bodey langford, ambassador award, never gone dry

A DVR for the beef business

One of the last times I was “home” at my parents’, my dad and I watched the 10 o’clock news, at 11 p.m.

My own family doesn’t have a DVR (or cable or dish or anything beyond the good ole antenna) but I quickly saw the efficiency in setting the DVR and then skipping commercials. We could watch more than one show in the same half-hour slot.

Dad claims he can view an entire NFL football game in two hours now, compared to the all-afternoon event it once was.

That got me thinking: imagine if we could have that same kind of efficiency in the cattle business — especially as it relates to genetics — cutting the time it takes us to see end results by half?

In a business where every improvement moves at a slower pace than our other protein-producing competitors, that would be a dream.

Or maybe it’s reality.

2010_6_17_mr_Triangle H-190 — Waiting to find out how these females rank? Genomics can help.

Previously, if you wanted to use a young bull, you either had to take a chance that it really did what it was predicted to do or wait around until there was enough data to strengthen the accuracy. Genomics can fast-forward that timetable, and a simple blood test improves accuracy that is equivalent to having 10 to 20 progeny records.

If you’re in a herd rebuilding phase, stop to think of the value of a replacement heifer. What is the cost of making a bad decision?

DNA genomic tests are a simple tool that can help you characterize, sort and be more certain of which females belong in your herd and which ones don’t.

It allows you to speed up the game, which is good if you’re headed in the right direction. It’s also good if you can find out sooner that your herd is veering off track and you need a course correction.

If you’re aiming to improve quality and performance measures, to draw in rewards from the next segment in the beef chain, to create more consistency from your ranch all the way to the consumer, you might want to think of employing a little of this technology.

“Just DVR it!” Dodge variation rapidly, that is.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

With little time, plan ahead

Time is a funny thing. It disappears all too quickly and, yet, in the middle of it, can feel like it will never pass. When you don’t have it, you inevitably need it. When you do, you’re waiting for it to hurry up and go by.

I bet most ranchers would agree with me when I say that sometimes it just seems there aren’t enough hours in a day. Calving season – every season for that matter – is filled with long days.

It’s during these times of early mornings and late nights that the last thing on our minds is what to fix for supper. Planning ahead during the week can save you from sifting through your cupboards when you finally make it into the house.

CAB’s very own Chef Tony Biggs has tips and tricks to staying on track during the week.

“Implement a weekly to monthly menu,” Chef Tony says. “Start out with a weekly menu with three items; a salad, an entrée and a dessert.”

There is no better smell to inhale as you walk into the house than a roast that has been slow cooking all day. No matter what season it is around our farm and ranch, we live by our crock-pot. It not only saves you time during meal prep but puts off dish duty until later.

“At 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning, throw everything into a crock-pot,” Chef Tony says. “All your vegetables, your Certified Angus Beef, seasonings, and voila supper’s on the table!”

Another tip Chef Tony recommends is preparing meals at the beginning of the week. He suggests spending some time cooking on Sunday and putting them in the freezer for easy prep meals.

“Put the meals in bags or Tupperware and you’ll have easy portioned out meals to warm up on the stove or in the crockpot,” he says.

Thinking of new recipes can be difficult if you don’t have the time to get creative. That’s where Chef Tony says to turn to the app. Certified Angus Beef’s app Roast Perfect is an easy way to look up recipes for quick and stress-free meals.

“Roast Perfect is a lifesaver for people who struggle with roasts and this app makes it so easy,” he says. “The app explains every cut of beef, what sides to prepare with them and also has a timer that lets you know how long until it is finished.”

A rancher’s lifestyle seems to exist in busy season, but if you remember to plan, you can enjoy hot and homemade meals without the worry.

~Jenny

PS – try some of these easy recipes featured on the Go Rare blog!

Shortcut Oven-Braised Brisket

Five Favorite Slow-Cooked suppers

Easy pot roast

Ground beef chili

Cold Cut Favorites

—

Jenny Keyes grew up as the fifth generation on her family’s Springfield, Neb., farm. Her early experiences—which included showing Angus cattle—inspired her to keep on learning about all things agriculture. Our current industry information intern, Jenny is a senior ag communications major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

ROI felt more than measured

12524024_10100648620272736_6712838727182633517_n

“You da best mom in da whoooooole wurrrld!”

My two-year old utters that phrase and her bubbly grin and a stubby ponytail remind me that she’s getting older every day. It makes me want to make that statement true.

I want to be a better mama each day, but only have a finite amount of time to make it happen. And there’s no way to really know if I’m accomplishing that goal.

We can look at clues: that my kids are (mostly) happy and well-adjusted. That they treat others with respect. That they know a thing or two about the way the world works. Still, there is no easy way to quantify it.

[I know, this is not a parenting blog. Hang with me a moment longer and I’ll make my point for the cattle community.]

I whole-heartedly know the effort is worth my physical and emotional investment, though I might never see a balance sheet that quantifies a return on investment (ROI).

And so it is with sustainability in the beef business.

I sat in on a session during the Cattlemen’s College at last month’s Cattle Industry Convention in San Diego on that very topic. Our own president John Stika was one of the panelists.

“Premiums and revenue and return on investment show themselves in different forms. I think that’s the key. I cannot sit here today and tell you we’re going to see an economic signal paid for sustainably that’s as vivid and real as the one that we see today for getting paid by weight,” he said. “It’s really about demand protection and growth.”

The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB), describes sustainability as, “environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable.” Of course, it all boils down to the first basic truth I know about cattlemen and women: they want to do the right thing.

But if you want to talk in economic terms, it’s just as easy to explain why we all have a stake in this: sustainability is a means of maintaining and growing beef demand. It’s about keeping consumer confidence high.

In a defensive tone, a question came from the crowd that was something like, “Aren’t we already sustainable?”

Yes.

Could we do better?

Yes.

“It’s really a low-risk, high-opportunity chance to bring people together and have communication and dialog. We’re all focused on the same end point,” John said. “This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.”

Parenting and sustainability have one more thing in common, because as John pointed out, “You never really arrive.”

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

To read more on this session, or many others form convention, visit the newsroom at www.4Cattlemen.com.

Buzz words still tell the stories

Adding value. Consumer confidence. Growing demand.

Those are popular (and thus often overused) phrases, but they are central to what we do here at CAB.

Cattlemens College — Some of the nearly 7,000 convention attendees taking in one of the educational sessions on Wednesday.

But it’s not just us. During the Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show last week, we heard those same themes in many sessions and individual conversations. It turns out that adding value, increasing consumer confidence and growing demand is central to the greater industry, too.

Especially as we navigate what Randy Blach and the rest of the CattleFax crew told us have been the most dramatic markets many of us have ever seen. (In fact, the exact quote was, “This is the second most volatile market in history.”)

We’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks, but as for a quick recap, here some of our favorite zingers from our time in San Diego:

“You have to produce cattle with the consumer in mind. If you don’t, nothing else matters,” said Don Schiefelbein, Minnesota Angus breeder. I can’t think of a better way to set the stage for the week. Tom Brink echoed his comments with, “You have to think of who is next on the supply chain and give them what they want.”
“This isn’t about us. This is about our kids and grandkids,” said Rob Fraley, Monsanto executive, talking on the importance of using technology to produce more with less. We’ve got to encourage STEM education and we have to start telling our story. It’s that important.
“People want to buy products they can trust,” said Paige Hartley, with Darden. “I don’t think you can put a dollar value on that.” Fellow presenters, including our own John Stika, noted it’s not likely we’ll see an economic signal for sustainability like we do for quality or weight, but it still brings dollars back. It’s just harder to measure. But there is a long-term connection and we must be cognizant of that.

John Schroeder, Darr Feedlot

“You have to begin with the end in mind, and you have to have a plan,” said John Schroeder, Darr Feedlot, talking about communication and cooperation from ranch to the feedlot. It certainly takes a plan to get his ideal animal: “a safe, humanely handled, upper 2/3 Choice, yield grade (YG) 2.” (For the record, we think he’s got a pretty comprehensive definition. Just add “Angus” and you’re set.)

We were happy when CattleFax said the “supply shock,” and thus the price shock, happened last year and although it’s a completely different market, overall they’re still positive going into 2016.

I wouldn’t call the tone the same “riding high” type of attitude of a year ago, but I still felt much enthusiasm. I mean, it’s not like a group of cattlemen to see an upcoming challenge and approach it half-heartedly.

I think we’ll have a whole team of people, that will be working on these three things: Adding value. Consumer confidence. Growing demand. (And much more, of course!)

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

PS–Check out our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds for a variety of coverage of the event.

Yesterday’s youth, tomorrow’s leaders

It’s an interesting thing being young. There’s much to see and learn and decipher, and sometimes it can be as challenging as it is exciting. One things for sure, though, it’s a whole lot of fun!

So along with snow and freezing temperatures, the first week of January brought some of the breed’s young leaders to Wooster for our annual Youth Leaders Orientation.

The way we see it at CAB, it’s an opportunity to engage and educate the next generation of influential cattlemen. Our staff in Ohio make sure our young people leave with a better understanding of the brand that supports the cattle they raise.

“We know that a lot of what we do at CAB is out of sight, out of mind for these young Angus breeders,” says fellow Black Ink teammate Kara Lee.

Of course it’s a world that brings value to what they do at home, but it’s pretty different from life on the ranch or at school.

Most groups who come into our Education & Culinary Center (ECC) know a decent amount about the food industry. Along with building on that knowledge, it’s the production story that we get to share.

The inverse is true for this group. That’s their business so we leave cattle alone for a few days. I know. I know that’s unrealistic. They’ll demand our attention at the worst and best of times!

I digress. So instead, we shine the spotlight on foodservice and brand marketing to reveal how a high-quality steak may leave their ranch as a steer and end up on a consumer’s plate.

We learn a lot from them, too.

Alex Rogen, Brandon, S.D., is a junior at South Dakota State University and has Angus production in his genes. Time in the show ring with steers and in the pasture with bulls led him to the pre-vet track. He’s also the National Junior Angus Association’s chairman of the board.

“The biggest takeaway was the affirmation that a quality product needs to be our key focus,” Alex said after joining the Wooster gang for a few days, “because without it, we don’t have a job that’s going to make us money. It was a good reminder, for me and others, that it’s not just the cattle industry, but the beef industry.”

Consumers have to want it and be willing to pay for it, he went on to say. Otherwise, beef may not be the protein of choice.

“To be able to go learn and share with people that there are specifications in place that can guarantee a consistent and reliable eating experience is honestly a privilege,” he said.

For those coming from a stock show background, Alex added, “It’s important to keep that terminal outlook on things. At the end of the day the cows are pretty, but they have to work and do good things for the consumer.”

If you’re interested in attending our 2017 Youth Leaders Orientation January 3-4, be on the lookout for applications this summer.

First impressions: The inside story on colostrum

Milking beef cows is not always a fun process.

That’s just one of the hurdles facing researchers looking to understand more about colostrum. Add in the fact that the beef cattle system has fewer “check points” built into the relatively drawn-out (compared to other species) production cycle, and you’ve got a bigger challenge.

But don’t take that to mean there aren’t people trying to figure out both how to get more/better colostrum and what that all impacts down the road.

I love to learn about fetal programming. I’ve heard many people say that cattle that reach the Certified Angus Beef ® brand (CAB®) or Prime have “never had a bad day.” I sincerely believe that goes all the way back to the time spent in utero.

So when I got to dig in to the subject of colostrum for an upcoming article, I was fascinated to learn that scientists believe it could do a lot more than just provide an energy-dense meal and protective antibodies to newborn animals. It could do some programming of its own.

Allison Meyer, University of Missouri animal scientist, talked about swine work being done by Skip Bartol at Auburn University and the “lactocrine hypothesis.”

“We have always known that growth factors in colostrum are really important for gut development,” she says, “but this shows there are parts of colostrum that are helping with development of other organs after the animal is born.”

It’s not proven, but she suspects the same happens in beef cattle.

There could be growth factors and hormones that impact everything from subsequent health to subsequent reproduction on heifer calves.

It’s somewhat a case of the more we know, the more we realize we don’t know, says Allison’s colleague Brian Vander Ley.

The Extension veterinarian says that at the very least it’s easy to make some logical assumptions about indirect benefits that come from the transfer of proteins and white blood cells.

“There’s a lot of evidence showing that the colostrum primes the immune system,” he says, noting that means lifetime disease resistance which has proven benefits in the feedyard and on the rail.

“I know if animals have respiratory disease they’re less likely to grade well,” he says. “And I also know if they have good passive transfer at birth, they’re less likely to get respiratory disease in their life. If I put that together, my assumption is if they get good colostral transfer as a calf, they at least stand a much better chance of reaching their genetic potential.”

“That’s notwithstanding a direct effect that I don’t even know about yet,” Brian says.

A special thanks to Brian and Allison, who actually do attempt to milk those beef cattle, in the name of learning more.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

PS-To get a few practical recommendations related to colostrum in your herd, check out yesterday’s post.

First impressions

A baby calf nursing for the first time…..if everything’s going right, it might look a little peaceful.

There’s a quote from a North Carolina Angus breeder Joe Hampton that sticks in my mind: “There’s nothing better than calving. If seeing a baby calf get up and nurse doesn’t sort of charge your battery, I don’t know what to say.”

But that could have easily been something that Brian Admundson or Mark Wilburn or Richard Tokach said. They’ve all claimed calving as their favorite time of year. Many more would agree that witnessing that first bonding (and that feeling of success) is pretty special.

But no matter how serene it may seem on the outside, what’s happening inside is a fast and furious defense mobilization. The biological signal to the calf and its immune system could be summed up as, “It’s go time!”

You may know that a calf’s gut is not fully closed until after it gets something in its stomach. But after interviewing a University of Missouri (MU) vet, it’s pretty clear to me it’s critical that “something” be colostrum.

Everybody knows the ideal situation is an easy birth and calf nursing shortly thereafter, but I didn’t know the specifics.

There’s usually about 24 hours until the animal’s chance of absorbing antibodies into the bloodstream is greatly decreased—but if it consumes anything besides colostrum first, that window is much narrower.

“It’s not really selective. There’s nothing in that calf’s gut that picks out the antibodies and leaves everything else. Essentially the gut grabs bunches of stuff in the gut and engulfs it and dumps it out into the bloodstream,” says Brian Vander Ley, Mizzou veterinarian.

That is to say, no matter what a calf gets in its stomach (think of a mouthful of not-exactly-sterilized cow chips) first, it has a direct line to its bloodstream.

The reality of most calving environments emphasizes, in my mind, the importance of selecting for good mamas (that readily accept their babies) and cows well-suited for the environment. Those that are in good condition going into calving will have a much better chance of producing enough—both in quality and quantity—of that liquid gold.

Feeding your cows now may help them feed their calves later.

In addition to “feed your cows,” Brian has one more recommendation: when a calf doesn’t nurse and milking its dam isn’t practical, use a true colostrum replacer versus a colostrum substitute or electrolytes. A replacer comes from hyper-vaccinated cows and is pretty similar to actual colostrum, whereas a substitute has substantially fewer immunoglobulins and other proteins found in colostrum.

“I want the natural process to work. I’m just going to fall back on this when it doesn’t,” he says.

As many of you gear up for calving season, keep in mind that what you’re doing now could impact that calf’s early, ever-important dose of nutrition. Colostrogenesis starts 16 weeks pre-calving.

In other words, “It’s go time.”

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

PS—Now you know some of what we do know about colostrum, check back tomorrow to find out all that we don’t. There is some cool work uncovering all kinds of connections.

Hit me with your best steak

What’s the best steak you’ve ever had?

For some, it’s an easy answer. You can still taste the sweet juiciness that changed your palate forever. For others, it’s complicated — perhaps influenced by factors like atmosphere, service or who joined you at the table.

If you’re a beef junkie like me, it’s not as easy as it sounds. I’m a firm believer in red meat and it’s not difficult to find the good in every bite. Tack on a Certified Angus Beef ^® brand label, and it’s nearly impossible to settle the score.

“No comment.”

That’s my answer to the ever-looming question. It’s too hard to choose and therefore I shall remain neutral. But nobody said a girl can’t talk about something new; therefore, I have two words for you (well, really one hyphenated word):

Dry-Aged

Have you tried it? If you haven’t, let me suggest you put it on the same mental to-do list that includes “buy groceries” and “pay the electricity bill.” It’s just that important.

I shared with you a little bit about my summer travels to North Dakota, both in pictures and in writing. Those were planned and part of my job description. What’s not are the delicious steaks that sometimes accompany those trips and spoil my taste buds in the process.

Enter 40 Steak & Seafood. This CAB licensed restaurant sits in the heart of North Dakota, in Bismarck, and offers patrons a pleasant pairing of old-time atmosphere and modern culinary concepts. Not to mention it has a dry-age cooler that will make any chef melt.

To give you a quick lesson in dry-age, the beef is just that: dry-aged instead of the more common wet-aged product you’re likely used to eating and seeing in the grocery store. Both are healthy. Both safe. Both delicious. The goal of a dry-age cooler is to evaporate moisture, leaving the cuts with a unique, natural, dare I say mouth-watering taste. (To learn more about the science behind dry-aging, our cooler at the ECC and what Dr. Phil has to say, check out this post.)

I’m from the South, ya’ll. We eat well here but we don’t eat fancy. I remember the first time I learned about a palate cleanser. Needless to say, this was a new experience. But with images to capture and people to interview, my mission took a delectable turn when I walked into the cooler.

See the dates below the product? Those specify when each cut began the aging process. Those dining in at 40 Steak & Seafood that day had the option of selecting a CAB Prime 30-,60- or 90-day dry-aged steak but owner Dale Zimmerman says he’d soon like to have a 120-day option on the menu.

Embracing a technique that has a growing interest, Executive Chef Alan invites those that order one to come back and tour the cooler for themselves.

He’ll even prep it in front of you while he talks about the science behind the process. Do you see that marbling? Thank you, Angus ranchers.

I’ve been told it’s best to ease into the taste — try the 30-day before sampling the further-aged product — but notice something missing from the top right of the next photo. Typically reserved for the oldest cut in the house (it was 90 days at the time), the spot was suddenly vacant.

The reason being it was on the cutting board behind me and I soon found myself replacing my lens with a knife.

Zimmerman had issued a challenge and I’m not one to shy away: see if I can taste the difference between the 30 and 90-day product. Seeing as how I had never tasted any dry-age steak before, seems I had an unbiased, yet adventurous palate.

After trimming it was time to hit the grill.

Can you tell the difference? Local Angus rancher Chad Ellingson was there to learn some culinary ropes and jumped in on the fun.

From the outside a dry-aged steak doesn’t look much different than it’s wet-aged counterpart (notice the seltzer water for a palate cleanser). A change of scenery from the cow pastures, I reminded myself not to get too comfortable.

I’ve had a lot of steaks in my life and I must say this was definitely something to write home about.

Thanks for allowing me to tell your story,

Laura

Realistic research

Asking for a beverage at a restaurant, you might be shocked if the server replied, “What kind? Flavor A, Flavor B or Flavor C?”

That’s because you always know a little more about those options, either a brand name or perhaps descriptors like “fresh brewed” or “sweetened.” You don’t just blindly choose a drink.

In recent decades, meat purchases at both retail and foodservice have moved more and more that way, too.

“Most consumers, when they’re eating a steak at a restaurant or certainly purchasing one at retail, they know a lot of information about that steak,” says Travis O’Quinn, Kansas State University meat scientist. “That influences their perceptions of it, before they take their first bite.”

So when Travis set out to do a traditional taste-testing study to validate the criteria we use to value beef carcasses, he added a twist.

First he tested Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand and Prime against Choice, Select and a generic Select Angus product with a blind consumer panel. The “overall linking” rose linearly as quality increased, with Select at 55.8 on a 100-point scale, compared to 64 for CAB and 69.2 for Prime. Individual marks on tenderness, juiciness and flavor showed similar patterns.

So what happened when the taste-testers knew the products were CAB?

This:

That’s a 10% higher overall liking.

“One of the big advantages of any branded beef program is a consistent set of specifications,” he says. “That should make those products more repeatable from an eating satisfaction standpoint. That’s why we see the growth in Certified Angus Beef over other branded beef programs, because consumers feel they can purchase those products and have a more repeatable eating experience every time.”

We (obviously) were pretty darn interested in this data, and it makes a nice (science-backed) tale for our marketing department, but it means an awful lot to cattlemen, too.

“It gives more evidence that there’s a lot of value in producing cattle that are going to fit certain branded-beef programs, specifically Certified Angus Beef,” Travis says. “There’s real value associated with the palatability of those products, and the there’s the added value on top of that in terms of the consumer perception, the brand lift that those products actually get.”

And if you’re not aiming for a specific target and you should take note: when USDA Choice and Select steaks were identified, they actually declined in consumer liking.

“One of the cautionary tales for this is that if you’re not producing cattle that fit a branded beef program, then you’re just going to run off the USDA quality-grading system. We see that consumers do not associate those–even a Choice product–as being a quality product,” he says.

My take: You might as well use the consumers’ “hunger to know” to your advantage.

May your bottom line be filled with Black Ink,

Miranda

PS–Feel free to check out the full research paper on our website.

No bidders

A plan to increase preconditioning in cattle country

Have you ever asked a cattle feeder if he had career aspirations of being a veterinarian?

Mark Hilton, of Purdue University, says he has yet to meet one who dreams of spending his days treating cattle.

“They hate having sick calves. They want to have healthy calves,” says the veterinarian.

At his Cattlemen’s College session last month, I heard Mark present a pretty convincing case for preconditioning (a 11-year analysis of Indiana producers showed a profit of more than $80 per head, on average for 60+ day programs, for example).

But it wasn’t just about the economics of it all. It was about the principle.

“I’m a low-medicine veterinarian,” he says. “I want to use management instead of medicine and money.”

One of the best ways to ensure health during one of the most stressful times in calves’ lives is to precondition. What’s better for the animals is better for the owners. Less sickness=less labor. It’s better for the next person in line, too.

Mark did a quick poll: “How many of you who sell calves want that feedlot guy to make a pile of money on your calves?” Hands shot up all over the room. Everybody wants their cattle to do well for the next person in line.

Of course, cattle feeders have a role in all this, too.

“When you buy preconditioned, high-quality calves you’re telling the beef industry that producers of preconditioned, high-quality calves are your partners. When you’re buying high-risk calves, you’re telling the industry that you’re going to take advantage of somebody,” he says.

Mark introduced a plan to rid the industry of unweaned, co-mingled, high-risk cattle: “Every buyer of feeder calves agrees not to bid on high-risk calves. As the auctioneer goes down and down in price, ‘$2.80, $2, $1.50, 23 cents? Sorry, boys, no takers. Take them back home.’ In 30 days you think that would change the industry?”

That got a lot of chuckles, but the reality is that IS happening in a much slower fashion across the countryside. Take a look at any salebarn study or video auction analysis and it will show the advantages for preconditioned, reputation calves (or the discounts for the opposite).

What side of that equation do you want to be on?

Just something to think about while you’re pondering the year ahead during those late-night calving checks.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

A DVR for the beef business

You may also like

With little time, plan ahead

You may also like

ROI felt more than measured

You may also like

Buzz words still tell the stories

You may also like

Yesterday’s youth, tomorrow’s leaders

You may also like

First impressions: The inside story on colostrum

You may also like

First impressions

You may also like

Hit me with your best steak

You may also like

Realistic research

You may also like

No bidders

You may also like