Intern shares her CAB mythbusting experience

Count this as your formal introduction.

Folks– this is former beef ambassador and Wyoming Livestock Roundup reporter and current Red Raider and Certified Angus Beef intern Tressa Lawrence.

Tressa—Here’s your chance to chat with some pretty cool folks from ranchers to beef industry professionals.

Enjoy! –Miranda

As I sat in my ad campaigns class at Texas Tech University, the topic of branding came up. John Deere vs. Case, Coke vs. Shasta, Certified Angus Beef vs. off-brand “100% Angus beef”. Comments were thrown around such as “CAB is just a marketing scheme,” and “There isn’t anything different about CAB burger than any other Angus burger.” And the comment that finally jabbed me into action, “Any cow with a black hide is CAB.”

Wrong. I raised my hand and explained that I was actually very familiar with the Certified Angus Beef brand, and that no, not all black-hided bovine could become Certified Angus Beef.

Yes, one of the standards is that cattle must be 51% black hided in order to be evaluated for CAB, but there are also ten other qualifying factors.

Once my classmates had me on my soapbox there was no stopping me. I explained how those 10 carcass specifications ensure consistent quality. We discussed modest to higher marbling and medium to fine marbling texture; how only “A” maturity is acceptable; consistent sizing and the specifics of quality appearance and tenderness.

One guy in the back of the class said he raised another breed and was sure a steak from his cattle would taste just as good as any CAB steak I put in front of him. (It took a lot not to roll my eyes at this statement, but I am pretty sure my eyebrows shot up in disbelief. Had this guy ever eaten a CAB Prime steak? I’d bet not.)

I explained that it’s not just about the breed, but the specs and especially the consistency. That’s what is unique about CAB. You know that you are going to get consistently high quality meat every time, whether it’s a burger or one of their prepared briskets. Always consistent. Always high quality. They track every pound.

My explanation of Certified Angus Beef with Q&A follow-up managed to consume the rest of the class period, which I don’t think any of the students were complaining about. We may not have learned much about campaigns that day, but by golly I bet no one in that class ever says anything like ‘all black-hided cattle are Certified Angus Beef’ again.

~Tressa

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