Pursuing a passion for agriculture through further education—that’s the top requirement for the Louis M. “Mick” Colvin Scholarship offered by the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand. This year, $15,000 will be split among five undergraduate scholarships, in the amounts of $5,000, $4,000, $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000. College juniors and seniors who have shown commitment to the beef industry, either through coursework or activities, are encouraged to apply by the Dec. 2 deadline. Applications are evaluated on involvement and scholastic achievement, communication skills and reference letters.
If national trends are the equivalent of a beef industry report card, then ranchers and feeders are making the grade. But Glen Dolezal, of Cargill Meat Solutions, warns that they need to pay attention to stay at the top of the class.
If meat scientist Daryl Tatum goes out for a “knock-your-socks-off” beef dinner, it’s going to include high levels of marbling. Given the Colorado State University professor’s expertise, he’d probably have done that anyway, but new research by his team points out the links between key sensory attributes and quality grades.
Agriculture stays ahead of the curve in caring for land and livestock, but that’s too much of a secret, according to a Nebraska Cattlemen environmental specialist. One of Kristen Koch’s first slides at the Feeding Quality Forum in Omaha this August set the tone for her talk with, “Eat our dust, EPA.” She talked about public misconceptions and strategies to rebuild the beef industry image.
Boxed beef climbed 15% in value to start the year, but with the passing of summer into fall value trends began a dramatic differentiation. “At these prices, buyers wanted better quality,” said Larry Corah, vice president of Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB).
David Medeiros and David Dal Porto – “the Davids”– have more than a few similarities. The native Californians share cattle philosophies and even a bull sale venue.
Hereford, Texas, is known as the “Beef Capital of the World.” It is also home to Keeling Cattle Feeders, CAB 2011 Feedlot Partner of the Year for all yards with more than 15,000-head capacity.
Matt and Anne Burkholder earned their degrees at Dartmouth—an Ivy League college in Hanover, N.H.—and considered jobs in Midwestern cities, but the Burkholder family’s central Nebraska diversified agriculture operation was calling.
It’s luck of the draw. Your calves get sick in the feedyard. That sets them back, costs you all kinds of money and ruins your hopes for what could’ve been. The guy next to you catches a break. His cattle gained and graded like crazy. The kicker is, it’s not all luck. David Trowbridge, manager of Gregory Feedlots at Tabor, Iowa, uses a hypothetical scenario like that to educate feedyard visitors on how everything from genetics and ranch care to implants and markets can impact beef quality later on.
A 38,000-head feedlot near Pratt, Kan., shows what can be done with a systematic approach to higher quality beef. Pratt Feeders committed to quality in 2003 by licensing with Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), and won a national CAB award the next year because of manager Jerry Bohn’s plans.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
