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Proceed with caution
In a cyclical business, when you’re riding the good times, it probably means you’re not far from the bad ones. So it is with the cattle business, said Dan Basse, president of Ag Resource Company, as he kicked off the Feeding Quality Forum in La Vista, Neb., and Garden City, Kan., this week. “It’s not like the mid-1980s, with land values collapsing. It’s more like a slow bleed,” Basse said of the general “downturn” in agricultural commodities. Ag equipment sales have slowed, land prices are going down and grain trade has softened as the dollar strengthened.
Care and data, before and after
Moving your cattle along to meet the goals of everyone in the beef supply chain takes focus on the data-backed decisions to add and capture value. Without people like Kenny Montgomery, Ruth Ammon and Meg Groves, those dollars from down the chain might never make it back to the ranch. These are some of the people who keep the plan on course when your cattle enter the feedyard and packing plant. Montgomery is a cowboy in the classic sense. He’s tough, unassuming and resilient – maybe that’s why Pratt Feeders, Pratt, Kan., has made him a part of its team for so long.
Premium Beef a crossover success
The economics just didn’t add up. Median household net wealth decreased 27% between 2000 and 2010, according to the U.S. Consumer Price Index. Canadians were in the same financially leaky boat. “Research would show that during an economic downturn, people tend not to buy premium products, to a point where they will go to a private brand or a lower price competitor to save money,” University of Guelph (Ontario) business and economics professor Tanya Mark says. “For any premium brand, we would certainly expect sales to decrease.”
From research to real life
Modified-live vaccines. The flat iron steak. Timed breeding protocols. Without beef researchers, farmers and ranchers across the country wouldn’t have all the products and applied technology that help them manage better. Consumers wouldn’t benefit from the rising beef quality they’ve enjoyed during the last decade. Without people like Bridget Wasser, Larry Kuehn and Jon Schreffler the best answers might go unshared. These are the ones who not only do the research, but also help apply it.
Given tenderness, marbling is key
The study of why we eat beef keeps pointing past tenderness. Given only certified tender strip steaks that varied in marbling and juiciness, a carefully chosen panel of 120 consumers said flavor is where it’s at. Sensory evaluation research, as part of a joint project among Texas Tech, Utah State and Mississippi State universities, scored the strip-loin steaks to get at the role of taste fat in consumer appeal.
Precondition for performance, quality, cash
It’s been talked about for 60 years. It’s better for animals, preferred by most cattle feeders and could provide a 169% return on investment. “2014 was the biggest ‘no brainer’ year in history to precondition your calves,” says Purdue University veterinarian W. Mark Hilton. “2015 could be even better.” Crunching the numbers, Hilton first turns to an 11-year analysis of Indiana beef herds that showed weight alone added $50.84 average profit on preconditioned calves.
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