ST. JOSEPH, Mo. —"It’s lime
for the beef cattle industry to ac
cept the fact that USDA Select
beef is of little if any use in ex
panding beef demand in this coun
try,” said Dick Spader, executive
vice president of the American
Angus Association.
In his regular Angus Journal
column. Spader warns that, "No
cattle producer should have the
goal of producing Select beef,
even in small quantities.”
Citing the price spreads be
tween USDA Choice and Select,
and the even wider spreads be
tween average Choice and above
and Select beef, Spader
said,“Select cattle are the fall-outs
of a feeding program, not the de
sired end result They (cattle that
grade Select) are cattle without the
genetic ability to grade Choice
when fed properly.”
Dairy Bus
ERIE (Eric Co.) A bus tour
is planned Thursday, Jan. 22,
sponsored by Erie County Co
operative Extension.
The one-day tour will visit three
dairy farms in Huntington County,
that are in the process of expand
ing their herds to meet the new
challenges in the dairy industry to
day.
You can meet the bus at two lo
cations. The bus will leave the
Meadville Mall at S a.m. and the
Mercer County Extension Office
at S:4S a.m. The bus should return
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Cattle Producers Challenged To
Eliminate Select Beef From Production
He reminded cattle producers
dial in 1975, die year that the
USDA marbling standards for the
various grades were lowered dra
matically. beef held a 55 percent
share of the meat market, which
has declined steadily since then.
“Industry expats now predict that
by 2005 beef will hold a scant 25
percent share,” he said.
We know how to reverse this
trend. Spader said, and make beef
more acceptable to consumers.
Citing a retail beef Inn palata
bility study conducted in eight
American cities, Spader pointed
out that steaks from Prime leans
produced no undesirable eating
experiences. Steaks in the upper
two-thirds of the Choice grade
produced 5 percent undesirable
eating experiences and Select
grade loins were 20 percent un-
Tour Set
to Meadville by 8 p.m. on Jan. 22.
Cost of the tour is $3O per per
son for the bus. Registrations must
be received by Monday, Jan. 19.
You will need to provide your
own brown bag lunch. Drinks and
snacks will be provided.
Please bring washable rubber
boots to help in biosecurity and
warm clothes.
For additional information or
registration information, contact
John Tyson at the Erie County Co
operative Extension Office at
(814) 825-0900.
The leader in
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satisfactory.
"Even a five percent failure rate
is not good,” Spader said, “but a
20 percent failure rate is simply
unacceptable. The problem is not
that beef is too expensive, the
problem is that beef that produces
unacceptable eating results is too
expensive.”
He said that a 1996 retail pice
study conducted in Chicago
showed that at the time Select beef
was selling for $4.99 a pound,
beef in the upper two-thirds of the
Choice grade was selling for $8.99
Entering our
20thyeav
as
Independent Ag Consultants!
711-859-3216
1998 Farm Show
Scooper Bowl Sunday
Scooper Bowl Sunday Ice Cream Fund Raiser
WHAT:
The Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program/American Dairy Association will host
the fifth annual scooper Bowl Sunday ice cream fundraiser.
Proceeds from the all-you-can-eat ice cream event benefit the Four Diamonds
Fund, Hershey Medical Center.
$3 contributions will be collected at the door.
Sunday, January 11,1998, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHEN:
WHERE: Family Corner, 2 n< * floor, Northeast Building, Farm Show Complex,
Harrisburg
Ice Cream and frozen yogurt has been donated by Hershey Creamery
Company, Turkey Hill Dairy, and Penn State’s University Creamery.
WHO:
A media ice cream eating contest will take place at noon. Media personalities will
be paired with Four Diamonds Fund children in a blindfolded ice cream eating con
test.
The Four Diamonds Fund annual assists more than 350 children with can
cer by providing 100% coverage of hospital bills not covered by family
medical insurance.
WHY:
a pound and Prime was priced at
$15.99 a pound. "People not only
will pay for quality, they are doing
it every day. We must respond
positively to these price signals
that are more and more being re
flected back in prices paid to pro
ducers,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the beef indus
try as a whole isn ’ t ready to accept
these facts. There are people who
still believe that select is a desir
able consumer product.” Spader
said. For these people there is no
way to change their minds before
LEOLA TIRE SERVICE, INC.
717-656-2574
Lancaster Farming, Friday, January t, IWS-C5
Goals
2005, let alone change the gene
tics in their herds. As a result, the
industry must move ahead without
them.
'The prospect of beef holding
only a 25 percent share of the meat
market in seven or eight years is
unsettling and unacceptable,”
Spader concluded. “Dedication to
the production of consistent, high
quality beef, and to effective beef
marketing is the only way we can
prevent these predictions from be
coming a reality.”
258 W. MAIN ST.. LEOLA, PA