Hereford Field Day Has Discussions On Beef Industry Direction
OBERLIN, Kan. -
Attendance nearly tripled from
the previous year at the 1998
American Hereford Association
Genetic Outreach Program
(GOP) Field Day in May.
Three speakers highlighted
the agenda in Oberlin, Kan., on
May 7. As they spoke, a consen
sus rang clear: successful pro
ducers will plan their genetics to
focus on carcass traits, manage
the cattle correctly, and find
alliances to fit their cattle into
niche markets.
The event kicked off May 6
with a four-man scramble golf
tournament at the Heritage
Hills Golf Course in McCook,
Neb. Pfizer Animal Health spon
sored an evening meal of
Certified Hereford Beef (CHB), a
social and an educational pro
gram to conclude the day’s activ
ities.
Pfizer’s Senior Territory
Manager Don Hubbell, N.
Platte, Neb., spoke to producers
about the importance of pre-con
ditioning and good health pro
grams. The field day concluded
May 7 with a tour of Decatur
County Feed Yard to check the
progress of the nearly 800 head
of Herefords participating in the
GOP feedlot and carcass test.
Daryl Tatum, professor of
animal sciences at Colorado
State University, asked produc
ers to think more like a packer
when zeroing in on market cat
tle value. He said producers who
market cattle on a formula or
grid basis are discovering huge
value differences, as much as
$lOO-$2OO difference per head,
in lots that may appear consis
tent but have varying compo
nents that affect value.
“In the packer’s eye, not all
cattle are created equal,” he
said. The packer’s job is to dis
mantle a carcass and process it
to sort out value. Many factors,
such as hide, organs, bones and
fat, can affect his profitability.
Tatum said weight distribu
tion in the carcass drives value.
He said the proportion of red
meat yield coming from the car
cass to the cuts needs to be max
imized, along with the propor
tion of carcass vs. noncarcass
components. Although a carcass
may have a high dressing per
cent, much of that weight can be
pulled off in fat, bone, feet,
organs, and fill.
He said fat, the most variable
component of the carcass, will be
viewed differently in the future
as more is fed or bred off. Today,
fat has the biggest impact on
composition and cutability.
Instrument grading will shift
this focus to muscling.
“I think what you’re going to
see in the next 10-year span in
our industry is that muscling is
going to play a big part in terms
of determining value much
greater than it does now.”
Yield grades will be deter
mined to the nearest tenth of an
inch with future grading tech
niques. “Then, all of the sudden
that becomes a powerful mar
keting tool, a powerful pricing
tool,” he said. “It also becomes a
powerful selection tool for cattle
men.”
He predicts more emphasis
on traits that affect quality
marbling, maturity and color of
lean with instrument grading
and video imaging equipment
that better determine quality
factors and tenderness. Tatum
said the discounts for Standard
,a*K' >*t
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At the 1998 American Hereford Association Genetic
Outreach Program Field Day, participants viewed the
progress of nearly 800 head on a test at Dacatur Co. Feed
grade will continue to get bigger
because there is little market for
that product.
Tatum discussed and showed
examples of cattle types to the
audience. He urged producers to
hit a target of minimum 63%
dressing percent and Yield
Grade 2. He warned producers
against straddling the fence.
“The cattle either have to
have some quality performance
in terms of marbling ability and
quality grade or they’ve got to
have some cutability perfor
mance,” he said. “Otherwise
you’re just left in limbo.”
Rob Ames, CHB head of prod
uct marketing, said the beef
industry is undergoing a revolu
tionary change in how we oper
ate due to rapid marketplace
and consumer change. America’s
demographics will undergo a
major renovation in the near
future: baby boomers will have
the predominant spending
power, the Asian and Hispanic
populations will expand rapidly,
and 50 percent of the population
is expected to be single adults by
the year 2010.
Ames said these changes will
create a need for a variety of
products that fit consumers’
lifestyles, economic situations,
family structure, and ethnicity.
“We’re no longer a meat and
potatoes country. We’re no
longer steaks, hamburgers, and
roasts,” he said. “We’re fajitas,
we’re teriyaki beef on rice. We’re
all kinds of menu items and
options. We’re all kinds of cut
ting styles and we’re all kinds of
portions.”
Ames said this creates sever
al problems in how the beef
industry does business now.
•Size “We’ve talked for
years about cattle being too big
or small for the box. When you
get down to the meal, we’ve got
cattle that might fit the box per
fectly, but don’t fit the meal.” He
added that many cuts on the
ends of the carcass, particularly
big, monster cuts, are difficult to
fabricate and haven’t always
been fabricated in a consumer
friendly manner. To fit small
households, Ames said we must
improve fabrication to market
products that fit the 3 oz. serv
ing size (approximately the size
of a deck of cards) recommended
by most health groups.
• Convenience-orientation
Beef needs to be packaged in an
attractive package that is easy
to heat and eat. To much product
is still marketed fresh and in a
cut that is hard for today’s con
sumer to know how to prepare.
Consumers want home meal
replacements “Bundled meals
that are ready to take home and
pop in the microwave oven.”
•Variety Most beef is not a
steak item. The challenge will be
to merchandise the non-steak
items through different chan
nels, providing more options to
fit the ethnic and socially-driven
preferences of consumers. He
said some options will require a
different cutting style and a dif
ferent part of the animal.
Although Ames said produc
ers cannot make the beef indus
try consumer-focused, they can
play a role in management and
technology to provide a better
product to packers. Ration, time
on feed, age at slaughter, pre
conditioning, age at castration,
and implant protocol all have a
result on the end product sold.
He said producers must think
proactively: choose a genetic
plan and sick to it, determine
what works in the operation and
produce it consistently, practice
beef quality assurance pro
grams, concentrate on low-cost
production, avoid extremes in
production and cattle types, and
form marketing alliances.
Marcine Moldenhauer, value
added procurement program
manager for Excel Corp., said
the packing industry is undergo
ing new grading technology that
will provide more accurate yield
and quality grades in the future.
She identified several obstacles
for the beef industry.
•Yield grade discounts
i >or
Yard in Oberlin, Kan. The steers are averaqinq 4.24
pounds ADG after nearly 80 days on test.
She predicts that current $l-3
discounts for upper Yield Grade
3 cattle will increase to $B-10
discounts in the future, and
Yield Grade 4 and 5 cattle will
receive $2O-30 discounts.
•Maturity Cattle should
typically be slaughtered
between 13-18 months to fall
into the “A” maturity grade.
However, many young cattle are
showing signs of advanced
maturity due to factors such as
geographic area, poor health,
poor nutrition, genetics, water,
and abuse or misuse of implant
programs.
•Percentage of cattle reach
ing Prime quality grade Only
2.5 percent of cattle slaughtered
receive a Prime grade. However,
the National Beef Quality Audit
said seven percent of cattle
could reach this grade without a
decrease in price and value. “If
you’ve got some of those Prime
cattle out there that are yield
grading 1,2, or 3, you need to
now about it,” she said.
•Dark cutters Producers
must select for disposition, as
well as provide proper health
techniques and an adequate
nutritional level, use implants
properly and provide adequate
water before shipping. She said
one steer with a disposition
problem will usually affect four
to five other steers in a 100-head
pen.
•Misfits “Fifteen years
ago, we probably had 45 carcass
buyers across the United States
that bought out cattle,” she said.
“Today, there are basically 10.”
Buyers are becoming more selec
tive in what they buy, and are
turning away cattle that are too
light, too heavy, Yield Grade 4 or
5, dark cutters, heiferettes, too
mature, or have discolored fat.
•Carcass damage She sug
gested that producers be aware
of factors such as injection sites
and broken needles left in cattle;
bruises; measle or blister beef
(caused by ingested feed conta
minated by a human carrier
with tapeworms); pathology
(liver condemnation); and hide
damage due to mud, urine,
branding, insect damage, and
grubs.
• Consistency in meeting car
cass targets Moldenhauer
recommended an ideal carcass
target of 625-800 pound carcass, .
12-13 square-inch rib eye area,
and .3-4 inch of backfat. <
She summarized her action }
plan for producers with three <
main points: 1) measure perfor- ■
mance and carcass traits, 2)'-
develop a written business plan,,
and 3) “participate. If you don’t i
participate, don’t complain.” (