Record Breaking Quality

Confession: I’m not really a “numbers” gal. My friends and I often joke about me doing “journalist math” as I am definitely more blessed with an affinity for words over anything numeric.

I do however, love when numbers tell a story.

While most spreadsheets would make me yawn, a quick look at packer data for the last week in July had our team smiling. For the first time ever, more than 100,000 beef carcasses were “certified” for our brand in one five-day period, the week of July 23 — meaning they all met the 10 CAB brand specifications. That’s a 10% increase in certified head over the same week last year. What’s even more impressive, it’s a 60% increase over the same week five years ago.

“It’s a good thing,” says Clint Walenciak, director of packing. “We can’t sell what the industry doesn’t produce.”

So how did that number grow so big, so fast?

Clint says it’s a combination of good management, cattle industry conditions and (positive) repercussions no one could have expected looking at that data sheet five years ago. In 2012, drought and market conditions spurred a steep culling of the beef cow herd, reducing the number of cattle in the U.S.

“As we rebuilt the cattle herd, it gave ranchers an opportunity to choose high-quality Angus genetics for replacements,” says Walenciak. “Those genetic improvements set the stage for a speedy growth in certified carcasses.”

A high-quality herd producing more cattle that meet Certified Angus Beef® brand specifications is a much better thing if demand keeps a similar pace.

It just so happens that for the very first time in the history of Certified Angus Beef LLC, July 2017 also marks the only time 100 million+ pounds of CAB has ever been sold in a single month. The record for certified cattle is matched with a record for CAB sales.

“It’s a statement to where we are in the cattle production cycle,” says Justin Sexten, director of supply development for the brand. “It’s exciting. There’s more cattle and higher quality cattle at a time where demand for the CAB brand is at an all-time high.”

5 years, 100,000 certified cattle in just one week, 100 million pounds of CAB sold in one month. It’s a lot of numbers to follow, but when we connect the dots, it’s a story of success that is evidence of the hard work of Angus ranchers.

Until next time,

Nicole

Don’t blame the calves

Yearling cattle don’t necessarily trump calf feds in the feedyard or packinghouse

by Laura Conaway

Things aren’t always what they seem.

It’s no secret, marbling in harvested fed cattle declines from late February to early May each year (See Chart). That coincides with a seasonal switch from yearlings to calf-feds in the harvest mix, which often gets the blame.

Yet, recent data from the University of Minnesota (UMN) suggests we should reconsider the blame game; or, at the very least ,not let it deter cattlemen from feeding calves a high-energy diet (calf-feds).

“It’s interesting that perception is out there, given there’s knowledge that calf-feds actually marble better,” says UMN animal scientist Alfredo DiCostanzo.

He and PhD graduate student Haley Johnson’s meta-analysis of 32 studies on the effects of pre-finishing strategy (backgrounding or stockering) on feedlot and carcass performance leaves little room for the long-held belief. Today’s economic conditions, beef genetics and value-based markets certainly favor a calf-fed approach.

Still, thanks to that seasonal pattern, “the opinion is engrained in our business,” says Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand. He’s glad to see a summarizing study on calf-fed marbling, “because there’s no doubt they can do it.”

“This analysis matches that of our own feedlot partnership database at CAB,” he says, noting its reach across 2 million cattle records from 80 feedyards in 16 states.

DiCostanzo and Johnson’s data (See Table) shows cattle fed a high-energy diet in the backgrounding phase achieved higher average marbling scores than cattle backgrounded on winter wheat, those exposed to unlimited forage with a restricted ration, or grazing dormant grass prior to the finishing phase.

“Plenty of feedlot nutritionists agree with these findings because they’ve seen this for a long time themselves,” he says.

So why the contradiction between perceptions, trends and facts? CAB’s Justin Sexten sees answers in the questions.

“It’s a complex system, influenced by many factors,” the brand’s director of supply development says. “Historical data alone won’t show the complete picture, because today’s cattle genetics offer much greater potential than 10 or 20 years ago.”

Yearlings today can gain two pounds on a moderate level of energy. Calf-feds now reach finished weights once unimaginable.

DiCostanzo says his team’s research aimed to explain the mechanisms of backgrounding that enable marbling and permit heavier finished weights, regardless of seasonal trends.

Cattle will always sell on pounds, yet there will be added rewards for marbling.

Producers must ask, “What am I going to give up so I can get this other thing?” DiCostanzo suggests. “I think the correct mix is somewhere in the middle,” where a combination of weight and marbling achieve the greatest value, particularly when the Choice/Select spread is wide.

“If the spread is favorable, they may consider employing a little more energy into calves’ backgrounding diets or reducing the backgrounding period so that cattle don’t get so heavy,” making them susceptible to discounts.

There’s a long list of reasons why quality grade takes a hit each year. Young calves are more prone to sickness in the early stages of feeding and the first calf-feds harvested are often lighter. Weather and origins come into play, and there are wide differences in genetic potential.

DiCostanzo cites his South Dakota colleague Robbi Pritchard’s findings that, given at least average marbling ability and enough time, long feeding periods on forage need not derail that marbling potential. Good genetics provide more options, he suggests.

“You have the best of both worlds if you’re able to background to about 800 pounds (lb.), no more than that, and at that point turn them onto a high-finishing diet, harvesting at 1,400 lb. That should be able to give you both weight and marbling,” DiCostanzo says.

“It should motivate sellers of superior-marbling Angus cattle to consider the typically wider Choice/Select spread, Prime and CAB premiums featured in the spring as a margin-enhancing target,” Dykstra says.

Since both yearling and calf-fed programs can each work without sacrificing grade, most producers can find ways to reach their optimum target.

“We need to have this discussion to get past that first impression to try and have a more objective conclusion on this,” DiCostanzo says.

Three steps for dry-aged beef

A lot of flowery adjectives get tossed around when the topic of dry-aged beef comes up. Some food writers call the process “artisanal.” To others, it’s “old-world” and “earthy.” Those descriptors may be enough to entice intrigued diners to make the leap — and spend the extra $$$ for a dry-aged option — but they fail to explain what’s actually happening during the process, and why dry-aged beef is truly a delicacy.

Let’s start with the basics of aging

Even in restaurants claiming to have “fresh” beef, most has been aged to some extent. Wet-aged: beef that’s been stored inside a vacuum package in a cooler for a few weeks, allowing the naturally-occurring enzymes within the meat to break down muscle fibers and create tenderness. With wet aging, what goes into a bag is pretty much what comes out of the bag, only more tender. Know that this enzymatic activity, however, occurs regardless of the environment — wet-aged, dry-aged or otherwise. So, to a certain extent, the longer beef ages in general the more tender it will become.

Now let’s talk about dry aging

This is what dry aging looks like. Beef just hanging out on a shelf inside a dry-aging cooler getting crusty. Better bring some popcorn, it’s gonna be a long viewing. Three things need to happen inside the meat during the dry-aging process:

#1: Time.

Allow time for the naturally-occurring enzymes to do their thing, thus making the beef more tender. If this is new information to you, then you just skipped the 249 words preceding this. Shame on you.

#2: Dehydration.

Unlike its wet-aged brethren, confined to an air-tight bag, dry-aged beef is free to explore its environment, including the encouraged evaporation of moisture from within the cut. And, while this is responsible for much of the darkening of its crust, what’s left inside is intense, beefy flavor, concentrated from the dehydration. The need to trim off that crust before cooking means significant yield loss, however, a big reason why dry-aged beef is so pricey.

#3 Mold.

This is the trickiest part of dry-aging, and the key difference between truly dry-aged vs. just dehydrated. Folks may not hold degrees in any kind of mold-related science, but it’s generally understood that in different parts of the country there are different kinds of molds. Despite their reputation, molds truly bring the funk; they are the critical element to the dry-aging process because they impart certain flavors. So, depending on your zip code, those molds and the flavors they create are going to be different.

New York City is the dry-aging capitol of the world, but Los Angeles has its own level of funk. In between is the CAB Culinary Center in Ohio, where meat scientist Dr. Phil Bass says, while the process of dry-aging has been going on for centuries, we’re still, continually learning more.

It wasn’t too long ago that the food industry — and health inspectors fearful of molds — nearly science’d itself out of this incredible process. Approved aging techniques, then designed to stop mold rather than promote it, may still be limiting the addition of other desirable flavors.

Fortunately, the pendulum swings back toward tradition and we can find more dry-aged beef today. Even high-end grocery stores, like Market District in Ohio and Pennsylvania, have added coolers specifically for dry-aging.

While “artisanal,” “old world” and “earthy” may be correct, you now know exactly why dry-aged beef is a delicacy worth trying.

May all your salads be meaty,

Bryan

Documented Beef Quality

40 years on, science still backs leading beef brand

by Miranda Reiman

For all the talk of fads and changing consumer habits, this remains: what makes a good beef eating experience today is the same as it was 40 years ago.

But a new research report details – and updates – the science that still defines the ideal carcass.

“They continue to research it and we continue to see the same results, that more marbling is better,” says meat scientist Phil “Dr. Phil” Bass.

The 25-page literature review he recently authored for his company is titled, “The scientific basis of the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand carcass specifications.” It combines findings of 127 published scientific articles to help explain the technical basis for the brand’s third-party-evaluated criteria.

Those include everything from a “10- to 16-square-inch ribeye” to “no dark cutters.”

It all starts with cattle that are at least 51% black-hided, as a way to identify “Angus-type cattle.”

“It’s amazing the amount of data that’s out there that just shows Angus cattle in general will tend to have better carcass quality,” Bass says, referencing work as old as 1982 and as current as 2014.

“However, merely having an Angus phenotype is only a first step in qualifying for the CAB brand; 10 carcass traits must be evaluated and confirmed within specification prior to formal certification of the carcass,” the paper notes.

Marbling is the No. 1 reason cattle don’t qualify, as that score not only must be Modest or higher, otherwise known as upper two-thirds Choice, but also needs to be evenly distributed with medium to fine texture.

Several studies from Texas and Kansas to Colorado point out the role marbling plays in increasing palatability measures: flavor, juiciness and tenderness.

“Beef with a higher amount of marbling that is known to originate from a grain-finished management system has been described as having a desirable, buttery flavor,” the paper reports, also noting how even distribution influences tenderness.

Not only does the fat melt during the cooking process and help “lubrication,” but also “the less dense marbling dilutes the amount of muscle fiber bundle and thus accounts for an easier bite mechanically.”

Fat that melts during cooking results in “consistent and uniform distribution of perceived juiciness.”

The white paper covers everything from the logic for carcass sizing measures to specifications designed to eliminate defects.

Bass says precision and accuracy in meat science have improved as tools for cooking and measuring attributes like color have as well, but the science still proves the late 1970s specifications are just as relevant in 2016.

“We continue to see an increase in quality beef at the packing level,” he says. “That means the farmers and ranchers are doing their job, but I would encourage continued focus and trying to hit more ideal sizes, not just bigger sizes.”

Trying to eliminate stress, selecting for docility and “making sure that the animal is well finished but not over-finished” help avoid discounts.

What’s good for the consumer will bolster profits for the producer, Bass says.
That hasn’t changed either.

To read the entire paper, visit www.cabcattle.com/research.

Documented beef quality

40 years on, science still backs leading beef brand

By Miranda Reiman

For all the talk of fads and changing consumer habits, this remains: what makes a good beef eating experience today is the same as it was 40 years ago.

But a new research report details – and updates – the science that still defines the ideal carcass.

“They continue to research it and we continue to see the same results, that more marbling is better,” says meat scientist Phil “Dr. Phil” Bass.

The 25-page literature review he recently authored for his company is titled, “The scientific basis of the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand carcass specifications.” It combines findings of 127 published scientific articles to help explain the technical basis for the brand’s third-party-evaluated criteria.

Those include everything from a “10- to 16-square-inch ribeye” to “no dark cutters.”

It all starts with cattle that are at least 51% black-hided, as a way to identify “Angus-type cattle.”

Several studies from Texas and Kansas to Colorado point out the role marbling plays in increasing palatability measures: flavor, juiciness and tenderness.

Fat that melts during cooking results in “consistent and uniform distribution of perceived juiciness.”

The white paper covers everything from the logic for carcass sizing measures to specifications designed to eliminate defects.

Trying to eliminate stress, selecting for docility and “making sure that the animal is well finished but not over-finished” help avoid discounts.

What’s good for the consumer will bolster profits for the producer, Bass says.

That hasn’t changed either.

To read the entire paper, visit https://cabcattle.com/about/research/.

Increasing the odds for beef

by Miranda Reiman

You have to eat it. That’s really the only way to know if a steak is going to be good or not.

So it is with all “experience goods.” Wine and beauty products are other examples.

That’s why it is so important to have a system in place that helps predict product performance, says Daryl Tatum, Colorado State University meat scientist.

The wine industry has its ratings and flavor descriptions and the beef community its quality grades.

In a new research review, “Recent trends: beef quality, value and price,” Tatum combined the results of several studies to provide a comprehensive overview of the grading system’s ability to predict sensory performance and value of beef.

The results say consumers who want more than a “run of the mill” eating experience should reach for premium Choice or Prime.

With Prime, there’s a 97% chance of having a good eating experience, and that is 93% with premium Choice, but low Choice moves to 82%. Select is a “roll of the dice,” Tatum explains, with a one-in-three chance of having a negative experience.

“After sorting for brands, what’s left in the Choice box isn’t too special,” Tatum says, noting that at least a third of the total Choice category is sold in branded beef and premium programs.

Moving up on the grading scale helps improve the odds dramatically. The odds of a good eating experience are 2.9 times greater when trading up from low Choice to premium Choice.

Economic signals reflect that reality.

“Sensory performance does align with the price difference in the trade,” he says.

From 2012 to 2014, the average carcass grid values showed a $13.64 per hundredweight (cwt.) premium for Prime, on down to a $10.09/cwt. discount for Select. Charting those amounts along with the meat sensory measurements shows a linear relationship.

To the grading system critics, Tatum says, “When I look at these things, it seems to be working pretty well. I don’t think we’d have been able to trade beef at the prices we have been without some performance behind it,” he adds.

History demonstrated what happened when marbling wasn’t part of the equation as beef got leaner and the industry tried to compete with other proteins on price alone.

“Demand kept tanking,” Tatum says. “A lot of the quality signals and trends that we see today, began back then.”

He referenced the opposite trends for commodity beef versus the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand, which got its start in 1978 and saw dramatic sales increases at a time when beef sales were declining overall.

Yet, much of the early science suggested marbling was not as important in younger animals. One study found it accounted for as little as 10% of the variation in eating quality.

But work done in 2013 shows marbling explains up to 61% of the variation in overall product performance consisting of juiciness, tenderness and flavor attributes.

“Advances in technology and improved methodology have allowed us to uncover some of those relationships and we’re doing a better job of measuring the differences,” Tatum says. From sensory science to instrument grading, there are more tools that add precision to measuring the relationships between marbling and eating quality.

Today’s science is convincing and fits well with the economics, Tatum says. The only way to be sure that an “experience good” is going to give you a good experience is to make use of trusted marketing parameters so that it becomes more of a “search good,” something you seek out repeatedly because of more favorable experiences.

A certain brand, variety and vintage will increase your odds, but, “you never really know until you uncork the bottle,” he says.

Or take that first juicy bite.

To read the entire report, visit www.CABcattle.com/research.

It’s all about the marbling, until it isn’t

I cannot imagine trying to feed the ranch work crew steak without marbling. Call it anything you want, but I am sure the satisfaction in the kitchen would decrease if the meat had little flavor.

Although we focus on marbling quite a lot, it’s only one of 10 Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand carcass specifications.

Dr. Phil Bass in Meat Lab — Dr. Phil Bass, meat scientist for the brand

“Some of the other ones that really eliminate a lot of cattle from qualifying for the brand are hot carcass weight [HCW] and rib eye area [REA],” says our very own Dr. Phil, that is Phil Bass, CAB meat scientist.

Animals must fit all 10 carcass specifications to qualify for the brand, but a majority of the producer focus has been on marbling. Rightly so, since around 90% of the cattle that don’t make the brand are kicked out on that one specification alone, but HCW and REA are making their way onto the radar screen.

“The premiums for Certified Angus Beef are good premiums for cattlemen, but sometimes they just see the signals that say to make them bigger and bigger, no matter the cost,” Phil says. “Less than 1,000 pounds sounds like an easily obtainable goal, but we are seeing more and more cattle with carcasses over 1,000 pounds that would have otherwise qualified for CAB.”

This is what consumers expect to see their ribeyes look like.

As HCW goes up, REA generally does too, so yield grade stays in line. That CAB spec for ribeye is no less than 10 and no greater than 16 square inches.

These sizing regulations are in place to keep beef consistent in the box. If we have exceptionally large carcasses, we start filling consumer plates with exceptionally large steaks, or extra labor is necessary for using creative alternative cutting methods. “We [Certified Angus Beef] are still finding the supply even with the limited number of cattle out there,” Phil says optimistically. “It looks like folks have been focusing on quality a lot – not only will that drive demand for CAB, but beef in general.”

“The boys” are counting on me to produce flavorful meats four times a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon snack, of course) and the most important factors is flavor. Thank goodness for reasonable-sized steaks, as the men in our work crew don’t enjoy leftovers!

–Karoline

Meet Karoline Rose, one of our fall writing interns. Karoline hails from Big Sky country where she is involved in the family ranch and is a student at Montana State University.

Dr. Phil on aging

Hopefully you didn’t click on that headline expecting to find out all about the fountain of youth. If you’ve ever seen our Dr. Phil Bass in person, you know it seems like he’s tapped some into some mysterious, bottomless energy source, but it turns out he’s more of specialist on beef aging.

“Our beef is aged a minimum of 21 days,” says a restaurant menu. Another claims, “We serve only hand-selected, dry-aged beef.”

But what exactly does all that mean? And how is dry aging different than wet aging?

“Aged” is a fancy way to say older, but like a good wine, good beef gets even better with time.

Watch on as Dr. Phil explains in this week’s installment of “Behind your beef.”

And re-visit “Age is relative” if you want more on aging, of the beef variety of course.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

Beef’s a trip day 13: The target

Yesterday, you read that packers communicate with us through their grids, nothing more than a set of specifications that show premiums and discounts for carcass beef. Today, it’s time to look at one component of most grids that predates those grids and helped launch the whole idea of value-based marketing.

The brand that pays started and stays with specifications

I had heard about the Certified Angus Beef Program, and although I knew it was based on some kind of specifications, I didn’t think about how or if they applied to my herd, back in the early 1990s. I was pretty sure those specs were irrelevant to me. But then I reported on the 1993 winner of the CAB Value Discovery Project, which would be the first of many demonstrations. As I talked to Barb and Joe on the Downey Ranch, I began to think twice. That’s a target any commercial herd could aspire to, and make progress by genetic selection of bulls, better female replacements and culling. I knew marbling was the most limiting factor, and probably didn’t need to worry about the rest of the specs for a while. At least until I was ready to finish some progeny.

But where did the specifications come from, and why? It turns out, that went all the way back to the mid 1970s, the legendary bad steak labeled “Angus,” that spurred Angus producers to find a way to guarantee consistent quality. Enter Dr. Bobby VanStavern, now meat scientist emeritus of The Ohio State University and Ohio Ag Hall of Famer. He saw the bigger problems in the beef industry brought by the newly expanded Choice grade.

“The variability in the Choice grade just made it impossible for foodservice units to assure customers they were getting the best beef available,” says Bobby “Dr. Bob” VanStavern. “All of our meat research showed pretty clearly the influence of marbling on palatability.”

A decade later I was feeding cattle and fine-tuning genetics in my herd when colleague Gary wrote an explanatory piece for our monthly Corner on Quality column for state and regional Angus groups. In 2004, the details were all about our eight carcass specs, but in 2007, they become 10. That was no shocker, and the specs remained on target. Deconstructing the yield grade spec into its component parts of carcass weight, ribeye size and fat thickness just provided more consistency in the boxes.

Today’s market signals have pulled more and more CAB product into the supply chain and paid producers more than $352 million in cumulative grid premiums. Those were only a faint promise back when Downey Ranch had committed to the target, but now the genetic tools of increasingly accurate EPDs (expected progeny differences), $Value Indexes and more recently GeneMax, producers have sold semi-trailer loads of 100% CAB cattle, aiming for all CAB Prime next year. Profit for them, opportunity all the way through the food supply chain and satisfied consumers around the world—all of it started with on-target specs.

The process of generation turnover in your herd keeps shifting genetics, which will drift around toward commodity average unless you aim for a target. I have chosen the brand that pays.

Till next time, let’s keep on targeting that brand and building tomorrow together.

–Steve

Beef’s a Trip Archives:

Day 1: Starting at day one

Day 2: Who are these people?

Day 3: Stockholders

Day 4: The cowherd’s purpose

Day 5: Deciding to care

Day 6: Quality focus doesn’t have to skip the middleman

Day 7: Stocking for quality

Day 8: SOLD!

Day 9: What have you done today?

Day 10: Working together to make ‘em better

Day 11: Keep on truckin’

Day 12: Packers want quality

Day 13: The target

Day 14: Packers up close & personal

Day 15: It’s not all about the beef

Day 16: Further processors

Day 17: From here to there–and a lot more

Day 18: He’s on your team

Day 19: Beyond prices, grocery stores uncovered

Day 20: Getting quality in the carts

PS—If you haven’t checked it lately, read “30 days on a Prairie Farm” partly because Holly’s idea inspired our journey, and you can see a list of all the bloggers writing this November.

Yield Grades in Beef (Eins, zwei, drei)

Yes, it’s me again! Talking about grading of beef carcasses. To my thousands of followers, thank you for your support!

I’ve spoken about quality grades, i.e. Prime, Choice, Select, etc. I have spoken about how marbling and maturity are the two items that determine quality grades. This go-round, I’m going to talk about yield grades.

Yield grading is a little easier to quantify, in my simple, little mind, because we assess a numerical score to beef carcasses…….well, not we, but USDA graders! They are, simply, yield grades (YG) 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Simplistically, a YG 1 would be a very lean carcass with little outside fat, while a YG 5 would have an extreme amount of subcutaneous fat, or “bark fat” if you prefer to call it that. A yield grade is an estimate of the amount of closely-trimmed retail cuts that one could expect from a particular carcass. A YG 1 carcass compared to a YG 4 carcass of the same weight should yield more retail product to sell.

Remember how the grader gets to view the ribeye after it is split open? Well, not only does the grader get to view the marbling content, but they also get to see how large the ribeye is in square inches (in relationship to its hot carcass weight), and also how much outside (subcutaneous) fat is on the carcass. They do not individually measure them, but in today’s world, the camera does that by capturing a digital image and calculating the YG.

There is a formula that takes into account the following when assigning a yield grade. They include:

Fat thickness at the 12th/13th rib (this is the starting point, or preliminary yield grade, noted as PYG). I’ve seen carcasses with 0.05″ and those with 1.5″; but we’d expect most to fall in the range of 0.3″ to 0.8″.
Ribeye area in square inches (as according to the hot carcass weight). Ribeye area would typically range from 8.0 square inches (extremely small) to 18.0 square inches (extremely large) with most in the 10-16 square inch range. One would expect, as an animal becomes heavier, the ribeye area would be larger, up to physiological maturity, and it does follow that pattern. Therefore, the formula below will reflect that the heavier the carcass is, the larger the ribeye SHOULD be.
Kidney, pelvic, and heart fat (fat that is inside the body cavity, noted as KPH and expressed as a percentage of the hot carcass weight). The range here would be 1.0% up to 5%; most will be 2.5 to 3.5%. This bears the least on the formula in terms of the final yield grade, but it does figure into the final score.

Example: Let’s take for instance an 800 lb carcass. Let’s say, for kicks and giggles, it has 0.80″ of fat cover, and a 14.0 square inch ribeye. And, the KPH fat is 3.5%.

We plug these figures into the YG formula, which is: 2.5 + (2.5 * fat thickness) + (.2 * %KPH) + (.0038 * hot carcass weight) – (.32 * ribeye area)

So: 2.5 + (2.5 * 0.80) +( 0.2*3.5) + (0.0038*800) – (0.32*14.0) =
(2.5 + 2.0 + 0.7 + 3.04) – 4.48
8.24 – 4.48 = 3.76 yield grade (simply stamped a “YG 3”).

For those of you who are mathemeticians, you might guess that changing some of these figures can greatly affect yield grade. For instance, if this had been a 725 lb carcass, what would you guess the YG might be? That’s right, 3.475; still stamped a YG 3. But, let’s take the fat down to 0.5 and now it’s 2.475, or a YG 2.

Why is this important? In most grid programs, YG 1 and YG 2 carcasses are paid a premium for them. A YG 3 is the “standard” by which MOST grids figure as “par value” on carcass pricing. In other words, there are no premiums or discounts for YG 3’s. But there are premiums for 1’s and 2’s; conversely, there are discounts for 4’s and 5’s. And, you guessed it, the discounts for 4’s and 5’s are far larger than the premiums for the 1’s and 2’s.

They can be as little as ten bucks, but can go all the way up to $20 or $25 per cwt on the carcass weight. So that same 800 lb carcass, if it is a YG 4, will get discounted from the par value by $160. That’s a pretty fair chunk of change, so you need to be careful not to get too many cattle too fat.

Likewise, cattle with small ribeye areas can affect yield grade. If that 800 lb carcass had a 11.5 square inch ribeye, wth that same 0.80″ of fat thickness, it’s yield grade would calculate to a 4.56, or a “4”. On the flip side, if it had a much larger ribeye area and less fat thickness, it (the YG) would be lower, numerically.

So, there ya go. Your primer on quality grade and yield grade in beef cattle, easy as one, two three… or, eins, zwei, drei. I shoulda been a teacher.

Next time, I’m going to discuss some new and exciting DNA testing for yearling gain and marbling as a tool to use in helping select replacement heifers and screen feeder cattle. Till next time, Adios! Actually, I should say, auf wiedersehen, since I’m mostly German! HA!

Record Breaking Quality

You may also like

Don’t blame the calves

Yearling cattle don’t necessarily trump calf feds in the feedyard or packinghouse

by Laura Conaway

You may also like

Three steps for dry-aged beef

You may also like

Documented Beef Quality

40 years on, science still backs leading beef brand

by Miranda Reiman

You may also like

Documented beef quality

40 years on, science still backs leading beef brand

By Miranda Reiman

You may also like

Increasing the odds for beef

by Miranda Reiman

You may also like

It’s all about the marbling, until it isn’t

You may also like

Dr. Phil on aging

You may also like

Beef’s a trip day 13: The target

You may also like

Yield Grades in Beef (Eins, zwei, drei)

You may also like