Certified Angus Beef regularly collects data on millions of fed cattle to discover how cattlemen can capture more value for high-quality carcasses beginning on the ranch. When black-hided cattle don’t earn the CAB stamp, it’s most often for missing the mark in marbling, HCW, REA and backfat.
Annual grid, formula and contract premiums paid on CAB carcasses in 2021 totaled $182 million, up from the 2019 record of $92 million. Cattlemen who raise black Angus-influenced cattle that meet the brand’s specifications have the chance to earn more than ever before.
Prime cutout values and grid premiums have been rich in the third and fourth quarters of the past two years. Yet the spillover into the first quarter this year shows that the market is reacting to the recently smaller availability, retreating back to the 2019 supply pace.
December has started off on a high note in the fed cattle sector and all of us on the cattle side of the supply chain should be made well aware of what’s ahead in 2022.
More than forty years after selling the first pound of branded beef on October 18, 1978, Certified Angus Beef continues to deliver for consumers and producers. The brand closed fiscal year 2021 with a few new records and another billion on the books.
“So, if we make sure the humans can be prosperous and survive, that’s what sustainability is,” Mark Gardiner says. “That is the opportunity that USPB gave our family and thousands more all across the United States.” It’s why USPB earned the 2021 CAB Progressive Partner award.
Much of the cattle feeding business is outside a manager’s control. But quality cattle caretaking, that Kendall Hopp can guarantee. He plans for the volatile, hopes for the best, and deals with the rest as it comes. The first thing on his list begins with treating people right because Hopp knows happy folks manage cattle more consistently, leading to healthy cattle that perform.
To tell the U.S. Premium Beef story today, is to tell one that changed the beef industry for the better. The USPB mission includes increasing both the quality of beef and long-term profitability for cattle producers, and ranchers are as focused on that as ever.
Choosing a feedyard is a bit like selecting a life partner. Feedyards offer different marketing opportunities and strategies. A manager should be able to look at a customer’s pen and know, “I have a good market for those cattle. I can handle it.”