Prime opportunities highlight CAB outlook

The economic signal for Prime is now

By Abbie Burnett

November 22, 2019

When sales are up across the board, it’s often hard to find a darling of the fiscal year.

But for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand, even in a strong year, CAB Prime stole the show, said the brand’s president, John Stika.

“We could have sold a lot more of this product if it were available, but it wasn’t,” he told attendees at the 2019 Angus Convention in Reno.

It’s not like producers haven’t responded to demand signals—sales tonnage for the Prime extension has been on a four-year climb, and up 36.6% in 2019 alone. Traditionally, foodservice partners marketed nearly all of that supply, but ’19 saw an amazing 90% increase in retail sales.

CAB Prime still represents only 3% of total sales, but grew by nearly 10 million pounds and represented more than 25% of 2019 brand growth, Stika noted. The momentum represents opportunity for the brand, Angus breeders and their breed for further separation in the global premium tier.

People define and advance the brand more than the resulting product, Stika said, beginning with careful culling and bull selection. While a record 35% of Angus-influenced cattle made it into the brand in 2019, it is progress on the other 65% that will make the difference going forward.

Incentives will certainly help drive that progress, he said, sharing grid pricing data for 12 weeks going into fall where cattle accepted for the brand earned $100 per head above the base. Those going on to hit Prime would’ve made $240 above that base.

“That’s the economic signal that further solidifies the need to keep a focus on marbling” when breeding cattle, Stika said. “It’s our job to make sure we continue to fuel that economic incentive that sends a message like this.”

He called attention to The Culinary Center at CAB headquarters in Wooster, Ohio, as “the single most effective way for us to leverage the value of the brand” at the retail and foodservice level. Part of that is the enhanced understanding of the foundational basis of the brand: the registered Angus breeder.

At the other end of the chain, Stika noted a consumer brand loyalty program, Steakholder Rewards, will build relationships there.

The new coffee table book, Sheltering Generations – The American Barn grew from the wealth of photos and stories behind the 40 barns painted in conjunction with the brand’s 40^th anniversary in 2018. It took on a higher purpose when the brand announced all the revenue from book sales will go into the Certified Angus Beef Rural Relief Fund.

“This fund will allow CAB, as a brand, the opportunity to financially support when appropriate and where possible, the farmers and ranchers and their communities who at times are impacted by natural disasters such as floods, fires, and blizzards,” Stika said.

He closed with a message of thanks and the note that the 160 people on staff with the brand “feel honored to have the opportunity to serve you,” working each day toward the mission of increasing demand for Angus cattle “through the highest quality product that the breed has to offer.”

Quality game

Angus Convention gave cattlemen competition and perspective about the beef carcass

by Morgan Marley

November 18, 2019

Deep in the heart of cattle country, ranchers make a lot of decisions. Which bulls will best complement my cows’ genetics? When should we ship calves? Should I retain ownership?

In environments where cattle thrive, people don’t typically crowd the landscape. Like the old saying, “out of sight, out of mind,” the beef marketer and consumer are not always top of mind with producers.

For the second year, Angus Convention had meat on display for all to see, along with a meat judging contest. The temptation of friendly competition goes deeper than pure entertainment.

“Not very often do producers have exposure to the actual end product outside of what they consume themselves,” said Clint Walenciak, director of packing for the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand. “Having it on display is a conversation starter; they see what is going on with the brand and ways they can tie to it with what they do.”

Opening up dialogue about CAB gets cattlemen thinking about the decisions they make on the ranch and how those affect consumers. Ultimately, every CAB steak starts at the registered purebred level.

“Seedstock breeders are the ones responsible for putting those key carcass genetics out into the marketplace to be propagated,” Walenciak said. “It all starts with them—and getting them to understand that quality continues to be so important moving forward, given the demand for higher quality beef that we see today.”

Genetics are only half of the equation for getting an animal to meet the 10 CAB carcass specifications. Genetics must be balanced and managed carefully to be maintained all the way to the packer.

“Think about the Prime grade for example,” Walenciak said, “just because we’ve now achieved essentially an 8% Prime grade compared to 2% Prime 20 years ago. There’s still pent up demand for that kind of high-quality product.”

On the trade show floor ranchers could find the Colorado State University meat trailer. It wasn’t about learning how to cut meat, but more emphasizing how the added marbling in a CAB carcass adds value to items like the chuck or the round, even compared to USDA Choice.

“Exposure to different cuts, like whole ribs, whole short loins or whole beef rounds gives the attendees an opportunity to see beef products in a form they typically don’t,” Walenciak said. “Something much larger than a steak or a roast that they would be more accustomed to.”

It was a time to share with producers what the brand teaches those who sell and prepare premium beef. Chefs, retailers and consumers provided perspective about the people behind the brand and how they use and enjoy it. Think “cooking techniques, understanding cuts and messaging.”

Anyone at the convention could participate in the meat judging contest, which let contestants directly compare varying grades of beef on four different cuts. Equally important was their opportunity to engage with and learn from those conducting the contest about what’s important. The kind of cattle they want on the ranch need not be different than what meat judgers rank at the top: high marbling with moderate to heavy muscle and not too much external fat.

Judging contest winners from the adult division were: first, Karen Mitteness; second, Patrick Doyle; and third, Andrew Stewart. In the senior division, first was Kallie Knott; second, Cutter Pohlman, and third, Sherrie Stokman. First place in the junior division was Colter Pohlman; second, Nico Donati; and third, Gemma Donati. This year, first place from the three categories won a hat of their choice from Greeley Hatworks. Second- and third-place winners received gift certificates to the CAB Black Hide Collection™.

“Don’t you think we’ve spent enough time focused on marbling?” That’s a question Walenciak gets a lot, and not always from people who have spent much time on it. Those who have focused on marbling know it doesn’t mean ignoring other areas.

To get past individual cases, Walenciak clarifies it: “For the industry as a whole?”

“No,” he’ll say with a nod to the market. There’s still a need to meet rising demand and keep advancing high-quality carcass traits.

Sharing stories, tools, facts to spur beef sales

by Miranda Reiman

October 30, 2019

Showing a little of the humanity in ranch life—what may sound simple was a significant role for cattlemen at the 2019 Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand’s annual conference in Asheville, N.C., in September.

More than 700 people from packer and processor to restaurateur and retailer gathered for the event that is part celebration, part education, part pep rally, but all about the relationships.

In between motivational speakers like former Blue Angels pilot John Foley and new sales-marketing inspirations, Kansas Angus breeders Chris and Sharee Sankey and Neal and Marya Haverkamp shared their stories in a live interview.

They covered the wonder and challenges of raising cattle and kids in tandem, explained showing cattle as the “NASCAR of the beef business” and shared lessons learned in agriculture.

Marya Haverkamp talked of working alongside her husband, reaching goals together.

“It’s overwhelming,” she said, before adding some levity. “Now don’t get me wrong—on the days we work cattle, I have to remind myself I love him, even though I don’t really like him right now. But my heart is full when I see him helping the kids and it’s full circle.”

The session brought to life pages from the new coffee-table book, “Sheltering Generations: The American Barn,” set for a December release. Every penny from book sales will support a new Rural Relief Fund that CAB will use to contribute to organized efforts during times of natural disasters.

During a sustainability session, panelists put a face on how the production sector is improving animal care and environments. James Henderson, Bradley 3 Ranch; Tom Jones, Hy-Plains Feed Yard; Chris Ulrich, Ulrich Farms; and Sara Place, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, each shared examples ranging from experience in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to feeding cattle in western Kansas.

Henderson said they hit a turning point when a range specialist visited their Childress, Texas, ranch in 1995.

“At the end of the day, he made a comment that cut to the bone,” Henderson recalled. “He said, ‘This is the most under-stocked, overgrazed ranch I’ve ever been on.’ That’s not what you want to hear as a rancher.”

They made a 20-year plan, where they developed water, implemented aggressive brush control and planted native forage. Increased carrying capacity shows it’s working.

Ulrich had his own stories of fencing out creek beds and introducing contour strips on his Pennsylvania farm ground. Jones described collaborative work at his feedyard’s education and research center, and building up the next generation through internships.

Place put the media hype in perspective, noting it takes fewer cows to produce more beef today than it did decades ago.

“Those are huge reductions in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the amount of natural resources, everything else it takes to make it a really high-quality product,” she said.

The panel ran out of time before they’d answered all the audience questions, but the entire conference encouraged one-on-one interaction among people from different parts of the beef business.

South Dakota cattleman Troy Hadrick shared a slice of what it’s like to literally weather a storm, describing this April’s devastating blizzard on his Faulkton, S.D., ranch.

“You’ve got this unwritten, unspoken contract with your cows that you’ll take care of them and they in turn take care of you. We didn’t save them all, but we did the best we could,” Hadrick said.

During the storm, his wife Stacy and their three kids were all working together in the elements to save calves. It was just a quick stop back at the house for food, when Hadrick looked over and saw his daughter, head in her hands, sobbing.

“We had just pushed her a little too hard. She was kind of emotionally and physically exhausted,” he said. “That was tough for a dad to see.”

The audience felt that emotion.

But it wasn’t just about showing who ranchers are, it was about explaining what they do.

CAB recognized leaders in packing, retail, foodservice, value-added processing and production with annual awards. They announced new programs, such as Steakholder Rewards—a new consumer-brand-loyalty program—and the Meat Speak podcast. The sales team equipped people selling beef with more tools and tactics for success.

“I really believe this brand was the lead that changed what was going on in our market,” said Randy Blach, CattleFax CEO, during his market update. “Somebody had to say we are not going to be an ingredient. We have a story to tell.”

Since 1998, consumer spending on beef has increased by $62 billion, more than the increase in outlays on pork and poultry combined, he said.

“There are some out there who will make you think people have quit eating beef. We have record consumption in the U.S.,” Blach said.

CAB sales hit a record 1.25 billion pounds, said John Stika, CAB president, noting 3.1% growth for the fiscal year ending in September.

“What I continue to find absolutely energizing about this event every year is that when you bring this many people together in one place focused on one brand, there arises a creativity, a momentum that fosters great ideas and only serves to further fuel an even-stronger pursuit of excellence moving forward,” he said.

Certified Angus Beef ^® brand marks 15 consecutive years of growth

Record supply allows partners to meet consumer demand

By Miranda Reiman

October 10, 2019

Economic incentive is a powerful thing.

It directs ranch-level decisions and points an industry in a specific direction.

Financial reward kept cattlemen on the path toward higher quality, and led them to produce record amounts of Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand product in the 2019 fiscal year that ended September 30.

For the 13th year in a row, the brand reported record sales, settling at 1.25 billion pounds. It’s also the 15th consecutive year of sales growth.

A global network of nearly 19,000 licensed processor, foodservice and retail partners marketed an additional 38 million pounds—or a 3.1% increase—over the previous year.

CAB president John Stika credits “an entire community of Angus farmers, ranchers and feeders being extremely intentional over several years in the way they breed, raise and care for their cattle with a focus on quality.”

As a result, the CAB acceptance rate, or percentage of Angus-type cattle meeting the brand’s 10 carcass specifications, rose to a record 35% this year. That 5.65 million certified carcasses came to 471,000 more than last year’s tally.

“We basically had a thirteenth month of supply this year. That was really a big part of what allowed this brand to grow its sales,” Stika says. “You can’t turn a ship that big on a dime. It was several years of focus. That increase is significant because it doesn’t happen by random chance.”

Without the sales to move that product, it becomes too much a good thing.

“It takes a great number of people filling different yet connected roles for this growth,” Stika says. “Fortunately, there is a lot of room at the brand’s table.”

Monthly sales records and category growth

CAB set sales records in all but 3 months of fiscal 2019; 6 months ranked among the top 10 sales months in the brand’s 41-year history. Propelled by strong consumer demand and relatively steady market prices, sales records spanned product categories.

Backed by traditionally strong demand, sales of middle meats grew by 3.8%. Sales of roasts and other end meats increased 3.4%, and ground beef sales, boosted by the better burger movement, grew by 2 million pounds.

Sales of the Certified Angus Beef ^® brand Prime product extension grew by 36.6%—an achievement made possible by historically high availability of the most highly marbled product.

“We used to think of this almost exclusively as a product for elite steakhouses, but this year retailers from coast to coast saw the opportunity to add to the offerings in their meat case,” he says. The brand provided encouragement in the way of business analysis and marketing support.

Divisional success

Global sales reached an all-time high of 207.5 million pounds, demonstrating the universal appeal of highly marbled, grain-fed beef among diverse cultures and markets. Japan led the way for growth, followed by Taiwan, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

Representing 43% of the brand’s sales, the retail division’s 8.8% gain was its fourth consecutive year of growth to achieve an all-time record of 537.5 million pounds.

In addition to Prime product driving sales, retailers increasingly chose to feature CAB over lower-priced protein options on the front page of their circulars.

The foodservice division achieved a 4.6% increase. Largely driven by the efforts of licensed distributors, restaurants that actively promoted the brand on their menus more than doubled that benchmark and increased sales 10% over the previous year.

Also, for the 10th consecutive year, sales of branded value-added products set a record, exceeding 33 million pounds. Processors offered more high-quality convenience meals in both retail and foodservice.

All of this growth is possible, because of the new dollars that flow into the business from customers who want more of the best.

In 1998, beef demand was at an all-time low, Stika says. Since then, the entire beef industry has benefitted from a $60 billion increase in annual consumer spending.

“Quality improved, and demand followed suit,” he says. “Producers didn’t just do it because it was the right thing to do. It was, but the improvement is also a result of the economic signals that say produce more quality and we’ll reward you for it.”

Today, 18% of all fed cattle qualify for the brand—that’s more than the number that grade Select.

“Our partners have been a meaningful part of that success,” Stika says. “Through their commitment to quality, they’ve helped direct the entire industry, drawing it closer to the consumer. As they do so, they’re providing a more sustainable future for all.”

Rising to the challenge of ideal

What consumers demand, ranchers provide

by Morgan Marley

September 30, 2019

Beef cow herds change with each year, from breeding to calving and replacements kept. They adapt based on management decisions. So when the first National Beef Quality Audit found a quality shortfall, producers knew they could shift directions. It just took time for market signals to incentivize it.

At the recent 2019 Feeding Quality Forum in Amarillo, Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand president John Stika spoke to the changes in “ideal” since 1991.

“At the time, we’d have been lucky to be producing 2% Prime, and they said we needed to be probably at 7%,” he recalled.

A fantasy then but 28 years on, the fed-cattle harvest mix is 8.8% Prime and 72% Choice. Nobody predicted it then, and there seemed no response for a couple of cattle cycles. But the seeds of change were planted; progress was no accident.

“We didn’t get there by randomness,” Stika said. “We got there by being intentional in responding to consumer demands and the market signals that were sent back to the cattle feeder and the cow-calf producer.”

A third of all Angus-influenced cattle meet now meet the 10 CAB science-based specifications, a “paradigm shift” to double the rate of a dozen years ago, all going back to producers’ efforts.

The market incentivized that. Even through a “Great Recession” and widespread drought, starting roughly 10 years ago and largely resolved by 2014, the brand saw record consumer demand at record prices.

“We learned that it’s not just price that drives consumer purchasing decisions, it’s price in relation to value,” Stika said. “And that value is defined by the taste and the experience that our beef products provide the consumer.”

It’s easy to forget the beef end of the supply chain in the day-to-day of cow country, he noted. But that’s the end that drives price differentiation and change in beef-cow herds.

“The most sustainable source of revenue comes from the consumer,” Stika said. Efforts to keep genetics and cattle management focused on that demand require discerning the target.

“Ideal changes as consumer preferences change,” Stika said. “And so while there isn’t necessarily an ideal, there is a mix of grades: Prime, Choice, the Certified Angus Beef brand, Select and so forth. There is more ideal today based on where the market is and where consumers are telling us they want us to focus our production.”

In 2018, it took 5.5 million Angus-type cattle to supply the 1.2 billion pounds of CAB sold, eclipsing the supply of Select beef.

“The reason we reached that was because the packer partners we work with sent an economic signal back into cow country,” Stika said, “to the tune of $1.4 million a week in the form of Certified Angus Beef premiums that said keep the supply coming.”

Despite record levels of quality, he pointed out that, in the two-thirds of cattle that failed to qualify for the brand, 92.6% did not have enough marbling. That’s relatively easy to add as herds change going forward, but has the trend line outpaced demand?

“We can continue to put more marbling into these cattle and the market is still indicating that it’s willing to reward us,” he said. The mission for high quality beef is not over; there’s still a lot more to do.

“To maximize what you have in your herd today or in your feedyard or in your backgrounding program, it’s really about managing the health and nutrition of those cattle,” Stika emphasized.

Intentional care to get the most out of current genetics will have the quickest impact on supply.

“What we know through data is that if an animal has a bad day with regards to health or poor nutrition,” Stika said, “the likelihood of that animal ever reaching a quality end-point with regards to Certified Angus Beef or Prime are almost non-existent.”

Drive herds in the quality direction through selection and culling, he advised, noting Angus genetic trends for carcass merit keep moving upward.

“If you’re a cow-calf producer, you can work with your seedstock supplier to find those high-quality carcass traits,” Stika said. “At bull sales, look for our Targeting the Brand™ logo” used to designate sires with above average marbling and ability to earn quality grid premiums.

“The American Angus Association also offers tools to help cattle feeders identify quality,” he said, noting the Angus Link indexing for gain and grade potential.

Added focus on quality can fall short of paying its way when cattle are sold as average, Stika commented. Value-based grid marketing captures rewards and generates more data for future selection and management.

“This has really been the way the merchandising and production chain has driven the quality signal back to the production side of the business,” he said. “It puts us in closer touch with the demands and desires of the end users.”

For cattlemen, it’s never a wasted effort to study those signals while driving change toward the ever-shifting ideal.

Welcome to the table

Investments in cattle, people and the mission to share

Story and photos by Abbie Burnett

September 25, 2019

You may not notice the table in Steve and Ginger Olson’s dining room when set for four. But the custom-made heritage table expands to seat 24.

The Olsons had it built because it’s important that everyone in their family gets a seat at the table, no side room for their seven grandsons.

If they could sit everyone at the same table when guests come to tour the Olson Land & Cattle Angus seedstock ranch near Hereford, Texas, they absolutely would. For nearly 30 years, the family has hosted ranch tours for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand and upon request, attended events where the public can interact with ranchers.

Every time, people find the Olson hospitality, a quiet comfort and gentle service to others wherever they go. They intermingle with chefs and distributors, answering questions about ranching and how cattle are raised, making each person just as welcome as if they were back in Texas gathered around that table.

These are some of the reasons the Olsons received the 2019 CAB Ambassador Award.

More than education

Ranch days for CAB means sharing the gate in “gate to plate.” Guests gather on hay bales in the barn for a brand overview, then split up and start rotations out to the pastures and back, learning from every family member they encounter.

Steve, a member of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, will cite four points: animal welfare, protecting the land, caring for the people and profitability to keep it all going.

“I think the cattle industry is sustainable in every aspect, but I also believe that we have that responsibility to share with others,” he says. “It’s other people being inquisitive about where their food comes from, and if we don’t fulfil that need, they will find answers from others who maybe don’t know all of the truth about cattle production.”

Steve addresses consumer concerns, holding up a 100-cc bottle of an antibiotic and quoting the $450 price.

“That statement alone will get some wide eyes across the room,” he says. It soon becomes clear that ranchers don’t use antibiotics without good reason and he tells how they keep most cattle from experiencing illness by regular vaccinations.

Son-in-law Scott Pohlman walks the chefs through cattle handling, husbandry and what they eat while daughter-in-law Kristi might demonstrate artificial insemination and embryo transfers. When they gather back together, the Olsons’ grandsons have their show heifers set up, a demonstrating the next generation of ranchers.

Through each phase, the Olson family has a way of bringing complicated concepts to common understanding.

Scott relates calf weaning to sending your kids to their first day of kindergarten. It’s hard at first, there might even be some crying, but at the end of the day everyone’s happy.

And through all the conversations on care, health and challenges of raising Angus cattle, Ginger and daughters are there to provide the “Southern Hospitality” worthy of capital letters.

Scott has also contributed to gatherings as cowboy chef, cooking up a mean ribeye on his homemade smoker. Served on old-fashioned white enamel plates, tin cups for tea and coffee, bandanas for napkins and Mason jars for wine, guests line up to wait for their ribeye while asking about cooking secrets.

People of faith, the Olsons pause while Steve says a prayer before dinner and then reminds guests to “keep their forks” for dessert. Grandsons begin waiting on tables, filling drinks, picking up plates and engaging in conversation about growing up on a ranch. The family spreads out, answering questions and creating personal relationships.

See why we love working with the Olson family. Watch the video that played on stage at Annual Conference.

Going beyond the call

What makes the Olsons stand out as ambassadors, says CAB’s Deanna Walenciak, is their “absolute willingness to help out whenever they can.” There was the time they worked cattle on an early July morning for a photo shoot because, “They knew it would help us tell the story.”

At the brand’s 30th anniversary party, Steve and Ginger flew in on short notice to interact with chefs and distributors. Walenciak watched them connect: “They brought a little bit of Texas right into New York City, that spirit of welcoming everyone to their dinner table.”

Steve was elected to the American Angus Association Board in 2006, to the CAB Board in 2007 and two years as Chairman. In 2015, he was elected Association president.

All three Olson children were on the National Junior Angus Association Board, and both daughters wore red jackets as Miss American Angus. In college, eldest daughter Moriah and future husband Scott worked as CAB interns.

The grandsons are being raised with that same ownership in the brand.

“We’ve been blessed as a family,” Steve says, “to be a part of production agriculture, to live on the land, to raise our family and take care of God’s resources. And to interact with other people and share with them what it’s like to be here and to do this—Ginger and I feel blessed every day that God has given us this path.”

For new friends, shared stories and great beef, all a visitor to Olson Land & Cattle need do is pull up a chair.

Century of focus

Colorado ranch earns top commercial honors

Story and photos by Morgan Marley

September 25, 2019

It take endless hard work to make it in the ranching business, sometimes success is built upon for a century. For one Colorado ranch, this is certainly the case.

More than 100 years the same family has operated Noble Ranch.

In everything he does, Ryan Noble pushes the limits of success to what some would call overachieving. To everyone else, it’s no surprise Noble Ranch accepted the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) 2019 Commercial Commitment to Excellence Award during the brand’s annual conference in Asheville, N.C.

Humble to their core, whatever the Nobles have achieved only comes with the job.

“We are just us,” Ronella says, “and it just feels normal. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like we are doing anything special, it just feels like what we should be doing and the way that we should be doing it.”

For a son and husband of teachers, education is a natural priority, with an open invitation to the ranch for any person or group who wants to learn. They have hosted many ag education and end-user groups, including CAB’s Master of Brand Advantages.

“The passion Ryan and Ronella have for education and business growth is immediately apparent,” says Kara Lee, CAB production brand manager. “Whether they are in the company of other ranchers or hosting a group of foodservice professionals, they are swapping experiences, successes and failures all in the name of continued improvement. They have a progressive mindset about business management and investment in employees that transcends all industries, offering guests with a culinary background a fresh perspective on some of their own challenges.”

The Nobles hold service high—Ronella volunteers with hospice, the elementary school and church groups. Ryan leads services at the church and coaches his kids’ sport teams. Together Ryan and Ronella are 4-H leaders.

Still they find time to focus on their own continued education. A few years ago the couple completed a Ranching for Profit course, an investment they say constantly pays its way.

“We’re constantly going through our gross margins and looking at the economics of ranching,” Ryan says.

Through that process, the ranch quickly embraced the opportunity for a heifer development program that has made an impact on nearly 6,500 cows in all. It’s a progressive initiative to help Basin Angus Ranch customers reach their maternal and terminal goals through selective breeding and GeneMax™ genomic testing.

“It’s very profitable,” Ryan says. “We also enjoy interacting with other ranchers, and it gives us an opportunity to have a hand in helping them better their genetics.”

The Nobles haven’t always bred Angus genetics. Thirty years ago the ranch focused on the continental breeds and that’s about when Ryan began noticing changes in the Angus breed. Expected progeny differences (EPDs) were gaining momentum, especially within Angus.

When he began making decisions, he didn’t hesitate to start using the business breed.

“Angus just covers every base that we need covered, and with fantastic results,” he says.

Ryan found what worked for their operation, and made it thrive. The bottom line: his cattle must have minimal inputs, along with docility, longevity and fertility.

“Economically, the Angus cow covers a lot of bases for us,” Ryan says. “She can make a living out here in our semi-arid, tough environment. She can use some resources that nothing else is really going to use and she can upscale protein like crazy.”

Watch the video to learn more about why we love the Noble family.

Average isn’t an option. Their philosophy is to build cattle in the upper 25% for the breed. That’s why he has partnered with Basin Angus Ranch on bull studs selling semen. This allows him to select the best animals and invest in highly heritable traits to bring into his calf crop and following cow herd.

“We don’t like to leave things to chance,” he says. “So let’s bet on a sure thing and let’s bet on the best thing. Right now, that’s Angus cattle and it probably always will be.”

The carcass quality his herd achieves meets his standards as a beef consumer.

“The Certified Angus Beef brand has always stood for quality and doing the right thing every chance you get,” he says. “That mirrors what we’re trying to do out here on the ranch.”

Retaining ownership of steer calves and marketing them on the grid proves their strict breeding standards are paying off.

“When I got back the carcass data on our 2018 steers, we crowded 70% Certified Angus Beef,” Ryan says. “They yielded about 63%. They were almost 30% (low) Choice and there was zero Select in the whole pen. That’s on 14 month old calves. The pay weight was around 1340 pounds. I think we’re doing okay.”

Ryan is interested in long-term relationships, sustained partnerships that result in repeat business.

“I guess everything in the beef industry and life in general is all about relationships,” he says. “If you hold your end of the bargain up and the other person does, too, you will have a fantastic relationship and it will work every time. It’s all about the people.”

Built on a breed

A century of focus earns Spring Cove Ranch the CAB Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award

Story and photos by Nicole Lane Erceg

September 25, 2019

When the first Angus sire arrived at Spring Cove Ranch in 1919, no one could have predicted his legacy. Old, handwritten herd books trace the first pedigrees of the Butler herd to a time when cattle were traded for a saddle and a good meal. The yellowed pages reveal registration numbers with only 4 digits, traced as forebears of cattle grazing these high desert ranges today.

Self-proclaimed “number nerds” Art and Stacy Butler inherited the craving for information documentation on their herd of 800 cows.

“Data collection, and specifically EPDs (expected progeny differences), are tools we’ve been able to use through the years to create the proper combination of marbling and function and form and maternal and feed—and whatever else it takes to make the Angus cow that’s going to survive on the western range and also produce a Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) steak,” Stacy says.

All Butler bulls are genomically tested with Angus GS and more than 60% of those in their annual sale earn the CAB Targeting the Brand™ logo, signifying breed average or above for the Marbling EPD and $Grid index. Each bull gets its own Spring Cove Ranch calving ease score that consolidates genetics, genomics and cow-family data to provide extra analysis on potential herd sires.

The main goal is an Angus bull whose progeny thrive on the western range and have the carcass traits and growth characteristics to generate premiums for commercial cattlemen while balancing a focus on breeding cows that “keep us all in business” with strong maternal values.

The philosophy isn’t new. It serves a vision the Butlers held long before the market directly justified it, and it earned them the 2019 CAB Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award.

A student at the University of Idaho when USDA lowered the grading standards in the mid-1970s, Art saw the industry moving toward a leaner product but kept steering his herd the other way.

“We were breeding to high marbling bulls, mainly because we wanted to improve the quality of the cattle and add value on the rail,” Art says. “When we started to market a few cattle on the rail in the ’90s, that’s what paid the bills, was marbling.”

It’s hard-earned knowledge he works to pass on to his bull customers today.

“Marbling is something that you can add to these cattle no matter what size and what your goals are as far as productivity,” Art says.

Form, function and fertility come first. They don’t preach single-trait selection, but say those necessary traits are already built into the Angus cow. “It’s what has made her ‘King’” Art says.

Some say great cows and exceptional terminal traits don’t happen in one package. Art and Stacy prove they do.

“The Angus cow has provided a living for the Butler family for 100 years,” says Stacy. “She has done so through droughts and storms and floods and diseases and generational differences and different genetics.”

They lay the accolades of what they’ve built at her feet, but credit data and targeted selection as vital tools along the way.

The couple encourage connections between each link of the beef production chain, working to help feeders understand the value of their customer cattle and their customers understand the needs of the beef consumer.

“Helping our customers market their cattle, and more than that, trying to help them get a premium for the genetics that they’ve invested in,” says Stacy. “The premium paid by the consumer at the end needs to trickle down to the cow-calf man that is actually producing that calf.”

A Western Video sales representative, Art guides his customers through capturing premiums without retained ownership. Program feeder cattle bring added value and Spring Cove Ranch genetics help carry a reputation for paychecks from the packing plant.

“Cattle with credentials” like carcass genetics, source- and process verification or Natural and other certification can help Western commercial cattlemen capture another bid and dollar, Art says. Historically, his program cattle bring as much as $67 per cwt. over the average black calf.

The dollars add up, for one customer all the way to $169,000 for a truckload headed east.

“I think a lot of people are thinking that maybe we’re going to saturate this market with high-quality cattle, but I think the demand is only growing and worldwide,” Art says. “A small part of this world today eats the premium product like we do and the others are now finding how tasty it is. They’re going to want more of it.”

The Butlers will be here with a ready supply of carefully selected Angus seedstock, continuing the work of converting forage from non-tillable lands into valuable protein.

A century after the first Butlers partnered with this land, it’s become a place few would dispute as a perfect home for ranching. The cattle are better and the land looks refreshed and invigorated compared to the black-and-white photos of times past. The next generation of Butler cowboys are learning the ropes as so many times before.

Learn more about the Butlers and why they earned the Commitment to Excellence Award. Watch the video that played on stage at Annual Conference.

2019 Progressive Partner Award

Own what you do

Tom Jones and his Hy-Plains team keep feeding, learning and showing the way to better

Story and photos by Miranda Reiman

September 25, 2019

If they set the bar there today, by tomorrow, they’ll raise it higher.

That’s the kind of feedyard Tom Jones manages. It’s the kind of person Jones is.

In 1999, he and investors bought a 28,000-head yard near Montezuma, Kan., and immediately began doing business as Hy-Plains Feedyard LLC. Two decades later he still makes his living on the business, but that looks different today than it did then. It may look different next year, or even next month.

“We have cattle grading 100% Choice and now we are working on the Prime, so what is the next demand driver going to be?” Jones asks. “We have to look to our new customers and they are looking for transparency, wholesome food. They are looking for traceability, so those are some of the things I’m looking for in the future.”

That attitude, and the actions behind it, earned Hy-Plains Feedyard the 2019 Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) Progressive Partner Award.

For the good of the industry

Coming off a good year in 2014, the business was in a strong financial position. Having expanded twice before—first to 35,000, then to the current 50,000 head—Jones wasn’t interested in building more pens or buying new feed trucks. Instead of traditional capital outlays, he decided to make a long-term, far-reaching investment.

It took some time to get it just right but in 2017, the company opened its Hy-Plains Education and Research Center.

“We felt it was time. The industry has changed over the last seven years, the genetics have changed. Our ability to study cattle, collect data and see how that affects performance has changed,” Jones says.

The center is part research, part demonstration facility, part communal office space, but all grounded in sharing knowledge and growing more of it. “If we can study our lessons, we can make a huge difference,” he says. Jones enjoys feeding cattle for commercial and registered Angus customers because they’re the ones who “influence change in the industry.”

On any given day, staff from ABS might use one office, while next door, veterinary professionals analyze data they’re gathering at the yard. Those would be staff from the Hays, Kan.,-based Veterinary Research and Consulting Services (VRCS).

“The facility, with the managers and Tom’s visionary thinking and ability to think outside the box, it allows us the avenue to try different things, different products and different management strategies to give us valid results that will help us make improvements all along the production chain,” says Miles Theurer, research director for VRCS and Hy-Plains Feedyard.

Watch why we love Tom Jones and everything he’s doing at Hy-Plains Feedyard.

Cattle feeder turned tour guide

They’re able to find new answers, while externally sharing answers the industry already knows.

“We do have a great story to tell, it’s just hard to find the time to do it,” Jones says.

So they make time.

“My biggest desire was to be able to bring in a busload of fourth graders and have them watch us process cattle,” he says.

Jones hosts the leadership from McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr. in the same place where 120 elementary students from neighboring schools come out for a field day. One day he’s tackling global environmental challenges as a member of the U.S. Roundtable on Sustainable Beef and the next he’s training college-age interns.

They all get the same version of Jones, someone who is focused, competitive and serious about providing the best care he can for the cattle in his yard.

A push to get better

Don’t ask how many cattle they can work in an hour.

“Processing cattle is not a timed event,” Jones says definitively. “When we spend time teaching stockmanship skills to our employees, the cattle are not stressed. They are more comfortable so they perform better. We work as quietly as possible.”

It takes extra work and hours to collect data and to do it right.

“These people we have on staff are very interested in making a difference,” Jones says.

His push to get better and desire to win are as much a part of how he was raised—and people who mentored him along the way—as they are a personal philosophy.

From his own dad, the farm boy learned hard work and getting by with less. As a cattle buyer for IBP (now Tyson) and then Hy-Plains Dressed Beef, Jones learned about business. Working for feeding pioneer Earl Brookover, first as a pen rider when he was young and later managing Brookover Ranch Feedyard, Jones saw the importance of setting an example worth following.

“You have to own something in your life. It doesn’t matter if you own the job where you are working or you buy land or own your business. Own what you do,” he says.

When cattle leave Hy-Plains Feedyard, Tom Jones knows his name is on every single one. It weighs on him to reach a little higher each day.

All-in cattle feeding

Timmerman family receives CAB honors

Story and photos by Miranda Reiman

September 25, 2019

They were raising children with diverse skillsets and diverging dreams.

Veteran cattle feeders Norm and Sharon Timmerman, of McCook, Neb., encouraged their children to follow their own passions, and they did. After college, Jason started with Timmerman Feeding near Omaha, while CPA Kristin ran her own accounting firm and Ryan pursued a degree in business management with a sports and recreation option.

Today, they have all returned to the family business that now includes, Jason and Wendy, Kristin and husband Jeff Stagemeyer, and later Ryan and wife Nicole.

“It’s nice to be that good of friends with your family members, who like to work together,” Norm says. “It all fell into place.”

The family brings a shared trust and camaraderie to the work they do for the feeding company they jointly own: NA Timmerman Inc. They started in 2012 with yards at Indianola, Neb., and McDonald and Colby, Kan., now also including locations near Holyoke and Sterling, Colo., with a one-time feeding capacity of 80,000 head.

For their dedication to grid marketing, feeding premium cattle and a call to doing the best job every time, the Norm Timmerman family received the 2019 Feedyard Commitment to Excellence Award from the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand.

The quality kind

“There are a lot of small feedlots that specialize in the high-quality type, but larger feeders don’t always have the benefit of picking and choosing what cattle they feed. They need to keep the pens full and often feed a wide variety,” says Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist for the brand. “They’ve really evolved over the last 20 years or so, under Jason’s vision, to procure cattle that will do well on a grid.”

In 2005, the Timmermans tested grid marketing with sales of 2,100 head on a Cargill formula. Today that number is closer to 150,000 annually. It’s changed their procurement and it’s changed their harvest targets.

“We keep the feedyard full and we manage our risk and we try to maximize our performance to the best of the ability of our cattle,” he says, “versus the old cash system: hurry and sell, or wait and make them too big. When they’re ready, they’re ready, we just keep rolling and just manage the risk on the other side of it.”

Despite a difficult winter and early spring for Great Plains cattle feeding, the Timmerman marketings still hit 38% CAB and Prime for a three-month average into this summer. In recent years with more cooperation from Mother Nature, their branded quality numbers have been significantly higher across the board.

Jason and Jeff have extensively used artificial insemination on the 700-head cow herd they own together, which shows them the impact of genetics on the final results. Three years of feedyard data on the progeny reveals more than half of make CAB and Prime.

“When we get a pen of high-grading cattle that have a lot of CABs, it directly affects us,” Jason says, “because it’s money in our pocket.”

The entire Timmerman family is committed to excellence. See why we love them and their quest for quality.

Extra effort

“Hard work will give you a lot of luck,” Norm says.

Pen maintenance, feed delivery and cattle health monitoring—they all add up.

“There is no room for error. It’s a sole responsibility,” Ryan says. “The job we do at the feedlot impacts our customers. There’s a lot of money involved…it’s their livelihood.”

It’s not like a Timmerman to let people down.

“These are the things that are important to the Timmerman family: their faith, being a good family member, working hard at what you’re doing,” Kristin says.

She and Jeff bring a fresh perspective to the finances, giving purchasing advice and making insurance decisions.

“My dad and I knew the outside very well, but needed someone in the back that could complement us–luckily we had family that could do that,” Jason says.

Leo’s legacy

They had a good example of seeing partnership in action. Timmerman Feeding of Springfield, Neb., started by Leo Timmerman, was into the hands of the next generation, brothers Gerald, James, Ronnie and Norm, when they expanded to Indianola, some 250 miles west.

“This was a farm and we built it from scratch. The office started in our trailer house, where we lived,” Norm says, giving credit to Sharon. She kept the books there by day and made it a home by night.

By this decade, with the third generation involved, it was a natural time to let each Timmerman branch individually exercise their entrepreneurial spirit.

They gave their children the opportunity Leo Timmerman gave them.

“It evolved to where I was doing more, more and more,” Jason says, noting the risk management shifted to him through the years. “Then it’s how do you keep it organized? Trial and error. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.”

Years like 2014 remind them it’s fun to make money. Years like 2015 keep them humble.

“I don’t think it will ever be easy. You’re in an environment dealing with people, dealing with Mother Nature. You’ve got the element of risk,” Jason says. “It will never be easy, it’s just about how you manage your way through it.”

History says they’ll do it. Being a Timmerman means they’ll do it well.

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