Fiction: Stranger than Truth!

Taking my CAB glasses off somewhat here, and blogging for the beef industry as a whole!

I am totally appalled by the recent “pink slime” debacle that the media has created. Since the left-wing, liberal media has maligned lean, fine-textured beef (LFTB), three plants operated by Beef Products Incorporated have been closed in Waterloo, IA; Garden City, KS; and Amarillo, TX. Six hundred and fifty (650) people have lost their jobs.

Why? Why did it happen? Because ABC apparently decided that LFTB was not a safe product for consumers to eat. Never mind that it’s been around for thirty years. Never mind that FDA approved ammonium hydroxide forty years ago for food processing purposes. They have just decided that they were going to make the product, and the beef industry, the whipping boy of the week. Do people not realize that ground beef, is beef trimmings anyway? Do they not realize that ammonium hydroxide is used in a number of other food products to kill bacteria, making their food more safe? Apparently not!

NOTE: Products from these animals are SAFE TO EAT!!!

Who will be next?

My main question is this: Whom will ABC, or any other news agency that is devoid of responsible reporting, crucify next week? The week after? The week after that?

Beef industry people, lend me your ear! It is time to take a stand, time to get your “Masters of Beef Advocacy” (MBA) degree through the NCBA and become a blogger, a reporter, a beef industry expert who can be called upon to help allay the fear that our food is going to kill us.

Please, take the time to do this. It is absolutely crucial that you become active in your state and national organizations.

Become a voice for the beef industry!

~Gary

Older and wiser to BSE

Everybody who was of age during the Kennedy assassination can tell you what they were doing when they got the news; 9/11 would be this generation’s watershed event. But in the beef industry, most anybody can share that same “where were you” experience when talking about December 2003 and “the cow that stole Christmas.”

Yes, that first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)–or “mad cow disease” if you must use the mainstream media’s term—in the United States sent shockwaves throughout the industry and the markets.

Last week I just happened to be reading over a transcript of Paul Clayton, of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, from last fall. I highlighted this passage in my notes:

“Obviously we were just devastated in 2003 with the finding of BSE cases. It just totally tore out foreign markets apart….Well of course in the last seven years we have built those things back and I think just recently we just gained some more momentum quicker than what we thought and we’re in pretty good shape in getting back to full recovery in both value and volume.”

Just as I lifted my Sharpie from the page, an e-mail came in. There were rumors of BSE. On Twitter, most of my ag journalism pals were already confirming it as fact. My first reaction was, “That changes my story.” And then I wondered, what does this do to the beef markets? How does it affect CAB?

Bednar, Geof — Geof Bednar, CAB International Director

I’d like to think I’m not the only one who wonders, so when I caught up with our resident expert on all things global, Geof Bednar (he’s the international director after all), I decided to share his answers with all of you:

1-What was your initial reaction to the recent news of another case of BSE in the United States?

“In one sense, very little concern as the cow identified was atypical, and that the system works and this is not a human health concern. Our licensee base, especially from the distributor and importer perspective, is well educated on BSE.

My caution arises from how this can become a political posturing item that slows returning full access into Japan and other key U.S. beef partners. Korea was quick to react from a retailer perspective and many of us were not surprised. Yet Korea remains one of our most key destinations for U.S. beef, especially Certified Angus Beef.

The manager of a licensed steakhouse in Taiwan told me right afterwards, “We all know BSE, even our customers who are doctors here in Taiwan know BSE very well. They are not afraid of BSE at all; problem is, people view this issue from political perspective, with magnifier, that slows and jeopardizes the whole restaurant business island-wide.’”

2-What types of questions will your customers and accounts have?

“I have received only one question from our nearly 100 licensed international distributors. Our largest distributor in Japan and one of the largest importers of U.S. beef was quick to ask about the age of the identified cow. This was a great question as we continue to try to overcome our limited access due to under-20-month cattle. Many believe that there is a real opportunity to see increased access in Japan sometime during the second half of 2013.”

3-How was the reaction to the 2003 BSE case different than subsequent cases?

“Generally our trading partners, and most importantly our customers and consumers, have gained increased knowledge on BSE and the controls in place. The power of flavor that U.S. beef, specifically the CAB brand, delivers has a strong following worldwide and ultimately this drives our short- and long-term ability to partner with people throughout the globe.”

4-In terms of building foreign relationships and exports, what has our industry learned since 2003 that will help us now?

“We were not as connected as we needed to be from a customer-service standpoint. Today, our focus is not only on making the sale, but educating and empowering our partners to showcase our beef’s attributes. We teach them to tell our story on the industry that provides a superior eating experience with a sincere concern for safety, wholesomeness and environmental stewardship. We also have to recognize and praise the importance of our many international U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) offices worldwide that have highly trained, dedicated and passionate people telling the U.S. beef story to their countrymen.”

6-Realizing that you have to speculate a lot, what can you say about what this news means for our brand specifically?

“We are fortunate that we continue to align with the best potential brand partners worldwide. We believe in and want to grow the strongest personal and business relationships that we can. This leads to a level of trust and commitment where our partners are highly committed and successful. As an example, I learned from a recent visit to Taiwan that our partner sees these types of challenges as a real opportunity for them to differentiate themselves from competitors.”

While I can remember what my reaction was last Tuesday afternoon, I’m happy to report that memory won’t be quite as ingrained this time around.

As my friend Holly Spangler said on her Prairie Farmer blog, “It feels different this time, though. We seem a little more educated, a little more reasonable.”

It’s nice to know that might be by design, a concerted effort by people all over the world. It’s even nicer to know that it seems to be working.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

~Miranda

Mythbuster Monday returns with DNA

My family tree is stacked with farmers on both sides, so I feel like I know a thing or two about “producer” DNA. There are some seemingly inherent traits, like reluctance to leave the farm. Not because they don’t want to see the world or meet new people, but rather because it’s difficult to entrust the living, breathing creatures that depend on them to anybody else.

2012_01_30_baptism — Both sets of grandparents have to leave critters at home for big occasions like a baptism.

So when my parents and my in-laws came down for our new little lady’s baptism last weekend, I know they loved getting out, seeing the countryside and spending time with their kids and grandkids (OK, let’s be honest, the grandkids trump all else), but there was still that nagging feeling that they should be home, working.

That’s the best way I can describe to others what it’s like to be on maternity leave. While I enjoyed every minute (OK, most) of my time home with my three kids and I know everything was under control here, I’m so excited to be back. I love my job and can’t wait to jump into some of the big projects we were working on when I left. One of those had to do with DNA of the bovine variety.

That leads me to my first myth to kick this regular blog feature back into action:

Myth: Using DNA technology in beef cattle selection is only for the rich and curious.

Fact: While the seedstock industry was the first to really embrace this new selection tool, it’s becoming increasingly available and practical for commercial cattlemen. EPDs changed the way ranchers select their animals. Now DNA has been called a “game changer.”

At the Range Beef Cow Symposium in December, Colorado State’s Jack Whittier said:

“There are some opportunities that are coming online to maybe use it in a heifer selection basis at a commercial level, that’s early and I’m not sure that we are far enough along to really understand what opportunities there are but certainly using this is a way to make better bull buying decisions.”

The real game changer, yet to be seen, is being able to make decisions more quickly, to be able to isolate at birth, the gene combinations from a specific set of individuals, then go through the evaluation without having to screen all the non-performers or at least increasing the opportunity to make good decisions early on.”

At that point the GeneMax™ DNA test was still in its development phase, but we’re pretty pumped about its product launch at the National Cattle Industry Convention this week. Finally, this technology is available and practical to the average commercial cattlemen who are using registered Angus bulls. If you’re wondering which potential replacement heifers are keepers or culls, confirmation is as simple as a blood test. Want to add more information to your calves on sale day? Arm buyers with the GeneMax facts.

I’ve been off for three months, so I’ll be brushing up on all the details right along with you. Look for more information on this blog or follow the National Cattle Industry Convention on Facebook or Twitter.

Some of our readers have already got a head start on unwrapping the Nashville convention fun. Congratulations to Brandi Buzzard and Desta Crawford, our Shipping Day challenge winners! Somebody get these two ladies on The Price is Right, because their estimates were almost spot on!

Tomorrow, we will unpack 61 boxes, weighing 1,810 pounds at the NCBA trade show. Brandi was a mere 3.3 off the actual weight with her estimate of 1,813 pounds and three ounces, and Desta guessed 66 boxes — well done, ladies! Each have earned ten tickets into the drawing for an iPad2! If you’re going to be in Nashville this week, make sure to stop by the Angus booth to get yourself entered into the drawing. Hope to see you there!

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

-Miranda

Social Society

December 15,2011

Social media has become an increasingly popular platform for information sharing. People are tweeting, posting, uploading, checking in, and sharing information 24 hours a day. In fact, by reading this post you are among the two-thirds of online adults using social media in 2011.

Social media presence is also growing within the agricultural community. A couple years ago, I became involved in what many today term “agvocacy” – telling the story of agriculture through personal experience. Through my experiences, I have been amazed at the vast and expanding networks of agriculturalists involved in social networking.

As a graduate student in agricultural communications, I thought it would be interesting to study exactly how social media is used and perceived by beef producers in the U.S. With the support of Certified Angus Beef and Drovers/CattleNetwork, this research became a reality. Using a random sample of 500 U.S. beef producers, we studied producers’ preferred sources of information, current use and perceptions of social media, and how personal and professional characteristics affect those preferences.

Here is an overview of the results …

Beef producers by and large prefer livestock publications as their primary source information, but the Internet is growing in popularity.
Although just more than half of producers surveyed indicated using social media, it was still the least preferred and least trusted source of information.
Those who do use social media feel more connected to other beef producers and industry organizations, such as Certified Angus Beef, through social networking.
Although both users and non-users indicated they generally feel information shared via social media is credible, they rated social media as less credible than other sources.
Women tend to use social media more than men, but men more commonly use the tools for reasons related to the agriculture or beef industry.
Social media use is more prevalent among larger beef producers and those with a higher level of education.
Very few producers indicated that they feel social media is unimportant.

Considering the aging population of agricultural producers across the U.S., these results do not come as a surprise. Over years and years of research, publications have remained the staple source of information for producers. However, this study did indicate a growing prevalence of Internet use among U.S beef producers.

Although we know that many producers who are using social media do so for purposes related to the beef or agricultural industry, it is unknown what specific information is being accessed. Is it also unknown how producers decide which social media tools to use. Looking further into these issues would help agricultural communicators and beef industry organizations better meet producer needs in distributing information.

Producers who are not active in social networking say that time is the biggest preventative factor. A large learning curve is often inherent to communication technologies, which can prevent some individuals from becoming involved. However, if producers are willing to learn how to use these technologies, they can prove to be invaluable tools.

The relevance of farmer and rancher involvement in social media is two-fold. First, it can serve as a quick and convenient tool for accessing information on the go. Whether a producer is checking cows, cutting hay, or fertilizing, they can have industry information at their fingertips.

Social media is also an avenue of interaction between the farming and non-farming communities. Temple Grandin, animal behavior specialist and a 2010 National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Lifetime Achievement Award winner, says that social media gives agriculturalists the opportunity to be the story tellers rather than the topic of discussion among the 98% of the population not involved in production agriculture. Essentially, lack of involvement equates to lost opportunity.

I believe the benefits of social media as they relate to the agricultural industry have not yet been fully realized. The opportunities are endless. What do you think? As a beef producer, in what ways do you use social media to either gain or share industry information. We’d love to hear your feedback on how the Black Ink team can better serve you through social networking on the blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

Relationship between carcass merit and maternal traits in beef cattle

by Morgan Boecker | Oct 29, 2019

While the emphasis of this analysis is on maternal reproductive traits and their relationship to carcass merit, an additional unique dataset allowed us to evaluate direct marbling relationships with semen and scrotal traits in yearling bulls.

Beef grading from yesterday to today

by CAB Cattle Crew | Oct 23, 2019

With more quality in the cow herd than ever before, producers are talking about premium brands and grades over Choice. New technology is making its way in to packing plants and shows promising signs of accuracy.

Beef up your cooking

by Morgan Boecker | Oct 15, 2019

Before I started my job with Certified Angus Beef all I knew about steak is I wanted it medium-rare. My mom burns food and it doesn’t matter if it’s garlic toast or steak. So I was not used to getting medium-rare steak…

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Opportunities to be thankful for

November 25,2011

The list of things for us to be grateful for at Certified Angus Beef LLC this year is a long one — another record sales year for our licensed partners, more cattlemen and women like you who work hard to supply the brand, and a team of co-workers who are really a pleasure to work with.

386560_737501240606_116505266_36289254_207153500_n — While mom Miranda and big sister Brooklyn spend some quality time with baby Cassidy, we’re thankful for interns who help us keep up!

We mentioned earlier this week that one CAB family welcomed a new little beef eater into the world this month — we’re thankful that mom Miranda and little Cassidy are both doing well.

With Miranda on leave tending to motherly duties for the next couple months, we’re especially thankful right now for our team of interns who pitch in when we’re spread thin. Each year, we hire two to four students from across the nation for a semester or summer. They may work remotely from their campus homes or spend the summer in our Manhattan, Kansas office.

You’ve met a few of those past and present interns here on the blog — Kristen down in Texas, Jen from Oklahoma and Anthony in California. You may recognize a trend when reading these three blog entries – our interns are great writers; they’re smart, savvy and ready to learn more about the cattle industry. They’re self-starter with big ambitions. They bring new ideas and different writing styles to the table and breathe life into new projects they can make their own.

Know any college students who fit that description? Send them our way. We’re accepting applications for three Industry Information internships; paperwork is due Dec. 1. Read the full job description and details here.

As a former CAB intern myself, I can say with confidence this is a job opportunity any college student could be thankful for. But you hear (read) me talk all the time — take it from one of our current collegiate stars, Anthony Pannone:

20110624_dalportoginochio_ln_0084 — Anthony on his first on-location intern adventure with cattlemen David Mederios, David Dal Porto and I.

“Working with the CAB Industry Information team has been nothing short of prime. It’s an opportunity to test skills you’ve learned in the classroom and see how they fair against the pros – an experience that will fulfill any young person’s desire to write.

“In class you train for these opportunities, and when it pops up on a ranch in a feedyard there’s no turning back—it’s go time. Despite the pressure, hanging with the cattlemen and cattlewomen is the best. You’re reminded people and their relationship to their animals are behind the scenes yet so crucial to the success of contemporary agriculture. The story behind agriculture is what people need, and want, to know. This internship is your chance to tell a part of agriculture’s story.

“Whether writing a feature story, blog, or Facebook post, you’re taking one step toward self-actualization as an agricultural communicator. It’s important to understand that today’s agricultural communicators don’t just write about agriculture; they write about the culture behind the farm or ranch. Agriculture contains the stories of people who do more than produce food. This is the new look of agricultural communicators.”

Does Anthony’s experience sound like something you or a student you know would be interested in? Then snap out of that turkey hangover and get to work on the application today! As always, call 330-345-2333 or email lnelson@certifiedangusbeef.com with questions. Yes, I’ll use this work again — we’d be thankful to hear from you and have you on our team!

Charting the course

by CAB Cattle Crew | Nov 29, 2018

This story is part of a special three-part series celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Certified Angus Beef ® brand.

Everybody has to start somewhere.

What’s in a name?

by Nicole Erceg | Nov 19, 2018

Time tested

by Miranda Reiman | Oct 28, 2018

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Focus on cattlemen

October 28, 2011

This has been an exciting week for our team. If you’ve stumbled across our website in the past couple days, you may have noticed a couple little changes.

Ok, more than a couple little changes. You may have noticed an entirely re-designed, re-written, re-navigated www.CABpartners.com.

You would have also noticed a theme… “Focus on Cattlemen.” I hope that you notice that theme in more places than just where we plainly wrote it on the homepage. I hope you notice that the focus is on you, your cattle, your profitability and your business decisions at every click of your mouse.

We’ve pooled all our experts, resources and ideas to share the highlights we think are most important to know about the management, genetics, nutrition, health and marketing of high-quality, Angus-type cattle.

Check it out. Browse around. Ask questions. Or,you can answer my questions to win a couple awesome prizes.

As we worked on creating the new website (www.CABpartners.com, in case you forgot), we asked some of our fellow CAB’ers to take a little quiz, testing how easy it was to navigate and how useful the information was.

So today, because I was so happy for our new site to launch and so thankful for their feedback, we have a pan of these rolls warming in our employee kitchen right now. It’s my way of saying ”thank you” to them for helping us make the website perfect for you. We hope they gave us feedback you will enjoy.

I’d like to say thank you in advance for visiting the new website (www.CABpartners.com). Unfortunately, I can’t send cinnamon rolls to you in the mail. I really would love to; it just doesn’t seem logical.

But I can mail grilling kits. And steak knives. And coffee mugs.

If you answer these five simple questions, you could find those items in your mailbox soon. Head on over to www.CABpartners.com to find the answers. Leave the answers and the link you found the answer at in your comment.

What are CAB’s EPD recommendations for marbling?
What is one CAB-licensed feedyard in Oklahoma?
How do I certify my cow herd as “CAB”?
How can I contact a CAB beef cattle specialist, and which one is in my region?
What are the five key points to keep in mind when implanting calves to avoid damaging quality grade?

Anyone who answers all five questions correctly by Monday, Oct. 31 at 5 p.m. EST will win a new set of steak knifes. The first five will also get a stainless steel coffee mug. One lucky commenter will win this professional grilling set.

So get to clicking and commenting!

Certified Angus Beef Celebrates 45th Year with Strong Sales

by CAB Cattle Crew | Oct 18, 2023

It has been 45 years since Certified Angus Beef’s first customer purchased a strip steak at Renzetti’s IGA grocery store. Since then, consumer demand for high-quality beef has grown, ultimately driving demand for premium Angus genetics.

High-Quality Beef and Experiences Promised with Summer Internship

by Kylee Kohls Sellnow | Oct 9, 2023

Internships help students take skills learned in the classroom and apply it before graduation or entering the workforce. Last summer’s interns described their experiences with CAB as engaging, fun, empowering valuable and challenging. Read more about these internship opportunities!

Connecting With Consumers at the Meat Case

by Kylee Kohls Sellnow | Oct 5, 2023

CAB is committed to prioritizing consumers’ evolving expectations for high-quality beef, sustainability and connecting the next generation. Explore our Ranch to Table program and learn how we connect the next generation of ranchers and culinarians for a brighter, more sustainable future for the beef industry.

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Happy cattle, happy consumers

October 6, 2011

“If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

Surely you’ve heard that phrase and you get what it inherently means. If the household caretaker isn’t in a good mood, it trickles down to the rest of the family.

Tyler_speaking — Don Tyler, Tyler and Associates, addresses the Feeding Quality Forum attendees.

As I was listening to management consultant Don Tyler talk at our Feeding Quality Forum in August, it got me thinking how applicable that same philosophy is to animal caretakers. When they’re not happy, the herds aren’t happy. When feedlot employees aren’t happy, how much pride are they really taking in the job they’re doing?

And a growing body of research proves cattle that never have a bad day do better on the rail. Continue reading “Happy cattle, happy consumers”

Going green, meeting today’s beef demand

September 27, 2011

You may have heard the buzz… last week was a big one for us at Certified Angus Beef LLC. More than 600 of our closest friends gathered in Sunriver, Oregon for our Annual Conference to celebrate a year of success, from pasture to plate.

Annual Conference is all about honoring our partners – we award our Feedlot Partners of the Year, identify seedstock and commercial producers for their Commitment to Excellence, recognize innovation in retail and foodservice marketing and celebrate those who contributed to selling more than 800 billion pounds of Certified Angus Beef® brand product this year.

“How the Best get Better” is a book that has floated around the CAB office for many years and is often quoted by our team. Taking that mentality to heart, Annual Conference is also a time to learn how to get better. With an audience including everyone from cattle ranchers to executive chefs, Annual Conference has a host of guest speakers and workshops that focus on education, innovation and research that will help our great partners and ourselves improve our personal and professional skills.

One of those speakers was Dr. Jude Capper, an assistant professor at Washington State University. Dr. Capper’s presentation created a lot of great discussions at Annual Conference and amongst our Twitter followers, so I thought I’d share a few highlights:

Bigger is better? To an extent: We’ve increased beef yield/animal by 31% from 1977 (603 lb) to 2007 (773 lb). If that rate continues, we’d be averaging 892 lb carcasses by 2027. Capper says that won’t work unless there is a complete overhaul of current packing plant equipment, etc. They literally can’t handle carcasses that size with today’s standard processing systems. “But what we can do is improve productivity and improve growth rate. That equals a lower carbon footprint,less water use,land use, etc.”

This ain’t grandpa’s beef system: In 1977, it took 5 animals to produce the same amount of beef that 4 animals produce today. It also takes 19% less feed, 12% less water, 33% less land per unit of beef produced today. Capper says that’s not due to any overly complicated technology: “That’s simply because they’ve been doing what they do best—improve productivity.” Continue reading “Going green, meeting today’s beef demand”

Now we’re in the money!

September 20, 2011

I’m excited to see the price differential between Choice and Select boxed beef at $11.87/cwt today. Did anyone else notice? It’s a pretty big adjustment from the values under $5.00/cwt. that we’ve seen more often than not over the past few years and as recently as several weeks ago.

I suppose my job with Certified Angus Beef may have something to do with my excitement, but it’s really my interest in cattle and profitability that has me excited. I just like to see the better cattle rewarded in dollars and cents.

The value-based grids offered by packers always generate premiums for the high-grading cattle that avoid discounts. But when the Choice/Select price spread is wider there are more dollars to be had. It’s pretty simple.

With the current Choice value at $11.87/ cwt. above the Select price, the premium per head is right at $40.36 for an 850 lb. carcass. Premiums are paid above the packer’s average weekly Choice percentage, so you’ve got to do some math to adjust accordingly. I’m using 40% of the boxed beef premium in this example, it would be higher in the south.

Providing that the Angus steer met the 51% black-hided requirement, there’s a chance of moving that Choice carcass on up to the upper 2/3’s of the Choice grade and meeting the 10 other carcass specs for CAB®. Doing so generates another $2.50/cwt., or $21.25/head, for a grand total of $61.60 per head. Now we’re in the money!

Folks, every pound is already worth quite a little in this market. Efficient production of high-quality product is not a fad that will fizzle out. It’s a winning plan in any business.

-Paul

Paul Dykstra is a beef cattle specialist for Certified Angus Beef LLC. He works closely with current and prospective licensed feedlots and ranchers in north-central and western states of the U.S to help them profitably meet the demands of a high-quality marketplace through breeding and managing Angus cattle to their utmost potential.

Charting the course

by CAB Cattle Crew | Nov 29, 2018

This story is part of a special three-part series celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Certified Angus Beef ® brand.

Everybody has to start somewhere.

What’s in a name?

by Nicole Erceg | Nov 19, 2018

Time tested

by Miranda Reiman | Oct 28, 2018

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Just a poor ol’ farmer…

September 16, 2011

Top five ways to continue to get better on the ranch

I very distinctly remember the rare occasions in my childhood when mom would pack her bags, say goodbye and leave my brother, sister, dad and I home to fend for ourselves. As a vet tech in town, she would head back to trade school for a week every couple of years for continuing education.

I had no idea what “continuing education” meant at the time. All I knew was that it meant we got a week running around the countryside barefoot, free of baths, eating ice cream (it helped dad’s burnt cooking go down smoother), and generally being little hooligans as dad tried to maintain some level of productivity on the farm.

I remember asking dad why he never had to go back to school. Always a jokester, he would say something to the extent of, “Oh, I’m just a poor ol’ farmer, I don’t need to know much. Your mother’s the one with the brains around here!”

Of course as I got older, I understood exactly how much he really was joking about the first part of that humble statement (although my mother would stand by the latter comment!). He had to know everything about everything… from bovine health and reproduction to monitoring water quality and soil pH balance to how to handy-man any mechanical problem that ailed him.

I was reminded of all this by a tweet Andy Vance shared from the Select Sires National Sales Conference last week. He quoted Dr. Tom Fields, NCBA’s executive director of producer education:

Well… ya. A simple statement, but perhaps an under appreciated one. To stay in business, cattlemen have to be business and technology savvy, up-to-date on current issues and markets and open to new ideas. Otherwise, they simply wouldn’t keep up.

But unlike other professions, cattlemen aren’t required to pursue continuing education to maintain certification, seek a pay raise or stay qualified for general ranch management. It’s up to each guy or gal to keep ahead, and it behooves their profitability to do so. But, like maintaining order amongst three young kids while mom’s away, it’s not always an easy task to accomplish while keeping a farm or ranch running.

So to keep up with Dr. Field’s thoughts, here is our advice for staying on the profit-savvy end of the cattle business. Your top five sources of continuing education in the beef biz:

1) Attend conferences, seminars and industry events: I know it’s hard to get away, but events like these are worth the trip to town. Whether it’s your state cattlemen’s meetings, Feeding Quality Forums, field days, extension-sponsored meetings or the National Cattle Industry Convention, these will be the places to pick up the latest and greatest technology and ideas in the beef business. I’ve read the evaluation reports after conferences and seminars like these, and I know cattlemen like you walk away from them with useful, applicable new knowledge that positively changes the way they do business. Take time to attend at least one each year.

2) Seek consultants: Conferences, seminars and meetings bring industry experts to a central location and put a microphone in front of them, but you don’t always have to travel to find them. Experts can be found all around you, so seek their knowledge out. Make the most of your time with the vet, sit next to the extension beef specialist at your kid’s next 4-H meeting, ask your neighbor how he keeps flies under control so well each spring. Give your breed association field reps a call or look up our CAB beef cattle specialists and just ask them what is new in those organizations. These people are being paid to be a resource to you, so make the most of them!

3) State feeding programs/data collection: We all know the old saying, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. Recording and processing detailed, individual data on your herd may be one of the most useful educational tools you can use. After establishing a solid herd record keeping system, you might think about getting post-harvest information. The best way to give that a try might be to look into a state feeding program to get your feet wet. The folks who organize these will be an incredible resource in explaining your first set of harvest data and then making a plan to improve it for the next year.

4) Reading/researching: That stack of agriculture magazines that pile up next to your chair (ahem!) have useful information in them! But that pile can be overwhelming. Select the 2-3 publications that you find most useful and cancel the rest. Then you can focus on reading articles that are most pertinent to your success. Utilize reliable online resources to seek specific information or research findings. Or take the plunge into the social media world and follow only people and organizations that share information directed toward your needs.

5) On-farm trials: Wondering about the effect a certain management change might have on your ranch? Run a little research trial of your own. It doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, if you’re debating a new implant strategy, run a trial on a small group and track the difference in their progress before you make changes with the whole herd. Nothing like the process of trial and error to teach yourself on what works best on your ranch!

As Gary discussed earlier this week, the cattle business is entering into a new era. How do you stay on top of the game at your farm/ranch? What resources are most valuable to your continuing education?

Feeding Quality Forum Dates Set Earlier in August

by Morgan Boecker | Jun 3, 2025

When you’re feeding cattle, it counts to keep track of every calf, pound and dollar. Beyond the event’s educational sessions, networking between segments of the beef supply chain is invaluable—from feeders and cow-calf operators to allied industry and university researchers.

Gardiners Highlight Service, Strength at Foodservice Leaders Summit

by CAB Cattle Crew | Apr 16, 2025

Mark Gardiner and his son, Cole, of Gardiner Angus Ranch offered a boots-on-the-ground perspective for CAB specialists attending the annual event, designed to deliver resources that help train foodservice teams and serve consumers at a higher level.

Making Sense of Supply, Pricing and Navigating the Market

by CAB Cattle Crew | Apr 6, 2025

Amid anticipated shifts in cattle supply and evolving market dynamics, CAB remains well-positioned to navigate the beef sales road ahead. Clint Walenciak addressed how producer profitability, strategic specification adjustments, and resilient demand will help stabilize the brand’s beef supply chain through herd size and pricing shifts in 2025 and beyond.

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