Relationships rule

Will Feed honored by CAB

by Miranda Reiman

Matt and Anne Burkholder earned their degrees at Dartmouth—an Ivy League college in Hanover, N.H.—and considered jobs in Midwestern cities, but the Burkholder family’s central Nebraska diversified agriculture operation was calling.

“When we told Matt’s dad that we wanted to come back, he about dropped his coffee cup,” Anne recalls. “But the double surprise was when Matt said, ‘Anne wants to try to work at the feedyard.’”

Dave Burkholder laughed.

But he wasn’t about to tell his daughter-in-law “no.” After all, he could use another hand at Will Feed Inc., the 3,000-head yard he’d built in the early 1970s.

“It took a tremendous leap of faith to give a job to a 22-year-old woman who had no background in agriculture,” she reflects. “But he didn’t give me the manager job right from the start. I went to work for $6.85 an hour, running the feed truck, scooping bunks and processing cattle.”

As manager today, she still does most of those tasks.

Perhaps it’s because she’s a woman in a male-dominated field. Maybe it’s her Florida “city girl” roots, her perspective as a mother or her psychology degree. Likely it’s all that rolled into one, but whatever the impetus, Burkholder has made many changes at the feedyard and within the greater beef industry.

One of the more recent was Will Feed signing on as Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB)-licensed feedlot in 2008. The overriding quality focus, data-gathering and details management took hold long before, but those became increasingly apparent.

They helped earn recognition as the 2011 CAB Feedlot Partner of the Year for operations with up to 15,000-head capacity. Matt and Anne accepted the award at the CAB annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22.

“The niche we’ve really tried to get into is tracing calves from ranch to rail,” Burkholder says.

She’d dreamed of a business plan where she was the only “middleman” sharing information between ranch and packer. Then the rising oil market gave her an additional incentive to give that a try.

Rather than pay several hundred extra dollars to truck in a calf from Idaho or down South, she tapped into the local pool of high-quality genetics.

“I can give a good chunk of that money to the rancher instead of putting it into freight,” she says. It’s also a stress-reducer for the animals.

She started working the connections she’d made from involvement on Nebraska Cattlemen committees and the list grew. Today there are times when the yard is 100% full of Nebraska-born, age- and source-verified calves.

Many of them are Angus and sold on the U.S. Premium Beef (USPB) grid.

Pat Laird, who lives just a few miles down the road, starting selling his calves to Burkholder in 2002.

“She’s very conscientious about their environment, and I like how she treats the cattle when they’re there,” he says, noting he appreciates all the feedlot and individual carcass data.

“I can make management decisions based on that,” he says.

Like many customers, he has Burkholder wean his calves.

“Through a real focus on the minute details, we’ve come up with a plan that really works,” Burkholder says. “We do all the little things right. If somebody doesn’t get to the bunk that day, we make sure we get them looked at. We exercise and acclimate our calves when they come in.”

Exercise goes on for five to seven days. During that time they’re being fed mostly prairie hay with “just a touch” of wet distillers on top and that gradually that gives way to a calf ration before they work their way through the normal feedlot formulations.

Nothing gets an implant until it’s been there for 30 days.

“When you implant an animal and they’re under stress, your implant isn’t as effective and it can impede the animal’s ability to marble,” Burkholder says.

Health programs are all coordinated, and everybody—from suppliers to consultants—knows her end goal.

“I want to produce something that tastes good and something that’s tender,” she says. “Beef is not inexpensive, so it’s something that a lot of people have to sacrifice to put on the dinner table.”

So there’s the greater good, plus a monetary benefit.

“Even when the Choice-Select spread isn’t very big, if you can get your animals to go CAB, that’s a really nice kicker,” she says.

From June 2010 to May 2011, more than 1,300 head of Will Feed cattle enrolled in CAB’s Feedlot Licensing Program went 59.8% CAB and CAB Prime.

In addition to her feedlot work, Burkholder has become an “agvocate” who puts a face on that segment.

“I want to put good content out there so people can understand what I do every day,” she says.

For more of her story, visit her blog at http://feedyardfoodie.wordpress.com/.

$100,000 Up for Grabs with 2024 Colvin Scholarships

by Courtney Weekley | Mar 20, 2024

Certified Angus Beef is offering $100,000 in scholarships for agricultural college students through the 2024 Colvin Scholarship Fund. Aspiring students passionate about agriculture and innovation, who live in the U.S. or Canada, are encouraged to apply before the April 30 deadline. With the Colvin Scholarship Fund honoring Louis M. “Mick” Colvin’s legacy, Certified Angus Beef continues its commitment to cultivating future leaders in the beef industry.

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Feeder educates commercial producers, consumers alike

Gregory feedlots wins CAB Progressive Partner award

by Miranda Reiman

It’s luck of the draw. Your calves get sick in the feedyard. That sets them back, costs you all kinds of money and ruins your hopes for what could’ve been.

The guy next to you catches a break. His cattle gained and graded like crazy.

The kicker is, it’s not all luck.

David Trowbridge, manager of Gregory Feedlots at Tabor, Iowa, uses a hypothetical scenario like that to educate feedyard visitors on how everything from genetics and ranch care to implants and markets can impact beef quality later on.

Everyone gets a workbook and a virtual calf when they begin, and the story is revealed as they make stops at the processing barn, the feed mill and the pens.

At the end, some make a profit. Some lose money. But all leave with a greater understanding of the many variables involved with feeding cattle and producing beef.

“Cattle producers care about what they’re doing; they care for the animals humanely and they provide nutrition and great health care,” Trowbridge says. “If we can convince the whole world that that’s what we’re doing, we’ll sell a lot more beef.”

This philosophy, along with a commitment to driving interaction at every point in the production chain, earned Gregory Feedlots the Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) Progressive Partner of the Year Award. Trowbridge accepted at the CAB annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., Sept. 20-22.

He and feedyard owner Jim Gregory “understand the importance of educating end users on their segment of the beef industry,” says Nikkie Allen, corporate meeting planner for CAB. “They take time and put thought into what things they want attendees to walk away with when they leave their property.”

CAB’s National Roundup seminar, which brings folks from across the globe to U.S. cattle country, has visited the feedyard twice. They also host diverse groups, from the American Angus Association’s Beef Leader’s Institute to local cattlemen’s events.

Of course, tours or not, cattle must be looked after and Trowbridge gives a lot of credit to his small crew.

“All I do is talk on the phone and get customers here,” he says with a quick smile. “They do the work.”

The hint of truth is probably rooted in the sheer amount of effort it takes to build and maintain relationships. Trowbridge estimates 85% of the cattle in the 7,000-head feedyard are retained ownership.

Everything they learn about cattle coming in—from recent history, like vaccines and implants, to cowherd history—helps them do their jobs better, he says.

“Working with the producers we do, we are able to save money, time and stress on the cattle by customizing what’s done,” Trowbridge says. “Those calves should never have had a bad day. When you wean them, you want them gaining just as good as they do in the feedlot.”

They aggressively sort because most of the cattle are grid marketed even when the Choice/Select spread is low.

“I’ve been able to show customers that even if we get $1 over the base meat price, and if your cattle will grade 85% Choice or better and yield decent, we can beat that price,” he says. “Even if we’re looking at a $2 Choice-Select spread, we’re still selling a majority of our cattle on a grid, and making money doing it.”

But the ultimate payout is seeing repeat customers make progress.

“It makes you feel good when they come back and the cattle are better than they were,” Trowbridge says.

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Excellent and getting better

The Angus world wonders, how good can these cattle get?

by Steve Suther

It’s fun to hit the target. Osborn Farms, Savannah, Mo., repeated its 2010 achievement with even better numbers as the Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) 2011 Quality Focus Award winner for partner yards with less than 15,000-head capacity.

This is just a 600-head yard that enrolled 535 head with CAB last year, but the point is 90% of those were accepted for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand, including 28% CAB Prime.

An hour spent talking shop with owner-manager John Osborn and his longtime consultant and cattle partner Pete Mitts is like an hour on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Many of the jokes are inside, obscure, personal insults or physiological, but you catch the drift and join in the grins.

In reference to the CAB acceptance, Osborn will deadpan, “Is that good?” Mitts completes the thought, “Because we know we can do better.”

There’s evidence to support that. If you followed the AngusSource® Carcass Challenge last year, you might recall their champion pen of 42 heifers went 100% CAB and 55% Prime. The September 2010 harvest date fit the contest year for this June-through-May annual CAB award, too.

Still, the award wasn’t automatic or easy. This is the fourth consecutive year that a Missourian won the category, and the top three contenders nationwide were in Missouri this time as well.

The other two were Circle A Feedlot, Huntsville, Mo., and Performance Blenders, Jackson, Mo., and depending on the week, each of them spent time in the top spot. The contest was not decided until the last few weeks of May.

All three feature cattle of known genetics.

Osborn and Mitts have proven that their already excellent cattle will keep getting better. They all trace back to bulls from Green Garden Angus, Lorraine, Kan., genetics stacked in cow families backed by Mitts’ no-nonsense records and the duo’s program of low-stress management.

That’s low stress on the cattle, they would point out. Stress for the cattlemen is sometimes unavoidable in these days of volatile markets.

They find time to get away from it all sometimes. Mitts and his wife Lois have a fishing boat, and sometimes they travel to the Missouri lake country or down to his western Oklahoma home county where son Miles now works at another CAB partner yard.

Osborn and his wife Toni got away from the farm Sept. 20-22 to accept the award at the CAB Annual Conference in Sunriver, Ore. That was after a tractor pulling season when he and son Joel like to see what their somewhat modified John Deere models can do for fun.

When it comes to performance and cattle, these guys are all business. They know their pool of 1,200 related cows. They either own or used to own most of them, and all current owners are friends, neighbors and associates. They know the market is crazy, but they also know carcass data feedback still runs the engine of herd improvement and keeps it on track.

As long as Osborn Farms can feed these predictable cattle, no current quality records will be safe. Fair warning.

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Some discounts lead to profit

Counterintuitive keys to feeding cattle expensive corn

By Miranda Reiman

Corn is high. Logically, that means feeders will sell cattle lighter with fewer days on feed, right?

Not exactly. That’s what Shawn Walter, Professional Cattle Consultants (PCC), told attendees at the recent Feeding Quality Forum.

“Every time we see another spike in corn prices you hear another analyst talking about how the higher ration prices are going to force fewer days on feed and cut carcass weights. I don’t think that’s ever happened,” he said. “Our dataset goes back to 1971 and every time the corn prices increase, we see a resulting increase in out-weights as a result.”

PCC research shows it’s a sound strategy for those selling on a carcass basis.

“With the high costs of gain, do we need to sell cattle earlier and avoid the grids?” Walter asked. “Actually, it’s the opposite.”

He explained “carcass transfer.” As cattle get heavier, a higher percentage of the live weight gain goes to the carcass.

“Putting on carcass weight becomes more efficient than putting on live gain,” he says. As feed costs climb, that’s magnified.

In their database, using a $340 ration price, it is profitable to feed cattle for a live endpoint up to 100 days – which means every day you feed cattle beyond that point, your breakeven selling price is increasing instead of decreasing. However, cattlemen can continue to feed for another 60 to 90 days for a carcass endpoint.

PCC sorted cattle records into high, middle and low-profit thirds and compared their characteristics.

“Average daily gain is obviously the most important factor in overall profitability,” he said, noting the highest money-getters put on 3.3 pounds (lb.) per day, compared to 2.8 for the least profitable.

“But as you dig into the data, as cattle improved their grade, we also saw improvement in that average daily gain,” he said. “Those two are positively correlated.”

That makes sense, he said, because, “Cattle that are able to gain efficiently are also able to gain fat deposition and increase grade. If you think about it, grading and performance should go hand-in-hand, especially with the improved genetics we have today.”

The high-graders, gainers and profit-getters also had a common, perhaps surprising, theme. They also had the most discounts.

“There tends to be an aversion toward having any heavyweight carcasses, any yield grade (YG) 4s and 5s or any discounts on the grid,” Walter said. “If you don’t have some discounts, you haven’t taken the entire pen to the level you need to.”

Those penalties are balanced by increased pounds sold.

“Because of the additional days on feed and weight, you’re going to get additional grade, including higher percentages of CAB (Certified Angus Beef^®),” he said. “That’s good, but you can’t just weigh premium versus discount. You’re actually going to get a premium on heavier cattle that are going CAB and that more-than offsets the few YG 4s and 5s you’re going to get as a result.”

Walter’s main message was that times have changed and management and marketing strategies need to match these new economic times.

“If you’ve never sold cattle on a carcass weight basis, you’ve always been a live seller, maybe this is the one time you need to look for opportunity to sell cattle on a carcass basis,” he said.

“Regardless of the market, there are cattle that make money and cattle that lose money,” Walter said, noting the average $200 spread in monthly profit or loss.

Knowing cattle history can help feeders make sure they hit the top end of that range.

“When you know how the cattle are going to grade and perform, you can put all that together and use that to push the envelope,” he said.

The meetings, held in Omaha, Neb., and Garden City, Kan, were sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health, CAB, Purina Land O’Lakes and Feedlot Magazine.

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First-born beef advantage

by Wyatt Bechtel

Early-born calves have a better chance than the later born of making a profit for their owners.

That’s what a 2010 study of Iowa Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity (TCSCF) data helped confirm. The analysis looked at birth date and age of Angus-Simmental rotational crossbred calves, compared to their feedlot performance and carcass traits.

Birth-to-harvest data on 1,369 spring-born calves from 2002 to 2007 on a central Missouri ranch were divided into four groups by date of birth.

Those born in the first 21 days qualified for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand 28.6% of the time compared to only 11.24% for the calves born after 63 days in the sequence. Calves in the mid-early (22 to 42 days) sequence went 24.37% CAB while those born 43 to 63 days managed only 16.28% qualifiers.

“I didn’t expect to see that large of a difference in quality,” says Darrell Busby, TCSCF manager. Carcasses from the early-born calves earned approximately $11 more than those from the two middle groups, while outperforming the late group by more than $40 (see table).

Busby was also surprised at how the later-born calves did not catch up to their earlier-born herd mates in terms of weight gain. The oldest calves each year had higher weights entering and leaving the feedlot compared to their younger counterparts.

“In other words, you are going to have higher quality grades and more pounds in the earliest born calves,” says Gary Fike, beef cattle specialist for CAB, who presented the findings at last year’s American Society of Animal Science meeting in Denver. The abstract and slide presentation may be viewed at https://cabcattle.com/news/research/index.php

Another somewhat surprising note from the research indicated the earlier a calf was born, the better its disposition. Busby found logic in that, however: “The more time you interact with cattle, the more it allows them to adapt to you. That’s probably why we saw more docile disposition scores in the earlier-born calves.”

The University of Nebraska pioneered this area of research with a study that looked at progeny of a Red Angus-Simmental herd at the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory near Whitman, Neb., finished at the West Central Research and Extension Center near North Platte, Neb.

Nebraska animal scientist Rick Funston says the study, which aimed to underline the importance of a short calving period, showed 30% of calves born in the first 21 days of calving graded average Choice or higher. Fewer than 17% of later-born calves hit that mark.

Carcass weight was positively affected as calves were born earlier. There was a 45-pound (lb.) difference in final carcass weight between the earliest born calves and those born after 42 days.

It all added up to a $77 advantage in carcass value for the oldest calves, but there are other advantages, too. “Probably the biggest impact is that those cows that calve earlier are going to have a longer period in which to rebreed,” Funston notes, adding the resultant increase in cow longevity will decrease the need for replacement heifers as well.

The study also looked at the impact of heat synchronization on pasture mating, as one possible intervention method. Cows injected with prostaglandin five days after bull turn-in had more calves born in the first 21 days of the calving season and weaned heavier, more valuable calves. Both studies show the benefits of a more uniform calf crop.

“Extension and universities have been telling us for a long time to tighten up your calving season from the basis of marketing your calves and making them as uniform as possible,” Fike says.

When retaining ownership on feed, he recommends selling the latest born calves at weaning to help increase uniformity in the rest: “Let someone else manage those late calves as you reap the benefits of the older calves.”

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Four ways to marry implants and quality goals

March 15, 2011

In a perfect world, cattle growth promotants would improve increase marbling, too. Short of that, feeders can strike a balance between grade and gain, implant and marbling levels. Here are four of the top ways:

1) Delay implanting until full feed

“It’s almost become standard operating procedure around here,” says Robbi Pritchard, of South Dakota State University (SDSU). His team divided 650-pound (lb.) steers into non-implanted, estradiol-trenbolone acetate (TBA) implant at the start or TBA implant at 850 lb.

“If you impede marbling on the front end, you may permanently affect quality grade,” Pritchard says of the work.

Implanting increased hot carcass weight under both strategies, but the delay resulted in a 15% increase in cattle reaching the premium Choice or higher.

SDSU now waits until final diet before implanting calves, and that increases average gains by 20%.

“If they’re eating enough to gain 4.5 lb. per day, that boost is .9 lb.,” Pritchard says. “When they’re only gaining 1.5 lb. per day, in their first week, it’s only a 0.15-lb. improvement. That’s when it pulls grade out of them: when the implant is going full-tilt and the calories aren’t there.”

Agri Beef Co. adopted the strategy at its four feedlots from Washington to Kansas to improve grade.

Scott Lindsay, Agri Beef livestock division president, says the increase in quality came without a significant impact on performance, but he was surprised by other benefits.

“We cut our number of bullers way back and cattle appeared to come on feed a lot better,” he says. “The cattle just didn’t seem to get as stressed, and we didn’t have to use as many meds.”

Trial and error says to do it when cattle are on full feed. “If we said we wanted to do it on day 20 and we were in between rations, it didn’t seem to work as well,” Lindsay says.

3) Repetition matters, but fewer not always best

Top factor in both performance and marbling score? “Total dosage of hormone used,” Reinhardt says.

Splitting a high-dose implant may beat giving it all at once, especially if that’s on arrival. “That would fly in the face of the theory that one implant is better than two for marbling score,” he admits.

For support, an SDSU trial compared cattle given a six-pellet implant on Day 1 to those given a two-pellet implant every 40 days.

“You’ll end up with the same performance and you don’t do as much damage to quality grade by spreading it out,” Pritchard says. Although that’s probably an extreme example, splitting an implant is doable.

A 2005 Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) analysis looked at the effect number of implants had on brand acceptance rates. Going from none to one dropped Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) qualifiers from 37% to 19.1%, but those with two implants actually had a higher rate at 21.2%. Cattle implanted three times, however, were the lowest graders at 16.7% CAB.

“Most feedlot will give two implants, and that’s fine if the one on the front end is a lower dose like a Revelor-IS^® or Component-TE-IS^®,” says Gary Fike beef cattle specialist with CAB.

4) Fit it to nutrition, type

“Going for quality grade, the most important thing is to never have an implant dosage that exceeds what the caloric intake can support at any stage of production,” Pritchard says.

That’s why many feeders say their better cattle aren’t hurt as much by a higher potency implant.

“If those cattle are eating well and charging the feedbunk every day, and you’re giving them calories well in excess of maintenance, that leaves plenty of calories to help them grow and deposit marbling,” Fike says.

The most aggressive strategy should be reserved for small-frame, slow-growing cattle, he adds.

“As you increase aggressiveness of implant, you’ll increase frame size,” Pritchard says. “An overweight is a horrific penalty, so you’ll want to decrease potency if you’re looking at that limit.”

These rules of thumb come down to balance. “We don’t use a high dose implant,” Lindsay says. “We know we have to be competitive, but the end product to the consumer is very important to us.”

That’s as it should be, Tatum says. “Great taste remains the primary reason consumers often make beef their food of choice,” he says. “The goal is to take advantage of the benefits of growth enhancement without detriment to beef demand.”

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Quality, price higher for beef in 2010

January 28, 2011

The 2010 beef business trends include exceptional prices, increased quality and better rewards.

“Slaughter cows and bulls were a hot commodity and producers cashed in on those record prices from the spring through the fall,” said Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist with the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand. He tracks USDA grading trends and harvest numbers in his weekly column, Rearview Mirror on Quality.

Reviewing last year’s data, Dykstra noted fed steers averaged almost $12/hundredweight (cwt.) more in 2010 than in 2009, according to the USDA 5-Area Report ($94.89 vs. $83.16). However, that just marked a return to 2008 levels.

“They were a highlight only with regard to timing and the state of the nation’s economy,” Dykstra said. “The elusive $100 target was captured or surpassed one week in October and four out of the last five weeks of the year. Still, the beef market was resilient, to say the least, during a very tough time.”

Strong exports and improved hide and offal values have been credited for some of the bounce-back.

“Corn and other grains faired just as well, so we can’t discount what drove breakevens to new heights,” Dykstra added.

Higher cattle prices did not subdue the packers’ rate of harvest. Federally inspected harvest numbers were up 2.81% year over year. That’s 17,812 head per week, roughly equivalent to the output of one additional medium to large size packing plant—but that is not what happened.

“There were no major facilities added to production,” Dykstra said. “Packers simply kept their chains working more hours and kept the schedules full. But carcass weights were down.”

Steer carcasses averaged 835 pounds (lb.), down 12 lb. from 2009, while heifers were 14 lb. lighter at 768 lb. each.

“Early predications say carcasses will get bigger in 2011 to compensate for fewer available calves and fed cattle,” he noted. “As the world’s foremost producer of corn-fed beef, the quality of the U.S. product is top-of-mind to everyone with a stake in the game.”

From 2000 to 2007, the number of carcasses grading USDA Choice increased only 0.05 percentage points, but 2008 and 2009 brought two years of heavy increases. The Choice share of the annual harvest moved up by 3.37 and then 3.51 percentage points, respectively.

“Stakeholders questioned if this rapid advance would hold or if short-term factors had created the two-year anomaly in grading,” the CAB cattle specialist said. “Extreme winter weather covered the feeding belt in 2009 and the onset of heavy inclusion of distiller’s by-products in feedlot rations coincided with the timeline, as did full adoption of camera-assisted grading by USDA.”

Dykstra said, “2010 may have settled some of the doubts.”

The Choice grade moved higher again, though not as dramatically, by 1.53 percentage points to end the year at 61.4% for all USDA-graded plants. The Prime grade increased a modest 0.17 percentage point, to bring the annual average to 3.15% of last year’s annual fed cattle harvest.

“That small fraction is of little consequence to the commodity masses, but it carves out an advantage for breeders and feeders who care to focus on it,” he said. “Scarcity means higher values.”

USDA grid pricing numbers indicate that an 850-lb. Prime carcass would’ve brought $132.86 above regional fed-cattle averages in 2010, $167.62 higher than a Select carcass of the same weight.

The portion of black cattle, eligible for branded beef programs based on the “Angus type” requirement, was higher again in 2010.

“Data tracking came to a halt in late October, due to USDA system overhauls, but the nine-month trend showed the black-hided share of fed cattle at 63.68%,” Dykstra said.

That’s up 2.34 points from 2009, when USDA first began reporting it. With the combination of more black-hided cattle in the harvest mix and a higher grading trend, USDA shows 25.4% of the Choice-grading carcasses were certified into an upper-two-thirds-Choice branded program like CAB in 2010. That’s an annual increase of 2.24 points.

Price per pound still commands attention when cattlemen decide production goals and management plans.

“Choice and premium Choice beef supplies are at record levels, so we’d expect price per pound to decrease for these two classes on a year-to-year basis, but the opposite is true,” Dykstra said.

Weekly USDA grid price data says packers paid an average of $6.30/cwt. for Choice above Select in 2010, up $1.20/cwt. of carcass compared to 2009. The CAB premium—added to the Choice bonus for qualifying carcasses—also increased. Although individual grids paid significantly more, the weighted U.S. average moved up from $2.71 to $2.78/cwt. At the same time, Yield Grade (YG) 1 carcasses (those with the least external fat) improved 4 cents while YG 4 carcasses were devalued by 3 cents to a discount of -$3.83/cwt.

“The premium for marbling is much lower than it was in 2006, when we had 10% fewer Choice carcasses and the U.S. economy was roaring,” Dykstra allowed. “But, given the uncertainty in our domestic market and the increased availability of Choice and higher beef, the uptick in premiums flew in the face of expectations. The nod goes to quality, where American cattlemen are leading the world.”

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Enough, but not too much

Research shows a beef quality benefit to modest use of distillers grain byproducts

by Miranda Reiman

A decade ago, distillers grains were not common feedstuffs. Today they’re routinely included in cattle finishing diets, at levels that can boost beef quality grades.

Chris Calkins, University of Nebraska meat scientist, says when “wet distillers grains plus solubles” (WDGS) are fed at moderate levels, marbling scores increase.

“It tends to be a quadratic effect. If you do not feed any distillers grains, you get a given level of marbling,” he says. “As [WDGS] in the diet increases, we see an increase in marbling score up until about 30% to 40%; beyond that the benefits to marbling tend to disappear.”

At national animal science meetings last summer, Calkins presented a meta-analysis of studies that looked at WDGS feed effects. Larry Corah and Mark McCully of Certified Angus Beef LCC (CAB) cited that presentation in a recent research review of factors responsible for a spike in beef quality grades. Through July 2009, 60.1% of cattle in the nation’s harvest mix were grading USDA Choice, a 7.5-percentage-point leap in just two years.

An abrupt departure from the 30-year decline in grades, the recent turnaround may be partly explained by judicious use of WDGS.

“Marbling increases, but if you get the levels too high it starts to trail off,” Calkins says. The data he presented showed a marbling score of 518 for animals fed no WDGS. The score increased 14 to 15 points, up to 533, for animals fed WDGS at 20% to 30% on a dry-matter (DM) basis.

“That seems to support earlier findings that at inclusions above that 30% to 40%, distillers can actually hurt quality grade,” says Corah. “Fortunately a large majority of feedlots are using the byproducts at a fairly low rate.”

A 2007 survey estimated most feedlots used WDGS at 16.5% of diets, but that has likely jumped in recent years due to availability.

Calkins says the marbling score increase is probably related to fat content of the feedstuffs.

“When you make ethanol from corn you’ve basically driven off about two-thirds of the components,” he says, noting that both ethanol and CO₂are produced from the starch that comprises two-thirds of corn grain. “So everything else is concentrated by about three-fold. That includes the fat content.”

This higher-fat diet promotes marbling development. Theoretically, it can increase external fat as well, but Calkins says that’s a fairly small shift.

“I don’t think there’s a big worry for producers in terms of cutability issues with using wet distillers grains,” he says.

WDGS also seems to increase DM intake, especially in starter rations. One Nebraska study shows nearly a 30% increase.

“It’s a highly effective feedstuff in terms of increasing average daily gain and dry matter intake,” Calkins says.

From a meat quality standpoint, the only drawback to feeding WDGS seems to be the increase in polyunsaturated fats. They can cause discoloration and off-flavor more quickly than other fats when exposed to oxygen.

“That’s dose-dependent,” he notes. “In other words, the more distillers we feed, the bigger issue it can become.” Feeding WDGS at 20% to 30% should pose fewer challenges for retail beef than those higher percentages. However, at any level the problems can be easily managed by supplementing diets with vitamin E, Calkins adds.

Although the WDGS effect on marbling score seems slight, Corah estimates it accounts for around 5 percentage points of the grade increase. That’s based on applying the shift to packing data, where many cattle grades sit on the line between Choice and Select or low- and premium Choice.

“That’s going to increase the proportion of cattle that could conceivably qualify for the Certified Angus Beef^® brand,” Calkins says. “When you draw a specific line in marbling, that 15-point shift can be pretty meaningful.”

To read “Quality Grade: What is driving the recent upswing?” in its entirety, visit www.cabcattle.com/about/research.

A lot of little things done well

by Jackie Eager

White Land & Cattle Company treats all the little things like big ones.

Gary White manages the family-owned feedlot that has been in business near Lexington, Neb., for 35 years. Its 2,500-head capacity is the perfect size to focus on all the details, White says.

The family works with a nutritionist and uses ultrasound technology to help all cattle reach an ideal finished end point. Around 80 to 90 days pre-harvest, they are routinely divided into three marketing groups.

“Sorting cattle allows us to reach optimum feed efficiency and cost of gain,” White says.

The feeding program includes a ration of wet and dry-rolled corn, silage, hay and wet distillers grains. South-central Nebraska is a great location for supplying those feedtuffs and fed-cattle markets.

Every extra dollar is extracted through value-added strategies such as age-and-source verification, quality system assessment (QSA) and a USDA process verified program (PVP).

The Whites don’t stop there. They also work with a bank to offer feed financing and help with risk management.

Recently the family decided to provide one more layer of customer service by licensing the feedlot with Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB). The move helps them provide detailed carcass data to customers and tap into CAB educational resources.

The Feedlot Licensing Program (FLP), made up of more than 65 yards across the United States, is designed to reward producers for high-quality cattle that meet Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand specifications. Partner feedlots enroll cattle and sell to licensed packers that pay premiums for those that qualify for the brand.

“We’ve always liked feeding a high percentage of Angus cattle,” White says. “They have always preformed well.”

On average, he says most yearling cattle gain from 3.4 to 3.8 pounds a day, and that performance comes along with a standing goal to hit the CAB marbling level, at least the upper two-thirds of USDA Choice.

Cow-calf producers may retain ownership, partner with the feedlot or sell calves outright, but regardless of the arrangement they’ll still get feedlot information back to help perfect their herds.

“I try to be the most efficient I can for the customer,” White says. “I work with each one to communicate their individual needs into the feeding experience.”

That includes coordinating ranch nutrition and health programs, so cattle aren’t treated twice, for example – just one more example of a little thing that could make a big difference to the bottom line.

Certified Angus Beef is the world’s leading brand of fresh beef. Since 1997, packers have paid producers more than $250 million in value-based grid premiums for cattle accepted into the brand. For more information on CAB product and recipes, visit www.certifiedangusbeef.com. Cow-calf producers and feedlots can learn more about the CAB Program by visiting www.cabcattle.com or by contacting Paul Dykstra at 308-874-2203.

Seek answers for better beef

by Miranda Reiman

Cattle feeding conditions vary by location. One yard might be knee-deep in snow, while the other is dealing with piles of mud. Record high temperatures might cause heat stress in one area while cattle in another region are enduring torrential rainfall.

Even with all that variability, one fact rings true: Better conditions mean better beef quality.

“Animals that are able to devote more of their dietary intake to gain will have better carcass quality,” says Joe Young, vice president of AgSpan.

In a research review, Larry Corah and Mark McCully of Certified Angus Beef LCC (CAB) point to several factors that have caused quality grade to rebound 7.5 percentage points in just two years, following a 30-year decline.

“In general, feeding conditions for cattle the past two years have been very good,” the authors say, noting data from Elanco’s Benchmark^® Performance Program, managed by Agspan. Hundreds of feedlots report performance, carcass and health information to the database, which now numbers more than 100 million points of data.

From 2006 to mid-2009, dry matter intake (DMI) increased by about 1 pound for both steers and heifers. At the same time average daily gain (ADG) improved.

“Driving intakes, improving intakes, maintaining consistent intakes – they all do the same thing,” Young says. “We’ve got to have intakes to get performance and enhance carcass quality. If anything takes those animals off feed, then you’ll channel more of that energy to other needs within the body.”

For example, higher ADGs through the winter months probably indicate mild weather.

“If they’re not fending off blizzards, severe cold or deep snows, more of that intake can be devoted to gain verses maintenance,” he says.

Health affects cattle in the same way. Iowa State University research shows that cattle needing multiple treatments don’t grade as well as healthy pen mates. Those requiring no treatment graded 74.5% Choice versus 57.5% Choice in those cattle treated two or more times – a difference of 16.5 percentage points.

Benchmark mortality data confirms that feedlot health has seen a slight improvement over the past few years.

“Animals closed out in spring 2004 had the highest mortality rate of anything we’d seen up until that time,” Young says. “It was a fairly steady trend higher.”

Heifers showed an average death loss of 2.64% at the peak, but that recovered to less than 2% last spring.

“We’ve seen those rates adjust somewhat, and the higher mortality rates have generally subsided,” he says.

The fact that this happened as quality grade started to climb could be more than a coincidence, Corah and McCully say.

“While there are no definitive correlations, the trends within DMI, ADG and feedlot health would all suggest improved feeding conditions have had a positive influence on quality grade,” the research paper says.

To read “Quality Grade: What is driving the recent upswing?” in its entirety, visit www.cabcattle.com/about/research.

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