Premium Positioning

CAB annual conference inspires beef marketers

I’m not all that fancy. I grew up wearing second-hand clothes and riding in farm trucks. My siblings and I thought the Super 8 was an upscale motel because they had a pool.

Still today, I rarely find myself in a town with a five-star restaurant.

So when I get the opportunity to attend an event like our Certified Angus Beef^® brand (CAB®) brand annual conference, I often find myself in awe. The food, the venue….the hoopla!

This year we celebrated the 40^th anniversary of the brand in Maui, Hawaii, in September. The annual event brought together attendees from 43 states and 18 countries, representing all parts of the beef chain.

There was a state of the brand.

“Today, Certified Angus Beef represented 18.5% of all fed cattle harvested, while USDA Select has declined to 17.7%,” CAB president John Stika said. “When you look at that dramatic of a shift in the quality of this industry, during a period of only 10 years, that strongly suggests what you’re doing with your efforts have a direct impact on this industry, changing its direction and aligning it more closely with consumers. In doing so, creating a more sustainable future for all of us.”

There were motivation sessions.

“What you all have achieved in the last 40 years is not an accident,” said Chris Hogan, former college football standout now working with finance and life coach Dave Ramsey. “Where you are is not an accident and where you go in the next two, four, six years won’t be an accident either. Hard work, focus, effort, sacrifice and intentional leadership will help you get there.”

There were practical, deep-into-business sessions for everyone from retailers and chefs to restaurant owners and foodservice distributors. We talked Prime availability. We talked mobile technology trends and sustainability. We talked employee development.

Then we ate A LOT of good beef. Seven executive chefs and 25 cooks fed—and wowed—the crowds. There was beef for breakfast (steak and eggs anyone?) and lunch (from burgers to brisket, dozens and dozens of new value-added products) and dinner (Prime smoked filet of strip, with a demi-glace).

Our culinary team roasted an entire side of beef on the beach. (It had a different feel than a hog roast in a machine shed, that’s for sure!) Passersby stopped to snap selfies while the waves crashed in the background.

The tropical backdrop just complemented the exceptional level of detail our education team is known for, from the moment attendees walked up to the barn-front registration desk to the finale fireworks.

There were too many special touches to count.

But don’t confuse the intention as an attempt to show off. A closer look shows it’s not frivolous, it’s necessary.

We want chefs to feature the high-quality beef you raise, listed on menus where they can charge $100/plate. We want retailers to use the brand as a way to build customer loyalty. We want our partners to serve the beef when a celebrity event comes to town and feature it their strategic marketing plans.

If they’re going to sell CAB as a premium brand, they first have to see it as such. If we expect them to pay more for it, we have to prove to them it deserves that place.

During my first week of orientation with CAB, I had lunch with Tracey Erickson, our vice president of marketing. That was 2006, and I still remember the conversation about separating ourselves from commodity beef. It went beyond the specifications to the positioning.

“If we were giving chocolate as a gift, we wouldn’t give M & M tins, we’d give Godiva,” Tracey told me. “We are a premium brand, so we need to be in that category in all areas.”

I may not be fancy, but I can certainly fancy a strategy that puts more money back in producers’ pockets.

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

About the author: Miranda Reiman

I love this life. Things that top my list? God, my family, rural life, agriculture and working for the brand. I’m officially the director of producer communications, which basically means I get to learn from lots of smart people and pass that information along to other smart people: YOU. I’m fortunate to work with producers and others in the beef community from my Nebraska-based home office here in the heart of cattle country. (One other delicious job perk? Any time we meet, there’s sure to be good beef involved.)

“Roast Perfect” app takes the guesswork out of roasting beef

Comprehensive tool for the holidays offers hands-on help in the kitchen

by Miranda Reiman

Beef roasts could become the centerpiece of more holiday meals, if only consumers could get more comfortable with cooking them.

That’s according to a study by the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand, using Toluna AutomateSurvey online.

“Most consumers say turkey and ham are appropriate holiday traditions, but more than 40% say they’re looking to try something new this year,” said Emily Whiting, CAB assistant director of research and account marketing. “Holiday hosts have a chance to wow their guests.”

Four in 10 people polled said they’d like to learn how to roast more effectively. They view a beef roast as the king of holiday parties and festivities. But it’s just so darn intimidating.

Among the challenges they cite: beef roasts aren’t easy to prepare (19%), they don’t know how to roast (14%), or they don’t know which cut to use (10%).

Help is here.

CAB’s Roast Perfect app, free for both Apple and Android smartphones and tablets, is designed to give consumers the information they need to select the ideal roast and prepare it to the perfect endpoint. It includes a built-in interactive timer, which accounts for the particular cut of beef, its size and the desired doneness. The app prompts the cook every step of the way.

It also includes a variety of chef-developed and tested recipes for roasts and side dishes, step-by-step video tutorials, a portion calculator and more.

“We want to help give consumers the information and confidence they need to start a new holiday tradition,” said Tracey Erickson, vice president of marketing for the brand. “We understand that for some consumers, purchasing and preparing a roast can be daunting, so we want to set all cooks up for success. Roast Perfect is the result of extensive real-world research by our culinary team. It’s a foolproof way for any cook to choose and prepare the perfect roast for their table.”

Besides a wide selection of cuts, techniques and recipes perfect for traditional oven roasts, the app also provides instructions and recipes on braising (pot roasts) for everyday meals.

The Roast Perfect app includes the following features:

Select a Roast: from a tenderloin to rib roast to top round, users can choose a cut (descriptions are included) and the total number of people to be served. The app then calculates the amount of beef to buy, as well as selected recipes for that cut and side-dish pairings.
Recipes and Tips: browse recipes by roast type or search keywords. Learn how to choose a roast, tie a roast and carve a roast. A degree-of-doneness guide illustrates how to achieve the perfect cooking time.
Roast Timer: Simply select your preferred cut, weight and desired degree of doneness, and the interactive timer is customized for a perfect result. Just click, cook and enjoy with no guesswork.

Cause and Effect

by Justin Sexten, Ph.D.

We sometimes associate cause and effect without knowing the real link, or as an academic buzz phrase has it, “correlation does not equal causation.” A quick search provides a humorous example. Did you know ice cream sales and shark attacks are highly correlated? While true in a broad sense, the actual reason for similar seasonal trends is that hot weather brings greater ice cream consumption as well as more swimming along beaches where sharks lurk.

Examples in the beef production model are many: vaccines’ ability to prevent pinkeye, growth attributed to a change in feed ingredients, treatment success with the most recent antibiotic. Then there’s the supposed link between weaning success and the moon’s position relative to constellations of stars. While I have never seen any data on the relationship between lunar or zodiac signs and calf weaning success, I wonder if another factor comes into play. Those who follow the signs must plan ahead, so this advance planning could be the actual basis for weaning success rather than relative positions in the heavens. Planning ahead can still get us in trouble, however, if we ignore data and hold on to assumptions of cause and effect.

As many cows across the county enter their third trimester and weather turns colder calving season comes to mind along with birth weights and, especially with heifers, concerns about calving difficulty. Two correlations are often referenced for calf birth weight: weather and nutrition. Data from Nebraska and Oklahoma suggest birth weight increases in cold weather and decreases in hot. That’s likely caused by changing blood flow to conserve heat in the winter and dissipate it in the summer, but it’s a factor we can’t control. That said, those who manage fall-calving herds and should keep in mind the seasonal data suggest their calves are 4 to 5 pounds lighter at birth than spring-born from similar genetics. Calving ease is less important in sire selection for the fall herds.

You can control late-gestation nutrition, and some say putting limits on that can moderate birth weight. While true, there are many potentially negative effects, such as increased calving difficulty due to weak cows, poor colostrum quality, later puberty in replacements, lower quality grade in finished cattle and increased post-partum interval. It may lower rebreeding rates in cows when the attempt to solve a problem not only fails in the near term but keeps on failing because cows lack adequate body condition scores at calving. Clearly the associated effects suggest correct sire selection as the more appropriate method to address dystocia.

Another relationship commonly discussed comes up in a recent article from the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center. Warren Snelling and coworkers looked at the correlations or relationships of cow weight and productivity. Their paper examined the productivity of cows over time and how the industry trend for increased yearling growth affects reproductive success and retention in the herd. It agreed with past studies, showing a negative relationship between increased cow weight and weaning production traits. The new wrinkle was Snelling’s suggestion that culling unproductive 2- and 3-year-old females could overcome this negative relationship.

Here’s where discussion among ranchers can lead to different outcomes, depending on their ranch environments. One decides to stop selecting for more growth, citing genetic progress as the cause for larger mature cow size, which in turn has caused declines in weaning performance and longevity in the herd. Another decides to keep selecting for increased growth and finds minimal reduction in weaning performance. Unknown is how the rest of the environment—to include management—affects these relationships. Perhaps on one ranch, the 2- and 3-year-olds are given another chance after failing to rebreed while the other indirectly selects for fertility (and females that fit the program) by culling based on reproductive success regardless of age.

When you stop to think about cause and effect in any aspect of herd management, keep in mind many variables influence cow herd productivity. When evaluating alternative practices, remember to consider all aspects of your environment; your management decisions are part of the environment. When comparing notes with neighbors, veterinarians, nutritionists and seedstock suppliers, ask questions specific to your management in combination with the environment to ensure you are not causing undesired effects or blocking the way for desired effects.

Certified Angus Beef^® brand elevates beef industry

by Nicole Lane Erceg

It’s a Cinderella story that never seems to grow old. An Ohio Angus breeder went out to eat and ordered an Angus steak that turned out terrible. The experience sparked an idea for a certified brand of beef that would be enjoyed 40 years later, in the U.S. and 50 other countries around the world.

The story was recounted from the main stage at the National Angus Convention and Trade Show, in Columbus, Ohio, last month. John Stika, Certified Angus Beef LLC president, also told of challenges overcome to achieve a 2018 sales record of 1.212 billion pounds sold.

“Just like rungs on a ladder, this brand continues to build on itself,” he told the crowd.

Focusing on the last decade of the brand, he reminded breeders that while the graphs for demand and sales move up and to the right, the growth happened during challenging years on the ranch. Drought, an economic crash and tight cattle supplies presented enormous hurdles, but the brand’s numbers consistently got better.

“It speaks directly to your willingness and ability as Angus breeders to supply the demand that is out there for premium beef and the Certified Angus Beef brand around the world,” he said.

Records can’t be set without an increasing supply of qualified cattle. Accomplishing the 2018 CAB sales required 5.18 million carcasses, a 14% increase over 2017.

“If you look back 10 to 12 years, you see during that period we were qualifying about 2 million cattle per year,” he said. “Today we’re certifying 100,000 head each week.”

In 2008, CAB represented less than 10% of the fed cattle inventory. That same year, USDA Select accounted for one-third of all fed cattle harvested. Ten years later the brand accounts for 18.5% of the nation’s fed cattle while Select has declined to 17.5%.

The shift translates to added value for beef producers. Packers pay producers $1.4 million per week in premiums for cattle that meet the brand’s 10 science-based specifications representing one of the best marketing incentives available.

Driving dollars back to the ranch wasn’t always this easy — or this profitable. It took nine years from the date the brand began before the the first premium was realized. The 20-year total for CAB grid premiums is about $700 million, more than half of which has been paid in the last seven years.

“We’ve aligned our business more closely to the needs of consumers,” he said. “Along the way, we’ve created a more sustainable future for all of us,” Stika shared.

Looking to the future, he said continued success hinges on the brand’s ability to build on consumer trust. Initiatives on the horizon include elevating the relevance of brand resources and services for both producers and end users and enhancing the brand experience for consumers.

“What’s exciting is that I don’t believe this brand has arrived,” Stika said, casting the vision for what’s on the horizon for CAB. “We’ve just reached a 40-year milestone. There is more to capture, more to accomplish, more demand to build and more pull-through dollars to feed back into production agriculture.”

NEAR THE PINNACLE OF BEEF QUALITY

Angus Value Discovery Contest winners named.

by Nicole Lane Erceg and Laura Conaway

It takes a powerful start and decades of focus to get harvest groups that regularly qualify 100% for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand. What about 97.7% at CAB Prime brand and that one steer “only” hitting the traditional premium Choice CAB mark?

Not too good to be true, that’s just the mark of a Champion. To be precise, it’s the Champion pen of 40 enrolled in the 2018 Angus Value Discovery Contest (AVDC), produced by Jack and Bill Boyer, Boyer Brothers Angus, Perryville, Mo.

To the northwest 400 miles or more, another set of brothers gave the Boyers a run for their money.

Aaron and Darin Georg run a purebred commercial Angus herd of 500 near Sabetha, Kan. Raising cattle with the end in mind has been their focus since the early 1990s, and it lifted them to the Reserve Champion level in the 2018 AVDC.

The Georgs have been finishing their own cattle on the farm for more than 20 years.

“We select for carcass merit because that’s where the value is,” Aaron says.

Their reserve champion pen achieved 97.6% CAB (all but one), including 61.9% CAB brand Prime. What made their pen a close second was the fact that only one of the 42 head earned a YG 4 discount, with no YG 5s.

“A Choice, YG 3 carcass is par for the course,” Darin says. “We’ve got to consistently do better than that.”

Carcass data is a key indicator of performance for their herd. They regularly see loads grade 30% Prime or better as they target improved growth and efficiency. They watch the numbers closely and work to see ever fewer YG 4s with continued increases in Prime on their closeouts.

“If you have cattle that can perform, we believe it’s in our best interest to retain them and capture the value,” Darin says.

For those interested in retained ownership, the brothers say stay the course and cull deep. It’s an end goal their family has been targeting for decades and are justifiably proud of the progress so far.

Their seedstock supplier is Keith Taliaferro’s T Bar T Angus Ranch at nearby Effingham, Kan.

The first year of the AVDC drew 27 nominations by nine suppliers on 1,914 finished cattle from across the country. Its second year managed only 929 head in 13 entries, although overall quality was greater.

Contest winners earned trips to the National Angus Convention, in Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 4-7, 2018, where they received the awards. The Boyer’s Grand Champion pen merited $2,000 in credit toward their next bull purchase with Gardiner Angus Ranch, while the Georgs earned a $1000 credit to spend with T Bar T Angus Ranch.

There are no plans to continue the AVDC, but all Angus producers are encouraged to take stock of the quality in their herds, to monitor, measure and improve carcass merit for greater profit and growing consumer demand for beef.

“As CAB acceptance rates continue to climb, we know producers have to remain focused just to stay above average,” says production brand manager Kara Lee. “The Angus Value Discover Contest has been a great opportunity to showcase those who have done that in a very big way, with the payoff to show for it.”

Health, Vaccinations Not Synonymous

by Laura Conaway

Victory in war starts long before the battle. The same is true in combat against cattle diseases.

“My job as a military commander is to take a soldier and make him resilient,” Col. Sam Barringer said at the Feeding Quality Forum in Sioux City, Iowa this summer. The veterinarian and technical specialist for Diamond V illustrated the point by stretching a rubber band: too much pressure, no matter the reason, may cause it to break.

Calves arriving at a feedyard are naturally deployed with a degree of stress, Barringer said. Vaccinating at that time stretches their rubber band of immunity. If the targeted disease shows up, the vaccine may help; if not, that band still stretches.

“We’ve got this idea that if you vaccinate, that equates to health,” he said. “That is not the case. Health and vaccinations are not synonymous.”

Cattle encounter “bugs” representing hundreds of different diseases over time. On average, the industry vaccinates calves for nine of them—and even then, it doesn’t mean they won’t get sick.

Barringer returned to the comparison of training soldiers: “There are things they’re going to see that I could have never predicted.” Cattlemen must anticipate the same unknown challenges, so the band can stretch but not snap.

The ability to handle whatever may come determines survival and performance in the yard. However, the cattle industry can’t function well by assuming the next person in the supply chain will make up for what’s lacking. Proactive measures need to start at the cow-calf level and continue with communication down the line.

“We pick genetics and we try to get the absolute best gains and carcass characteristics, but how many of you thought about picking cattle that can bounce back after stress?” Barringer asked.

Beyond genetics and vaccines, he urged a higher view, beyond routine.

“What can we do to cattle to give them broad-based resiliency? No matter how good the genetic makeup of a calf, a sick one will lose money every time,” he said.

Routine responses get in the way of progress, Barringer said, citing examples where “we think we’re doing the right thing and it’s wrong – we just don’t know because it’s become normalized – ask why you do what you do.

“Make sure you understand it and the people around you understand, it because it can be dang hard to achieve excellence if you don’t know why you’re doing something,” he said.

Trying to protect against every known cattle pathogen today could mean 32 vaccines.

“What do you think 32 vaccines would do to your cattle on arrival at a feedyard?” he asked. “Every vaccine we give takes energy out of the system,” so the solution must include other protection.

“The immune system is designed to detect very, very small differences that your human eye can’t pick up. But we’re not initiating that immune system,” he said. “In large part, we’re not implementing what it can do.”

Citing data that supports a nutrient additive approach to decreased illness on feed, Barringer said, “ruminant resiliency is huge.” Returning to the soldier comparison, he added, “I build guys that can go out there and not fall apart on me.”

The forum was presented by Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) with cosponsors Where Food Comes From, Roto-Mix, Feedlot Magazine, Tyson Foods, Intellibond, Zoetis and Diamond V.

Vaccinate Healthy Calves; Wait on IIlness

By Sarah Moyer

You vaccinate to keep cattle healthy, but if they’re already coming down with a bug or your timing is off, your efforts could be worse than a waste. That’s what Brian Vander Ley, veterinarian epidemiologist at the University of Nebraska, told 200 cattlemen at the Feeding Quality Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, this August.

“On-arrival vaccination is pretty standard practice in the U.S. cattle feeding industry,” he said. “It’s become so standard, we don’t even question doing it.”

Vander Ley differs with that feedyard consensus, however, having contributed to research that found benefits in 14-day delayed processing of highly stressed calves.

“Most people think of vaccines as something that’s really harmless,” he said. “At its worst, it costs a little bit of money that we don’t get any back from. But we do have some interesting data that says, at its worst, it can be harmful.”

Many weaned, one-source cattle sell through livestock auction markets, but there may be as many “high risk” calves assembled by order buyers to fill 50,000-pound loads, Vander Ley noted.

For the worst-case groups, he noted comingling in a new social structure on top of “weaning stress, transportation stress, castration stress and then we have a nutritional change … that is sort of the epitome of a high-risk calf.”

Rather than treat those the same as ranch calves with established herd immunity, Vander Ley said the label fine print provides guidance: Vaccination of healthy cattle is recommended.

“We get this idea of a snowball effect of infections that starts to drag these calves down and kill them,” he said and then posed a question to the audience. “What is a modified live vaccine for a calf that is already fighting an infection or two? I think it’s another infection.”

An Oklahoma State University study on weaning and comingling showed 45-day weaning on a Missouri ranch was as important as vaccinating to build herd immunity, when more than 75% of calves respond appropriately to disease challenges.

High-risk calves from auction markets required 42% treatment for respiratory disease, compared to 11% of the backgrounded ranch calves.

“Being a single source makes a big difference,” the veterinarian said, but 35% of calves from the same ranch weaned on the truck to Oklahoma required treatment.

“They didn’t have to meet new friends or re-organize their social structure,” Vander Ley said of the abruptly weaned. “They still had to undergo the stress of weaning, transport and going to a new environment all at the same time, so we accumulated errors.”

That compounding effect is where Vander Ley said vaccines start to become ineffective.

“Vaccines do things for us, but they’re not silver bullets,” he said. “We can’t vaccinate a group of high-risk calves and expect everything to be OK when we have routinely proved to ourselves that’s not how it works.”

Communication between source and feeder may be the best way to determine how and when to process calves, whether that’s right off the truck or later to fit some other reason to go through the chute, the veterinarian said.

“A cow-calf producer’s decision to vaccinate and wean and background those calves on the ranch for a period of time probably plays the biggest role in determining if any particular calf is going to get sick in the feedlot,” he said.

In comments after his presentation, Vander Ley noted a well-planned vaccination program can help cattle meet their potential for beef quality grade.

“Animals that have experienced respiratory disease grade poorly compared to animals that have been healthy through the feeding period,” he said. “It is less about improving quality, when you’re talking about disease prevention, as it is maintaining quality you’ve worked so hard to build.”

The forum was presented by the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand, with cosponsors Where Food Comes From, Roto-Mix, Feedlot Magazine, Tyson Foods, Intellibond, Zoetis and Diamond V.

Apply now for CAB Colvin Scholarships

by Jera Pipkin

Students already helping lead the beef community could win a share of $33,500 by applying online for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand’s Colvin Scholarship. The Fund has awarded more than $250,000 to 76 college juniors, seniors and graduate students since 1999.

The program honors Louis M. “Mick” Colvin, CAB co-founder and executive director for its first 22 years, for his vision and tireless efforts in support of the brand becoming a reality. After his retirement, the fund was established to carry on his legacy of achieving dreams and inspiring others.

Five juniors or seniors already making a positive impact will be awarded $7,500, $6,500, $5,000, $4,000 or $3,000 next spring. Applications, due by Jan. 18, 2019, include two letters of recommendation and two essays, with up to 500 words on career path choices and up to 1,000 words on how CAB could best differentiate itself from nearly 150 other Angus brands or programs.

To apply, visit the brand’s Careers webpage at and click on the link in the “Scholarship and Seminar Opportunities” section.

“The Scholarship is such a blessing,” said Elisabeth Forker, last year’s first-place undergraduate winner at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “The ag community and the beef industry in particular are so good at ensuring that young people have the opportunity to continue their education.”

A graduate-level scholarship for $7,500 is available to those pursuing applied or basic research and a degree related to high-quality beef production. To apply, graduates should submit a report outlining details of their research.

“I don’t know if I would have decided to stick around for more education without it,” said Michael Cropp, the top 2018 graduate winner. “I was able to get out of undergrad with minimal debt, but it definitely helped kind of cover some bases and continue on [at Iowa State University].”

Winning the scholarship conveyed a confidence-boosting message: “I can do this. Might as well.”

First-place undergraduate and graduate winners also receive an all-expense-paid trip to the 2019 CAB Annual Conference in Asheville, N.C., where they can connect with industry leaders in production, packing, retail and foodservice. A golf tournament and auction at the event provide funding for the scholarships, with totals regularly setting new records.

Highlights this year, besides raising more than $15,000 at the Colvin Golf Classic, included a hand-crafted meat cleaver purchased at auction for $25,000 by Japan-based S Foods. Another international distributor, Triple J Five Star of Guam, bought an Angus cowhide rug with the CAB logo stitched on for $7,500.

Winning bids for three items by CAB barn painter Troy Freeman included $16,000 for a future office painting party by Chicago-based partner Amigos Foods, which also bought Freeman framed art for $10,000. Another partner donated a baseball signed by legendary pitcher and guest speaker Jim Abbott to raise $3,000 more for the cause. Sysco Corporation again won the bidding for the right to name next year’s Golf Classic.

“It was incredible,” said Lindsey Hoover, CAB Education and Events Planner. “Just about everything that came up sold higher than usual, whether that was because of our 40^th Anniversary or being in Hawaii, I don’t know.”

The Colvin legacy is secure, she said, not only with the brand he cofounded but in the growing scholarship program and most significantly, those 76 students already assisted in the past 19 years.

Selected by the Colvin Scholarship Fund Committee, applicants are judged on their activities, scholastic achievement, communication skills and reference letters. Winners will be notified in March.

Celebrating its 40^th anniversary in 2018, the CAB brand remains dedicated to adding value to Angus cattle by providing consumers a consistent and high-quality eating experience. The brand based in Wooster, Ohio, annually sells more than a billion pounds of the best beef worldwide through a network of 19,000 licensed partners. To learn more visit https://www.certifiedangusbeef.com/press/colvin/.

Bringing the value back home

From the mudroom office to billion-pound beef business

by Jera Pipkin

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

When I was a young girl, if you’d have asked me if I would be starting my career in ag communications in 10 or 15 years, I would’ve probably called you crazy for asking.

A tomboy with an intuitive brain, I loved feeding cows with my dad and not much else. I wanted to know how the cow business worked and how I could make our operation better for the future.

On October 18, 1978, in Columbus, Ohio, the first results of a producer brainchild were realized with the sale of a pound of CAB brand product.

That dream, already more than two years in the making, was officially headquartered in Mick Colvin’s home office in West Salem, Ohio. The founding few didn’t just dream about high-quality Angus beef, they made it happen with a plan. They needed a team to build that first pound into millions and one day, billions.

In the mudroom of Colvin’s house, Tim Hussman, second employee at Certified Angus Beef, worked away—when he was in town. He chugged across the country, traveling to nearly every state, building a distributor base that remains the integral core of today’s market.

“The restaurants and retail stores were excited to have something different,” says Hussman, now president of Newport Meat Company near Los Angeles. “There wasn’t that type of quality of beef in the marketplace at the time.”

Young visionary companies signed on to partner with the new brand as fast as it could supply them. Yet that supply had to begin on the ranch, where support was slower to catch fire. Hussman was struck by what seemed like opposition, but producers were really wondering, “What does this mean for us?”

After a formative decade or two, Angus demand skyrocketed. Guaranteeing consumers a better product paid dividends for everyone down the chain to the ranch. In states where Hussman hadn’t seen a single Angus cow in 1978, there were now black dots strewn across the horizon.

“It was recognizing and getting value for the quality of a product that was typically just a commodity,” he says now.

CAB showed everyone what beef could be. From the quality on the consumer’s plate to the extra premium paid to producers, the brand’s promise had been made and kept, instilled in every pound of beef.

“I think CAB was the first farm-to-table concept,” Hussman says. “We didn’t put a name to it, or connect all the dots and market it that way, but it truly was.”

And that’s exactly what the founding cattlemen envisioned: consumer satisfaction at the table that generates value and dollars back to seedstock producers.

Billions of pounds later, we can see the future of an industry changed by a few dreamers determined to make a difference.

As cattlemen, we have that same capability through making changes within our herds. Let’s bring the value back home and determine our own destiny.

Telling stories one steak at a time,

Jera

P.S. Check back soon for more historical accounts about the brand that changed beef forty years ago.

About the author: Jera Pipkin

Five generations deep, Angus cattle run in my blood. Growing up, feed buckets in hand, I harvested a desire for working hard and doing what you love, every single day. For me, that means all things cattle, communications and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. I’m blessed to learn from producers and spread their passion and persistence for the Best Angus Beef. I’m just lucky enough that my favorite things combine into one — working and writing for CAB.

Premium Positioning

About the author: Miranda Reiman

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