cowherds.”
Nobody wants cattle with too much “attitude,” but it takes focused genetics and handling to improve docility in a herd. “We’ve always tried to be careful about selecting bulls for disposition,” says Roger Jones, of Tri-Tower Farm, near Shenandoah, Iowa. “It’s very important to us to have a cowherd that we can handle, without a lot of wild calves in it. You know, the cattle do better in the feedlot when they aren’t wild.” Since he operates both enterprises, Jones knows how those issues carry from the field to the feedlot.
Eleven to one—those were the odds the beef industry was up against for two decades. “We got $10 in new spending over that 20 years, meanwhile our pork and poultry competitors got $110,” said Nevil Speer, an animal scientist at Western Kentucky University. “You can’t grow an industry without new revenue coming in, and we basically worked in a stagnant industry for 20 years.” Speer presented as part of the Harlan Ritchie Beef Symposium during Midwest American Society of Animal Science meetings in Des Moines, Iowa in March.
Everyone in the beef chain seems to agree we need more of it. That’s the simple explanation for a trend that shows hot carcass weights (HCW) have increased 200 pounds (lb.) in four decades. But for all the opportunities that presents, there are many challenges. John Stika, president of Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), talked about both at last month’s Harlan Ritchie Beef Symposium during Midwest American Society of Animal Science meetings in Des Moines, Iowa. “The production side is looking for something bigger to cover their increased costs,” he said, “but the retail and foodservice sides are looking for [more units of] something much smaller that’s easier to manage from a portion-control standpoint and a unit-cost standpoint.”
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