It’s Prime time
Date: Mar 12 2019
Cattle Feeding & Consumer Connection & News Release & Premium PotentialThere was a time when targeting the Choice grade seemed like a lofty goal. But as the song goes, the times, they are a-changin’.
Category: Premium Potential
Moo-ving the big rocks
Date: Feb 15 2019
Black Ink & Breeding & Premium PotentialThe new year now feels old once you get into a busy season like calving. There are many spans of time in cattle country that can make us feel there’s too much to do, or too little time in each day. By now, some resolutions have fallen to the wayside, the rush of reality helping us sort out what matters most in the commitment to get better. Yet, there are still some that rise above the rest, beat the average and make it look easy
Decide sooner
Date: Feb 06 2019
Calving & Cattle Feeding & On Target & Premium Potential & StockmanshipWhile many of you are in sire buying mode this time of year, more are deciding whether this year’s bull calves retain the ability to become sires. Castration at birth is ideal, but catching them on day one can be a challenge in extensive operations. Castration at branding or turnout offers a balance between handling ease and minimizing calf stress.
Calving seasons of the mind
Date: Jan 08 2019
Calving & On Target & Premium Potential & Research & Stockmanship & SustainabilityWinter came early for much of cow-calf country, and now calving season is at the gate. Even those who call it “spring calving” often start in January, but if you’re not out checking a heifer, this is a good time of year to catch up on reading. Calving dates and “housing” options for the herd were explored in a 2019 Nebraska Beef Report article by Terry Klopfenstein and others, who evaluated March, June, or August calving dates on the range, or two July calving systems in year-round confinement or in semi-confinement with grazed corn stalks from fall to April weaning.
Near the pinnacle of beef quality
Date: Dec 06 2018
Angus Convention & News Release & Premium PotentialIt takes a powerful start and decades of focus to get harvest groups that regularly qualify 100% for the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand. What about 97.7% at CAB Prime brand and that one steer “only” hitting the traditional premium Choice CAB mark? Not too good to be true, that’s just the mark of a Champion. To be precise, it’s the Champion pen of 40 enrolled in the 2018 Angus Value Discovery Contest (AVDC), produced by Jack and Bill Boyer, Boyer Brothers Angus, Perryville, Mo.
Lower heifer costs, not fertility
Date: Oct 28 2018
Feeding Quality Forum & Heifer Development & News Release & Premium PotentialIt’s a great time to own cows, but only if you have a competitive cost structure with the right genetics and management to compete in today’s marketplace, Rick Funston said. While input costs should be minimized in times like these, “breakeven at best” for many, he said, it won’t pay to compromise fertility in the process.
More CAB stimulates more demand
Date: Oct 28 2018
Cattle Markets & Grid Marketing & News Release & Premium PotentialEconomic theory suggests more supply will lower the price, and higher prices tend to lower sales for a commodity. “A commodity like beef,” older textbooks might say. Premium beef has not always borne that out, particularly in the decade since the Great Recession of 2008, says CattleFax analyst Lance Zimmerman.
850,000 record say: Marbling still matters
Date: Oct 28 2018
Cattle Markets & EPDs & Grid Marketing & News Release & Premium PotentialFor many cattle across the United States that’s the difference in a marbling score of 492 versus 500. Those commodity Choice carcasses are just a few fat flecks away from upper two-thirds Choice and their share of the $50 million that packers pay each year for cattle earning that high-quality designation.
CAB grids pay $75 million per year
Date: Oct 27 2018
Cattle Markets & Grid Marketing & News Release & Premium Potential & Retained OwnershipCertified Angus Beef ® is the Brand that Pays®. At a rate of $8,500 per hour, 24-7, that was $75 million for 2017, up from the $52 million paid in 2015; the linking year came in at $63 million. That brings the 20-year total for CAB premiums to $688 million, more than half of it paid in the last seven years.
CAB grids pay $75 million per year
Date: Oct 27 2018
Premium PotentialAngus producers can increase supply for the world’s leading premium beef brand in just two years—and still earn 44% more premium dollars for the greater supply.