Darnall quality aim honored
by Jen Gillespie
November 30, 2011
One of the first and best Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) feeding partners, Darnall Feedlot, Harrisburg, Neb., was known for quality even before licensing in early 1999. Gary and Lane Darnall, father and son, signed on with their 20,000-head yard and quickly gained a wider reputation for consistent quality.
A few years later, CAB created the 30.06 Program to highlight harvest groups of cattle that hit the target with at least 30% Certified Angus Beef ® brand or Prime and no more than 6% outliers.
That’s not as easy as it might sound, especially for a large feedlot. But Darnall had previously won the CAB Partner of the Year for large yards (2006) and the Quality Focus Award (2008), as well as numerous awards in the National Angus Carcass Challenge a few years ago. So they know how to get the job done.
In September, Darnall reached the milestone of having enrolled more than 500 head of 30.06-qualified cattle. In fact, those 506 cattle earned a 43.92% CAB acceptance rate.
“The Darnall focus on high-quality Angus genetics starts on their ranch,” says Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist with CAB.
“Gary and Lane have a good sized cow herd of their own and they understand the ins and outs, from birth to harvest, choosing Angus cows as the factory for their own operation,” he says.
With that background, the Darnalls understand the challenges cattlemen face. That helps them in building relationships.
“The customer has to have confidence in the feedlot, knowing they’ll do a good job at protecting and enhancing the value of their investment,” says Gary Darnall.
Consistent quality is a team effort. “It’s the cattle, the producers that engineer those cattle, and the genetics,” Darnall says. “We feel pretty humble in saying that we get to add some value to that product to a point where it will grade in the upper Choice category.”
Being a CAB partner is just a win/win deal, he adds: “It provides incentive to produce a higher quality product, all the way from the rancher to the retailer.”
You may also like
Better Cattle Bring Opportunity
Cattle keep getting better, but that doesn’t mean producers should slow down progress. That’s what attendees took home from the 2025 Feeding Quality Forum. It’s call to action for the entire beef industry. Better cattle, yet new and old challenges for each segment.
Future Beef Leaders Receive $100,000
The Colvin Scholarship Fund awarded 27 students a combined $100,000 for their pursuit of innovation, growth and leadership in the beef industry. Each recipient is actively pursuing a career in production agriculture, industry research or other agricultural endeavors. With their aspirations for success in the beef business, they are continuing the legacy of Certified Angus Beef’s (CAB) co-founder and long-time executive director, Louis “Mick” Colvin.
Purpose Follows Passion
A chance opportunity. A change in career direction. And meat science was changed forever. Dr. Gary Smith originally had no plans to become a meat scientist. But thank goodness he did.