Certified Angus Beef Meets Lancaster County BRICKERVILLE, Pa. Will Rogers once said: “Even when you’re on the right track, if you’re standing still, you’ll get run over...” That was the quote Turk Stovall left with producers attending an annual cattle feed ers’ meeting conducted in August. Stovall is Assistant Director of Feeder-Packer Relations for the Supply Development Branch of Certified Angus Beef (CAB), based in Manhattan, Kansas. After a roast beef dinner, the crowd of 110 cattle feeders from Lancaster and sur rounding counties, learned about CAB’s efforts to meet the growing demand for their beef products through the CAB Feedlot Licensing Program. While he was here for the meeting, Stovall took a few extra days to get to know the area, the people, and see some good shredders VERSATILE • Chop and feed the wettest silage bales • Chop dry hay, straw, and corn stalks Discharges to either, or both sides for free stall bedding Optional hose attachment for hard to reach areas and mulching application . Models available to handle all sizes of round and big square bales MANEUVERABLE • 3 point mounted to operate in close quarters EASY TO OPERATE • Load bales with 3 point bale handler, no loader required. • Simple durable construction * Operate with as little as 60 hp 100 Stover Drive 100-120 Lehigh Ave. - RO. Box 928 Carlisle, PA 17013 Batavia, New York 14021-0928 717/249-6720 716/343-5411 Serving Farmers Through Farm Equipment Dealers Since 1961 cattle. AB feedlot consultants Jim Hogue and Curt Umble, along with Pennsylvania’s Beef Quality Assurance Director, Wendall Landis, served as tour guides. Stovall told the crowd, “I got my Feedlot Nutrition degree in the Midwest, and I thought I knew it all. But after traveling to your feedlots here with Jim, I found out you are some of the most innovative cattle feeders I’ve been to.” “What took my eye, was the quality of the cattle fed here, the way they’re put together, and the strong Angus influence in the feedlots we visited,” Stovall said before the meeting, during a brief tour stop at the New Hol land Sales Stables. “It’s nice to see that here. In some areas, it’s hard to come by.” Standing at ringside, watch ing the gavel fall on CAB-type CUMINS aid MUCKER, Inc. MULTIPLE BENEFITS • Improved Payability, less waste • Feed silage bales directly into bunk or fenceline feeders. Pre-chop material for TMR mixer. • Improved absorption ability of bedding material, less bedding required. • Clean comfortable beds. • Easier handling of manure with chopped material Distributed By: WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS cattle during the sale, he asked many questions about the vari ous buyers and wondered aloud, “Where are those cattle going?” The wheels were turning, when it became obvious that most were not being purchased for CAB plants. More impressive than the cattle, Stovall said, were the people he met. “There’s nothing better than sitting down with salt of the earth people and talk ing about the industry, hearing their concerns and ideas, and seeing the unique style with which they do things.” He found producers were re sponsive and interested in the CAB feedlot licensing program. But he also received some feed back to take home with him on the obstacles, mainly the desire for higher packer premiums on CAB qualifiers. He also visited the Karl Hess farm in Willow Street. Hess has been doing custom feeding for cow/calf pro ducers and recently dedicated a portion of his feedlot for CAB li censing, the first in the area to do so. “This (feedlot licensing) pro gram can help us both out. The feeder helps us make more certi fied product to meet the demand, and we partner with him to expose his name and feedlot through the Angus Asso ciation so he can get good Angus influenced cattle to feed,” Sto vall explained. Presently, 80 percent of the beef processing plants in the U.S. are licensed CAB, but the acceptance rate for carcasses meeting the stringent quality and yield grade criteria is only 20 percent. Meanwhile, CAB is moving more end meats through new product development, and more middle meats than ever before. They want to expand interna tionally, but they just do not have the volume to go where NTIOUE TRACTOR PULLS MASON DIXON FAIR GROUNDS, RT 74, DELTA, PA OCTOBER 14,2000 SPONSORED BY DELTA-CARDIFF VOL. FIRE CO. 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WINCHED ONTHEFLOOR With ffta faadar ratting tuba automatically tow* araloyourpra aalactad Nnehing lava) lavoitutafciwaadto pmanttaadintha antlra pan without ovar fl>ng Ifca ottwr typical flood Nadars Zeiset a^—i Equipment .*l, 2187 North Penryn Rd., Manheim, PA 17545 Phone (717) 665-4056 Fax (717) 665-2240 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 30, 2000-A33 Flexible Auger for Low Volume, Standard - Volume, High Volume, _—--» * lk as well as High fAr'* Moisture (up to 25°) Osl and pellet applications. they want to go, Stovall said. Plus, CAB will be supplying heat and serve beef, including pot roast, deli items and all beef frankfurters for the venues of the 2002 Olympics. Thus, the CAB feedlot licens ing program was developed to get more Angus-influenced cattle into the CAB product chute. Currently, 49 feedlots are licensed in 14 states, a few of them in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia. “Feedlots will play an in creasingly important role in the coordination of the beef indus try,” he said. “Today, 2,075 feedyards sell 85 percent of the nation’s fed cattle. The top 25 companies have 98 yards that account for 38 percent of all fed cattle, and the trend continues bigger every year.” But CAB doesn’t think bigger necessarily means better in terms of achieving its supply de velopment goals. “Size is not an (Turn to Pag* A 37) *1 it * m a *»r Feed Storage and Delivery Systems