$33,500 for beef community’s future

by Micah Mensing

Six college students in beef and related studies have earned $33,500 in scholarships from the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand.

Established in 1999, CAB’s Colvin Scholarship Fund has supported education of more than 70 future leaders in agriculture and animal science. It honors the brand’s founding executive director of 21 years, Louis M. “Mick” Colvin, carrying on his legacy of making dreams a reality and inspiring others to do their best.

2019 Colvin Scholarship Awards:
$7,500 – Kylie Phillips, Inverness, Fla. — University of Florida
$6,500 – Claudia Hissong, Greencastle, Penn. — Kansas State University
$5,000 – Kaylynn Kiker, Allison, Texas – Texas Tech University
$4,000 – Gabrielle DiRusso, Ames, Iowa – Iowa State University
$3,000 – Tanner Wansing, Dixon, Mo. – Lincoln University

Graduate Awards:
$7,500 – Chandler Steele, Bryan, Texas – Texas A&M University

CAB President John Stika said merely being a “good student” is not enough to win one of these competitive scholarships.

“For individuals at the very beginning of their careers, those selected as winners have already demonstrated strong involvement in the beef industry and an even stronger commitment to its continual improvement,” he said.

“While all the students who submitted applications were worthy, Kylie Phillips and Chandler Steele both demonstrated a level of engagement, understanding and leadership in the industry rare among many young people who have already entered the industry, let alone those who are still students,” Stika said. “Their list of activities and plans for the future instilled a great deal of confidence that they will make a positive impact on the beef business moving forward.”

With 150 USDA branded beef programs and countless advertising campaigns using the “Angus” term, the brand challenged students to consider how CAB should differentiate itself.

Top undergraduate winner Phillips, Florida senior in animal sciences, suggested “putting a face to the producer” through packaging or case displays.

The average Millennial retail buyer “wants to feel more connected to the production of their food, but without being involved in the process,” she wrote.

On the other hand, chefs and foodservice buyers want more involvement and technology could help build relationships beyond live seminars, outreach events and ranch tours. She envisions “an app where producers, chefs and the brand could post updates with pictures, to capitalize on the Millennials’ need to be connected.”

Block chain technology could offer more transparency to go with the connectivity and assure a leading position above all other beef brands, Phillips concluded.

Claudia Hissong, senior in animal science at Kansas State University, won the runner-up spot sharing insight on the younger “Generation Z,” potentially “the most influential generation in America.”

“Gen Z finds it extremely important to trust brands, and they value authenticity in marketing,” so she pointed to a need for marketing strategies that “highlight CAB’s ten specifications.”

Animal science senior Kaylynn Kiker, Texas Tech University, wrote, “From those who raise beef, those who cook beef and those who love to eat beef, CAB has a way of connecting with each and every group.” She credits the brand’s ability to provide a familiar, trustworthy product with exceptional quality for the brand’s success.

Winner of the $4,000 award, Gabrielle DiRusso, of Iowa State University, wrote, “To rise above the rest, CAB can choose to prioritize not only informing consumers about these standards but focus on giving producers the tools to understand why.” She also stressed working with retail partners to educate consumers about the 10 quality-based specifications.

Lincoln University animal science junior Tanner Wansing suggested a “Meet your Meat” campaign that would “allow consumers to have a closer relationship with the farmer who raised the meat they are consuming and to understand better the hard work and passion that went into developing that product.”

The Colvin Scholarship Fund began its graduate student awards in 2012, opening doors to anyone in a recognized, full-time masters or doctorate program related to high-quality beef production.

Chandler Steele’s research demonstrates her interest in ensuring consumers get a uniform beef product every time they order the premium protein. The meat science master’s student at Texas A&M and graduate-award winner wrote, “With beef carcass weights continually increasing, the challenge of providing various segments of the supply chain with a uniform product becomes more difficult.”

Solving that problem at the packer level, will create more value all the way down the supply chain, she wrote, crediting the Texas Beef Council for supporting her work through a teaching and research assistantship.

Top award winners Phillips and Steele receive all-expense-paid trips to the 2019 CAB Annual Conference in Asheville, N.C., September 23-25. There, they will interact with leaders in beef production, packaging, retail and foodservice.

**DemKota begins producing the Certified Angus Beef^® brand**

by Miranda Reiman

April 8, 2019

In the heart of South Dakota—a state ranked fourth in yearly Angus registrations, where all cattle outnumber people four to one—there’s been a bit of a desert for marketers of high-quality fed cattle.

Many finished animals are still shipped to neighboring states for processing, but DemKota Ranch Beef, a packing plant in Aberdeen, S.D., is looking to keep a higher percentage of them close to home.

Recently signing on as the first and only plant in the state to license with the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand, it produced the official first pound for the brand this week, April 2.

“We’re excited about focusing on more of a relationship with our local feeders, and truly getting this plant to meet the goals those initial investors envisioned,” says Todd Landfried. The vice president of branded/export sales and marketing for DemKota notes the plant was built on hopes of supporting the state’s feeding industry and its cow-calf suppliers.

First opened in 2012, the plant is now operated by its third owner, New Angus LLC, funded by San Francisco-based investment firm White Oak Global Advisers.

“The cattle industry is looking very favorable for the next three, if not four or five years, and we’re in the middle of cattle country,” Landfried says. “Our advantage is that corn is plentiful and cheap in this market. Diets are very similar from feeder to feeder, so you’re going to get a consistent taste bringing it in from a small region like that.”

Today, they source cattle from a 250-mile radius of Aberdeen, but plan to reduce that circle as the business moves to a higher percentage of fed cattle in the 1,250-head daily harvest.

“We were killing cutter and canner cows, just to train the work force. Then as we evolved, we moved to white-fat cows and then to fed cattle,” Jeff Russo, DemKota vice president of procurement, says. “For the fed cattle, we’re looking at high-quality black cattle.

“We’ve been about 80% black hided and at least 80% Choice and higher. Our goal is to have as minimal yield grade fours (YG4) and fives as we can,” he says, explaining the target.

The company has invested in a professional sales force, building a strategy around independent specialty meat companies and branded sales.

“The mature cattle program will always be an important part of our portfolio as we focus on growing the under-30-month fed program,” Landfried says. “As we ramp up our Angus fed program, it’s about those relationships we currently have in place and giving them more of a consistent volume.

“We envision working with these partners to make sure they’re putting high-quality cattle on feed that come from a good genetic background,” he says.

Currently most cattle are sold in the beef and cattlemen get that carcass information back they can use to benchmark their herds.

Russo says DemKota is competitive with bids, and there’s freight savings, but they can’t take all the area cattle.

“We only have so much shackle space,” he notes.

In order to reach the plant’s 1,500 head-per-day floor capacity, they’d need to invest in more cooler space, so the near-term target is to reach 1,300 head, Landfried says.

“As we get more of a database, we’ll sort out who has the best cattle and they’ll be the first priority,” Russo says. “We want to get the best ones here.”

Clint Walenciak, CAB director of packing, says is he looking forward to the growth of DemKota’s fed business and the partnership between the two companies.

As a point of differentiation from other licensed processors, DemKota sells the brand in a dedicated CAB box, solid-color with a prominent logo, so the beef stands out among a sea of brands.

“There are very few in the industry putting out a branded CAB box,” he says. The product is the same across all facilities, but to certain customers that upscale packaging is a selling point.

“When they trade in these premium programs, and other competing brands have nice-looking boxes, they want the largest premium branded beef program to have packaging that matches our strict specifications.”

What’s good for the brand is also good for producers in the Angus-heavy state, Walenciak notes.

“Their licensing allows us to tap into a great supply of cattle that are high-percentage Angus and typically grade very well,” he says.

The Path to 2 Billion

by Mark McCully

March 20, 2019

Could the Certified Angus Beef^® brand (CAB®)reach a billion pounds in sales?

It was an audacious question back at the turn of the century when first considered. Some of the CAB team at the time were, candidly, more optimistic than me. We did the math and looked at so many of the trend lines that were in place from acceptance rates to certified head count.

I wondered if the industry could respond.

We knew the demand was strong, but could cattlemen make changes fast enough? Was the signal being sent clear and persistent enough? Were we going to be able to produce the supply and turn around some of those trend lines to meet that demand?

That’s been proven, and proven in an enormous way now. We surpassed 1 billion pounds of sales in 2017 and marketed 1.212 billion last fiscal year.

But that story has already been told. Now we’re wondering, “What about 2 billion?”

We think it’s not an “if” question—this is probably more of a “when” question.

It’s not a matter of arrogance. It’s a matter of confidence in Angus producers, what we’ve learned about demand, the growing equity in the brand, and about this premium beef marketplace. We don’t believe there’s any going back, and so I look at this with a lot of optimism and amazement at how much the industry has responded thus far, and likely how much is still to come.

The how and the why

Of course our supply is highly dictated by overall cattle numbers. Experts assume we’re going to peak out on fed cattle numbers next year, and then likely see lower inventories as we enter a 10- to 12-year kind of normal cattle cycle.

We know brand supply has benefited from the most recent herd rebuilding but that’s not necessarily going to be the case for the next five to eight years as we head into this cycle downturn. It’s hard to predict but it could be something like a peak of 26.8 million and then a decline of a couple million head at the cycle bottom.

In the early years of the CAB program, to increase supply, we’d license another packer. Could we pick up additional supply by licensing another one now? Perhaps, but today 85% of the North American packing base already certifies product for the brand. We anticipate that number remaining stable.

There are two major places we anticipate growth:

Angus influence. The trend has been toward more and more Angus genetics used in the North American cow herd, and we believe that will continue an upward swing to about 80%. That’s recognizing we’re not going to turn the entire cow herd black, but it follows the pattern we’ve seen for the past several years, with a percentage-point increase annually.

Increased brand acceptance rate. Even though we’ll see an increase in Angus type, it’s not enough to offset what we predict for a drop in cattle inventories. That means we will see fewer head identified, or eligible for brand evaluation. (Basically there will be fewer Angus-type cattle walking in to plants, even though the percentage of Angus usage is larger than ever before.) That means of the ones evaluated, more will have to meet all 10 carcass specifications – and the ‘Modest 0 or higher’ marbling specification will continue to be the most limiting.

The rate of change on CAB acceptance rates, or the number of cattle certified for the brand out of all possible candidates, has been incredibly dramatic the past 10 to 12 years (see chart). It starts with our seedstock operations, and today that genetic focus is still being managed to include selection for marbling. Those are the genetics that are going to be out in our commercial population in the next three to six years. There’s nothing that indicates a handful of years from now we’re going to see anything other than a continuation of high-marbling-potential genetics, especially considering yet another generation of selection pressure.

The biggest threat to quality grade would be a catastrophic weather event that pushes feed prices beyond the value of beef. Economics that force shorter days on feed (DOF) would negatively impact acceptance rates.

Beyond head count, the pounds sold from each carcass, or what we refer to as “carcass utilization”, is the next big variable to consider when thinking about hitting 2 billion pounds.

We need to identify about eight million head of cattle in order to reach 2 billion pounds, if we keep carcass utilization steady. Last year, an average of 233 pounds of each carcass certified for the brand was sold as CAB. That number is governed by factors such as supply in relation to demand as well as overall demand for other upper 2/3 Choice branded programs.

In the past few years, brand sales growth has been strong but short of keeping pace with supply due to the combination of large fed-cattle numbers and dramatically higher acceptance rates. In the end, our per-head utilization has been lower. As brand sales continue to grow and supplies become tighter, we expect utilization to grow.

Taking fed cattle inventories and factoring in a consistent packing base, increasing Angus type cattle and rising quality grades, with either a steady or increasing carcass utilization, we can forecast a conservative, likely and aggressive model for reaching annual sales of 2 billion pounds of CAB.

Static carcass utilization puts us there by 2030. If demand dictates we sell more pounds per head, then maybe we only need 7.5 million head and we start seeing that number hit by 2026 or 2027.

If you’re a cattleman who has been aiming for the high-quality beef market, this might all sound fascinating but also a little concerning. Will my premium still be there if the rest of the industry is catching up?

It’s a valid concern as CAB goes from accounting for 18% of the fed cattle business today, to a quarter or even higher by the end of the next decade.

That is until you talk about the buyers of this product.

All of our assumptions are based on the fact that demand has kept pace with the supply, and we have every reason to believe that will continue. Access to more product has helped us grow demand in a significant way over the past five to ten years, and we think that will be the case in the future. When we have supply available, it allows us new customers. We can access new markets. That allows us to keep that premium—the difference or spread between the CAB carcass and a Choice carcass—constant or growing. Now we have more cattle that are able to bring a premium value in the marketplace, which we think is good for the overall beef industry and definitely continues to drive our mission of increasing demand for registered Angus genetics.

We currently have a dedicated focus on our CAB Prime sales and believe this brand extension will become a more significant component to our overall sales. As that supply doubled in the last few years, we’ve doubled down on sales and marketing efforts. Last year, CAB Prime grew 31.2%.

About a third of all brand growth last year came from international sales. We will continue to see that in the mix based on prospects for global demand. But knowing it’s never smart to “put all of our eggs in one basket,” we will rely on strategies that include growth in domestic foodservice and retail business as well.

Of course, no one has the perfect crystal ball, but it’s fun to think about what it could look like. As we’ve grown supply the last few years, demand has kept pace; our premiums and our spreads have stayed large and significant. Every indication is that if we produce 2 billion pounds, there will be healthy demand and consistent premiums paid for it.

That begs the question: Will you be one who supplies it?

When Beef Thanks Chicken

A value-added products team works with partners to create items like Beeftisserie.

U.S. retail stores sold more than 245 million pounds (lb.) of fully cooked beef last year. That might sound good until you read all of that Power of Meat survey: retailers sold seven times more ready-to-eat chicken.

Much of that was rotisserie style, and beef aims to capture a fair share with its own Beeftisserie^®, introduced last fall by Golden West Food Group, of Vernon, Calif.

Shoppers won’t stop buying rotisserie chicken, but they’ll likely come in another time for a beef meal, says Mark Gwin, product integration manager for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand.

“It’s not replacing chicken,” he says, “but selling chicken’s customers a higher-quality, more flavorful product, too.”

Where do ideas for value-added beef products come from? How does one idea rise to sell alongside a giant like rotisserie chicken? The answers come down to value in the eye of the consumer, Gwin says. Anticipating demand is the goal.

“Consumers are going to give you the idea, and you move that idea into reality,” he says.

“Customers are going to give you the idea, and you move that idea into reality.”

Mark Gwin

Product Integration Manager

Cuts with opportunity

Each story of how that happens is unique. The Beeftisserie idea started decades ago when Gwin worked for a retail company.

“Every morning I’d see a lineup of chicken trucks, and I wondered what all those chicken trucks were unloading,” he says. “It was ice-packed chicken, whole birds. They were preparing those in rotisserie cookers, and I noticed there weren’t any other proteins there.”

Chicken costs less and has held popularity in the market for some time, but Gwin saw an opportunity for beef and other proteins alongside it.

“I’ve always seen a need for several things: No. 1 is utilizing what used to be called ‘value cuts,’ and I like to call them opportunity cuts,” he says.

Anyone who knows Gwin knows he likes to consider the chuck roll in many projects.

“It’s got such high quality muscles in that huge piece of meat,” he says. However, “it had so many seams, so many parts and pieces you have to go through,” labor overcame the price-value relationship. “That’s one reason we couldn’t make it work for Beeftisserie.”

In the 1990s, he was working to develop beef cuts with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which was attempting rotisserie-style items with knuckle from the round.

“I told them, ‘You guys are using the wrong cut—you’re going to have to specify something to do with quality or something to make it more consistent,’” Gwin recalls.

The rotisserie cooking method demanded it.

The project didn’t pan out at the time but it would much later, when qualifications for consistency could be included.

Ready-to-eat meat

Consistency is a constant for value-added products, but it does not always begin as an idea based on a proven product like fully-cooked rotisserie chicken.

A first-of-its-kind “burnt ends” product sells well in foodservice for CAB-partner processor Double L Ranch Meats, a Lower family brand in Richman, Utah. The company didn’t begin with value-added processing, but soon realized the opportunity to move in that direction.

“We’ve seen a lot of growth,” says Lee Lower, specialist with value-added products. “My great-grandpa started our business, but we were just doing custom slaughtering for the local farmers and ranchers. As the generations shift and things evolve, people are always looking for closer, ready-to-go and ready-to-serve characteristics.”

Foodservice orders are bread and butter for the Lower family.

“We try to make something that’s easy for our customers to serve, and something we know will be successful,” Lower says. “Recently we just got the burnt ends on a menu at a large football stadium.”

Convenience pleases foodservice, but it’s increasingly relevant to home cooks. Double L Ranch Meats even sells CABLondon-broil flank steak and a smoked, sliced brisket through Amazon.

“Our foodservice customers want to try our products, and Amazon allows us to ship these same products right to their door,” Lower says. “Cattle ranchers or people that live out in rural areas can still get the products that anyone can get in the big city, and we’re trying to make sure we can get those products to them.”

Through a “Smoke Craft” line, Double L Ranch Meats sells both smoked brisket and burnt ends to foodservice businesses.

For Beeftisserie, its convenience feeds the demands of young professionals and young families. Gwin says price is no big hurdle because beef is higher quality than chicken.

“Millennials want what they want, when they want it, how they want it, and they want it now,” he says. “And price isn’t necessarily an inhibiting factor.”

The product also appeals to an on-the-go audience because there are no bones. Consumers expect a single or whole-muscle piece of meat, Gwin says. That’s why the chuck roll was traded for the tri-tip to create the ideal Beeftisserie.

As a recipe for success, each new product needs buy-in from the CAB Value-Added Products Division, a processor and a selling point such as retail chain or foodservice distributor, all believing in it.

Last summer, Gwin approached Zack Levenson at Golden West Food Group regarding a rotisserie beef item.

“I loved the idea from the instant he brought it up,” Levenson says. “They were working on this formulation, apparently for a long time. We put it all together and made it happen.”

The product launched later that fall at the CAB Annual Conference. Then it was time to partner with a retailer.

Meijer’s in Toledo, Ohio, is testing Beeftisserie in a fall 2018 rollout, and it’s predicted to expand from there.

“We could think of the best thing ever—and it might be the best thing ever—but if it doesn’t translate over to the average consumer, then we have a failure on our hands,” Levenson says. “It’s a planning process.”

The ability to adapt Beeftisserie for other uses has quickly become important.

“It’s not just the wonderful roast that you get in the hot bar,” he says. “It’s the repurposing of the product. They could shred it and make a pulled item for example. Or they can slice it.”

Pushing through the process from an initial idea, to recipe tests with processors, numerous rounds of troubleshooting and finally on into the market—is it worth it?

Gwin, Lower and Levenson all say yes, and so do others who work with adding value to beef.

“A value-added products division is a very integral part of any organization at this point in time,” Gwin says.

There’s always something new in the works, something to grab the taste buds of tomorrow’s consumer. In the past, CAB brand beef bacon by Schmacon® made waves. Processor Colorado Premium finds success with a corned beef product. Fajita meat, frozen ground beef patties and beef franks remain as other popular items in further processing.

“As we get into the Amazon age, it’s going to be extremely important that we’re able to say, ‘We make the product consistent. CAB certifies the quality of the product,’” Gwin says. “We, by definition, make it more consistent on quality.”

With consumers demanding convenient proteins, the fully-cooked meat market rose 1.7% in 2017, according to those Nielsen statistics in the Power of Meat. From an idea to the hands of consumers, one setback could prevent the product from holding its share in the market, so teams move forward and collaborate.

These signs affirm optimism for the success of value-added products like Beeftisserie. In this case, beef has chicken to thank for paving the way.

“People can depend on going into Food City or Kroger or Costco or Meijer’s or wherever, at 5 o’clock at night, and they have dinner for their family at 5:30,” Gwin says. “The retail rotisserie chicken program has bred dependence on that area of dinner.”

Now it’s time for beef to have a spot at the table.

This story by Sarah Moyer originally ran in the February 2019 Angus Journal.

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A “rebranding” for the brand’s producer-facing effort

by Sarah Moyer

To make it easier for cattlemen to identify and access online resources, the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand revitalized its virtual presence on producer-focused communications channels.

It’s all to better serve the cattlemen who own and supply the brand, says Nicole Erceg, CAB producer communications specialist.

“We’re proud to reintroduce ourselves to cattlemen as the Certified Angus Beef brand Cattleman Connection,” she says. The new look, accessible at www.cabcattle.com, launched at the 2018 Angus Convention.

Sharee Sankey of Sankey’s 6N Ranch near Council Grove, Kan., says she and husband Chris often visited the website before the updates and were impressed by the changes.

“I loved the logo,” she says. “It helps separate the main CAB website from this one.”

Erceg says the new name helps cattlemen recognize resources tailored specifically for them.

“I recommend cattlemen consider bookmarking this website,” she says. “It’s consistently updated with tools designed to help add value to your bottom line.”

Resources include news articles, market insights, success stories, research summaries and new management techniques. It’s an all-encompassing tool for cattlemen targeting quality beef production.

For seedstock breeders, the new site includes detailed information on how to leverage the Targeting the Brand program to market Angus bulls. Value calculators and tips for marketing feeder cattle are available for the commercial producer.

“It’s an effort to help demonstrate how the dollars generated from our brand flow back to the ranch,” Erceg says.

Packers pay producers more than $75 million annually in premiums for cattle that meet the brand’s ten quality specifications.

“That’s not just pocket change,” she says. “We strive to help cattlemen capture their piece of those premium dollars.”

The brand’s first producer-facing website, CABpartners.com, was named for its prominent feedyard partner program that operated for 15 years. As producer outreach efforts grew, technology and branding required an evolution with the change in programs. The addition of a blog and social media channels for the production audience began as “Black Ink from the Certified Angus Beef brand.” The most recent update brings all channels under one umbrella with a new name and look.

“As a premium beef brand, we work to ensure each interaction anyone has with the brand is a reflection of the quality beef we market,” Erceg says. “This new website and updated branding brings a new, premium experience to our cattleman resources by making them easier to find, read and use on any device.”

Sankey says ease of use is a necessity, because she checks the website for quick updates while on the go.

“It makes you want to come back and look at the news or information that’s going to challenge you,” she says. “With technology, you can do more, but we’re all busier, too.”

Cattlemen can connect with the brand online through the new website, cabcattle.com and on social media. Follow @CABcattle on Instagram and Twitter and “Certified Angus Beef brand Cattleman Connection” on Facebook.

Recipes, where to buy the brand and corporate information is still available at CertifiedAngusBeef.com, the consumer-facing website.

Premium Positioning

CAB annual conference inspires beef marketers

I’m not all that fancy. I grew up wearing second-hand clothes and riding in farm trucks. My siblings and I thought the Super 8 was an upscale motel because they had a pool.

Still today, I rarely find myself in a town with a five-star restaurant.

So when I get the opportunity to attend an event like our Certified Angus Beef^® brand (CAB®) brand annual conference, I often find myself in awe. The food, the venue….the hoopla!

This year we celebrated the 40^th anniversary of the brand in Maui, Hawaii, in September. The annual event brought together attendees from 43 states and 18 countries, representing all parts of the beef chain.

There was a state of the brand.

“Today, Certified Angus Beef represented 18.5% of all fed cattle harvested, while USDA Select has declined to 17.7%,” CAB president John Stika said. “When you look at that dramatic of a shift in the quality of this industry, during a period of only 10 years, that strongly suggests what you’re doing with your efforts have a direct impact on this industry, changing its direction and aligning it more closely with consumers. In doing so, creating a more sustainable future for all of us.”

There were motivation sessions.

“What you all have achieved in the last 40 years is not an accident,” said Chris Hogan, former college football standout now working with finance and life coach Dave Ramsey. “Where you are is not an accident and where you go in the next two, four, six years won’t be an accident either. Hard work, focus, effort, sacrifice and intentional leadership will help you get there.”

There were practical, deep-into-business sessions for everyone from retailers and chefs to restaurant owners and foodservice distributors. We talked Prime availability. We talked mobile technology trends and sustainability. We talked employee development.

Then we ate A LOT of good beef. Seven executive chefs and 25 cooks fed—and wowed—the crowds. There was beef for breakfast (steak and eggs anyone?) and lunch (from burgers to brisket, dozens and dozens of new value-added products) and dinner (Prime smoked filet of strip, with a demi-glace).

Our culinary team roasted an entire side of beef on the beach. (It had a different feel than a hog roast in a machine shed, that’s for sure!) Passersby stopped to snap selfies while the waves crashed in the background.

The tropical backdrop just complemented the exceptional level of detail our education team is known for, from the moment attendees walked up to the barn-front registration desk to the finale fireworks.

There were too many special touches to count.

But don’t confuse the intention as an attempt to show off. A closer look shows it’s not frivolous, it’s necessary.

We want chefs to feature the high-quality beef you raise, listed on menus where they can charge $100/plate. We want retailers to use the brand as a way to build customer loyalty. We want our partners to serve the beef when a celebrity event comes to town and feature it their strategic marketing plans.

If they’re going to sell CAB as a premium brand, they first have to see it as such. If we expect them to pay more for it, we have to prove to them it deserves that place.

During my first week of orientation with CAB, I had lunch with Tracey Erickson, our vice president of marketing. That was 2006, and I still remember the conversation about separating ourselves from commodity beef. It went beyond the specifications to the positioning.

“If we were giving chocolate as a gift, we wouldn’t give M & M tins, we’d give Godiva,” Tracey told me. “We are a premium brand, so we need to be in that category in all areas.”

I may not be fancy, but I can certainly fancy a strategy that puts more money back in producers’ pockets.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

About the author: Miranda Reiman

I love this life. Things that top my list? God, my family, rural life, agriculture and working for the brand. I’m officially the director of producer communications, which basically means I get to learn from lots of smart people and pass that information along to other smart people: YOU. I’m fortunate to work with producers and others in the beef community from my Nebraska-based home office here in the heart of cattle country. (One other delicious job perk? Any time we meet, there’s sure to be good beef involved.)

“Roast Perfect” app takes the guesswork out of roasting beef

Comprehensive tool for the holidays offers hands-on help in the kitchen

by Miranda Reiman

Beef roasts could become the centerpiece of more holiday meals, if only consumers could get more comfortable with cooking them.

That’s according to a study by the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand, using Toluna AutomateSurvey online.

“Most consumers say turkey and ham are appropriate holiday traditions, but more than 40% say they’re looking to try something new this year,” said Emily Whiting, CAB assistant director of research and account marketing. “Holiday hosts have a chance to wow their guests.”

Four in 10 people polled said they’d like to learn how to roast more effectively. They view a beef roast as the king of holiday parties and festivities. But it’s just so darn intimidating.

Among the challenges they cite: beef roasts aren’t easy to prepare (19%), they don’t know how to roast (14%), or they don’t know which cut to use (10%).

Help is here.

CAB’s Roast Perfect app, free for both Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, is designed to give consumers the information they need to select the ideal roast and prepare it to the perfect endpoint. It includes a built-in interactive timer, which accounts for the particular cut of beef, its size and the desired doneness. The app prompts the cook every step of the way.

It also includes a variety of chef-developed and tested recipes for roasts and side dishes, step-by-step video tutorials, a portion calculator and more.

“We want to help give consumers the information and confidence they need to start a new holiday tradition,” said Tracey Erickson, vice president of marketing for the brand. “We understand that for some consumers, purchasing and preparing a roast can be daunting, so we want to set all cooks up for success. Roast Perfect is the result of extensive real-world research by our culinary team. It’s a foolproof way for any cook to choose and prepare the perfect roast for their table.”

Besides a wide selection of cuts, techniques and recipes perfect for traditional oven roasts, the app also provides instructions and recipes on braising (pot roasts) for everyday meals.

The Roast Perfect app includes the following features:

Select a Roast: from a tenderloin to rib roast to top round, users can choose a cut (descriptions are included) and the total number of people to be served. The app then calculates the amount of beef to buy, as well as selected recipes for that cut and side-dish pairings.
Recipes and Tips: browse recipes by roast type or search keywords. Learn how to choose a roast, tie a roast and carve a roast. A degree-of-doneness guide illustrates how to achieve the perfect cooking time.
Roast Timer: Simply select your preferred cut, weight and desired degree of doneness, and the interactive timer is customized for a perfect result. Just click, cook and enjoy with no guesswork.

Certified Angus Beef^® brand elevates beef industry

by Nicole Lane Erceg

It’s a Cinderella story that never seems to grow old. An Ohio Angus breeder went out to eat and ordered an Angus steak that turned out terrible. The experience sparked an idea for a certified brand of beef that would be enjoyed 40 years later, in the U.S. and 50 other countries around the world.

The story was recounted from the main stage at the National Angus Convention and Trade Show, in Columbus, Ohio, last month. John Stika, Certified Angus Beef LLC president, also told of challenges overcome to achieve a 2018 sales record of 1.212 billion pounds sold.

“Just like rungs on a ladder, this brand continues to build on itself,” he told the crowd.

Focusing on the last decade of the brand, he reminded breeders that while the graphs for demand and sales move up and to the right, the growth happened during challenging years on the ranch. Drought, an economic crash and tight cattle supplies presented enormous hurdles, but the brand’s numbers consistently got better.

“It speaks directly to your willingness and ability as Angus breeders to supply the demand that is out there for premium beef and the Certified Angus Beef brand around the world,” he said.

Records can’t be set without an increasing supply of qualified cattle. Accomplishing the 2018 CAB sales required 5.18 million carcasses, a 14% increase over 2017.

“If you look back 10 to 12 years, you see during that period we were qualifying about 2 million cattle per year,” he said. “Today we’re certifying 100,000 head each week.”

In 2008, CAB represented less than 10% of the fed cattle inventory. That same year, USDA Select accounted for one-third of all fed cattle harvested. Ten years later the brand accounts for 18.5% of the nation’s fed cattle while Select has declined to 17.5%.

The shift translates to added value for beef producers. Packers pay producers $1.4 million per week in premiums for cattle that meet the brand’s 10 science-based specifications representing one of the best marketing incentives available.

Driving dollars back to the ranch wasn’t always this easy — or this profitable. It took nine years from the date the brand began before the the first premium was realized. The 20-year total for CAB grid premiums is about $700 million, more than half of which has been paid in the last seven years.

“We’ve aligned our business more closely to the needs of consumers,” he said. “Along the way, we’ve created a more sustainable future for all of us,” Stika shared.

Looking to the future, he said continued success hinges on the brand’s ability to build on consumer trust. Initiatives on the horizon include elevating the relevance of brand resources and services for both producers and end users and enhancing the brand experience for consumers.

“What’s exciting is that I don’t believe this brand has arrived,” Stika said, casting the vision for what’s on the horizon for CAB. “We’ve just reached a 40-year milestone. There is more to capture, more to accomplish, more demand to build and more pull-through dollars to feed back into production agriculture.”

NEAR THE PINNACLE OF BEEF QUALITY

Angus Value Discovery Contest winners named.

by Nicole Lane Erceg and Laura Conaway

It 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.

To the northwest 400 miles or more, another set of brothers gave the Boyers a run for their money.

Aaron and Darin Georg run a purebred commercial Angus herd of 500 near Sabetha, Kan. Raising cattle with the end in mind has been their focus since the early 1990s, and it lifted them to the Reserve Champion level in the 2018 AVDC.

The Georgs have been finishing their own cattle on the farm for more than 20 years.

“We select for carcass merit because that’s where the value is,” Aaron says.

Their reserve champion pen achieved 97.6% CAB (all but one), including 61.9% CAB brand Prime. What made their pen a close second was the fact that only one of the 42 head earned a YG 4 discount, with no YG 5s.

“A Choice, YG 3 carcass is par for the course,” Darin says. “We’ve got to consistently do better than that.”

Carcass data is a key indicator of performance for their herd. They regularly see loads grade 30% Prime or better as they target improved growth and efficiency. They watch the numbers closely and work to see ever fewer YG 4s with continued increases in Prime on their closeouts.

“If you have cattle that can perform, we believe it’s in our best interest to retain them and capture the value,” Darin says.

For those interested in retained ownership, the brothers say stay the course and cull deep. It’s an end goal their family has been targeting for decades and are justifiably proud of the progress so far.

Their seedstock supplier is Keith Taliaferro’s T Bar T Angus Ranch at nearby Effingham, Kan.

The first year of the AVDC drew 27 nominations by nine suppliers on 1,914 finished cattle from across the country. Its second year managed only 929 head in 13 entries, although overall quality was greater.

Contest winners earned trips to the National Angus Convention, in Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 4-7, 2018, where they received the awards. The Boyer’s Grand Champion pen merited $2,000 in credit toward their next bull purchase with Gardiner Angus Ranch, while the Georgs earned a $1000 credit to spend with T Bar T Angus Ranch.

There are no plans to continue the AVDC, but all Angus producers are encouraged to take stock of the quality in their herds, to monitor, measure and improve carcass merit for greater profit and growing consumer demand for beef.

“As CAB acceptance rates continue to climb, we know producers have to remain focused just to stay above average,” says production brand manager Kara Lee. “The Angus Value Discover Contest has been a great opportunity to showcase those who have done that in a very big way, with the payoff to show for it.”

Apply now for CAB Colvin Scholarships

by Jera Pipkin

Students already helping lead the beef community could win a share of $33,500 by applying online for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand’s Colvin Scholarship. The Fund has awarded more than $250,000 to 76 college juniors, seniors and graduate students since 1999.

The program honors Louis M. “Mick” Colvin, CAB co-founder and executive director for its first 22 years, for his vision and tireless efforts in support of the brand becoming a reality. After his retirement, the fund was established to carry on his legacy of achieving dreams and inspiring others.

Five juniors or seniors already making a positive impact will be awarded $7,500, $6,500, $5,000, $4,000 or $3,000 next spring. Applications, due by Jan. 18, 2019, include two letters of recommendation and two essays, with up to 500 words on career path choices and up to 1,000 words on how CAB could best differentiate itself from nearly 150 other Angus brands or programs.

To apply, visit the brand’s Careers webpage at and click on the link in the “Scholarship and Seminar Opportunities” section.

“The Scholarship is such a blessing,” said Elisabeth Forker, last year’s first-place undergraduate winner at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “The ag community and the beef industry in particular are so good at ensuring that young people have the opportunity to continue their education.”

A graduate-level scholarship for $7,500 is available to those pursuing applied or basic research and a degree related to high-quality beef production. To apply, graduates should submit a report outlining details of their research.

“I don’t know if I would have decided to stick around for more education without it,” said Michael Cropp, the top 2018 graduate winner. “I was able to get out of undergrad with minimal debt, but it definitely helped kind of cover some bases and continue on [at Iowa State University].”

Winning the scholarship conveyed a confidence-boosting message: “I can do this. Might as well.”

First-place undergraduate and graduate winners also receive an all-expense-paid trip to the 2019 CAB Annual Conference in Asheville, N.C., where they can connect with industry leaders in production, packing, retail and foodservice. A golf tournament and auction at the event provide funding for the scholarships, with totals regularly setting new records.

Highlights this year, besides raising more than $15,000 at the Colvin Golf Classic, included a hand-crafted meat cleaver purchased at auction for $25,000 by Japan-based S Foods. Another international distributor, Triple J Five Star of Guam, bought an Angus cowhide rug with the CAB logo stitched on for $7,500.

Winning bids for three items by CAB barn painter Troy Freeman included $16,000 for a future office painting party by Chicago-based partner Amigos Foods, which also bought Freeman framed art for $10,000. Another partner donated a baseball signed by legendary pitcher and guest speaker Jim Abbott to raise $3,000 more for the cause. Sysco Corporation again won the bidding for the right to name next year’s Golf Classic.

“It was incredible,” said Lindsey Hoover, CAB Education and Events Planner. “Just about everything that came up sold higher than usual, whether that was because of our 40^th Anniversary or being in Hawaii, I don’t know.”

The Colvin legacy is secure, she said, not only with the brand he cofounded but in the growing scholarship program and most significantly, those 76 students already assisted in the past 19 years.

Selected by the Colvin Scholarship Fund Committee, applicants are judged on their activities, scholastic achievement, communication skills and reference letters. Winners will be notified in March.

Celebrating its 40^th anniversary in 2018, the CAB brand remains dedicated to adding value to Angus cattle by providing consumers a consistent and high-quality eating experience. The brand based in Wooster, Ohio, annually sells more than a billion pounds of the best beef worldwide through a network of 19,000 licensed partners. To learn more visit https://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/press/colvin/.

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