The journey to produce high-quality beef presents market volatility and management challenges. But today, there are data, technology, tools and partners to identify the best value and how to attain it. At the 2026 Feeding Quality Forum, each speaker added to the same message on Aug. 4 and 5 in Amarillo, TX.
The data-driven approach to carcass grading and marketing helps you reduce variability and capture more premiums. Achieving Prime pays off, and genetics can help you hit your quality goals faster.
Joanie, with daughter Lindsey and her husband, Adam Hall, raise registered Angus cattle with two primary goals: producing high-quality seedstock that perform well in a wide variety of environments and ensuring end-user satisfaction. Those goals tie everything together, from promoting Angus to other producers to sharing their story with CAB partners and beef consumers.
What makes a ranch sustainable? To Jon, it’s simple: the same family, ranching on the same land, for the last 140 years. The Means family never could have done that without sustainability. Responsible usage of water, caring for the land and its wildlife, and destocking their herd while the land recovers from drought.
For Dallas Knobloch, it’s not about being the biggest feedyard—it’s about building a high-quality system that works. Today, with Tory’s wife Sadie and daughter Ivy, the Knobloch family owns and operates 4K Cattle. They feed 2,500 cattle at eight locations within 10 miles of home, manage 1,000 acres of crops and run a 125-head cow herd, all near Hills, Minn.
Feedyards are encouraged to feed cattle longer, thus pushing carcass weights to record highs. More and more pounds — but how many of those pounds are saleable beef? Is there a way to increase red meat yield while maintaining marbling for palatability — without increasing the waste fat?
In an otherwise tough time in the beef business, sales and supply records have been a bright spot. The positive numbers mean that quality beef production has not let up, and beef demand is holding. Consumers have proven the value proposition: the good stuff is worth a little more money, for a better eating experience.
Progress happens when people are at the table, engaged and committed to action. With a vested interest in the industry’s future, CAB is leaning in on conversations surrounding evolutions in meat science.
Even as the nation’s cow herd contracts, “more pounds” and “higher quality” have been common themes. Specific to commercial cattlemen: It still pays to focus on carcass merit, in addition to other economically relevant traits.
As Prime supplies leapt higher in 2018, continually increasing, the retail grocery sector woke up to the fact that Prime beef cuts could be accessed dependably throughout the year. Prime was no longer reserved for only the high-end restaurant customer. Simply put, creating availability at the grocery level unlocked consumer demand where it hadn’t been tapped before.
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