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New CAB website designed for producers

 

by Miranda Reiman

November 1, 2011

Sure, you’ve heard about theCertified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand, maybe even looked it up online. Thousands of regular visitors will notice new pictures and a more attractive layout at CABpartners.com.

That’s catchy, but the real benefit of the recent redesign is improved navigation. “It’s much easier to get around,” says Laura Nelson, industry information specialist for the company.

“We tracked usage for years, then worked for months to make it better, a place where you can learn more about how to raise higher-quality beef and reap the financial rewards for doing so,” she says.

The previous site was organized by industry segments, but the new, topical approach leads visitors through selections that include management, health, genetics, nutrition and marketing.

If you’re looking to find a CAB-licensed feedlot or want to know how to get top dollar for your Angus-influenced calves at auction, for example, click “Marketing.” If you want to learn more about the expected progeny differences (EPDs) that make the most difference in CAB acceptance, click “Genetics.”

“There is plenty of new information, but all of the tools from our old site are still there,” Nelson explains. The Calf Price and Fed Cattle Breakeven calculators are accessible in the marketing section, along with seedstock marketing tools and tips on how to build a resume for your calves.

“We can feature our latest news more prominently now,” she adds. “There’s even a video library filled with informational clips from ranchers, feeders, researchers and allied industry folks.”

Other new items include a social media bar at the bottom of the page that points users to the Black Ink blog, Twitter feed and Facebook page. Rotating features along the left-hand side of the home page point to “spots of interest” on the website, Nelson notes.

“Our team interacts with producers every day, and we took a lot of advice on how to make this a one-stop resource for everyone trying to hit the CAB target,” she says. “It’s streamlined, user-friendly and less static.”

She encourages producers to visit often, as information is typically updated daily.

What if you can’t find what you’re looking for?

“It might take a while for frequent visitors to the old site to get used to our new navigation,” Nelson says. “But our team members’ individual contact information is listed under the ‘About Us’ tab, and we’re happy to direct you to a link.”

Although the entire site is rearranged and the look is different, the address is the same as it’s always been: www.cabcattle.com.

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Tell the story, curb those regs

By Miranda Reiman

Agriculture stays ahead of the curve in caring for land and livestock, but that’s too much of a secret, according to a Nebraska Cattlemen environmental specialist.

One of Kristen Koch’s first slides at the Feeding Quality Forum in Omaha this August set the tone for her talk with, “Eat our dust, EPA.” She talked about public misconceptions and strategies to rebuild the beef industry image.  At the Garden City, Kan., event a couple of days later, Clayton Huseman of the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) delivered related comments on regulations.

“I want to arm you with an arsenal of scientific facts so you can feel comfortable and confident talking about the great job the beef industry does managing its environmental impact,” Koch began.

Shooting down bogeys in order, a myth about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock was first. Noted at 18% of the total by a still-quoted 2006 United Nations report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2009 put it closer to 3%.

M&M feedyard pen

Efficiency helps the planet, she pointed out, as we generate more beef with less feed, energy, land, water, fossil fuels and even fewer cattle. Of course, that also decreases the GHG methane and ammonia produced per unit of beef.

“We can talk positively and confidently, with our heads held high,” Koch said. But even though the livestock industry’s impact is small and technology is further reducing that impact, “we’re one of the most heavily regulated industries.”

Huseman, director of KLA’s Feedlot Division, said in Garden City that all those regulations began by targeting issues outside of agriculture. He detailed how the regulatory aim shifted and expanded its impact on the beef industry, especially large confinement operations, and then reviewed current and pending laws.

Koch and Huseman agreed beef producers must become more efficient communicators. They see public misinformation as a big reason for the increase in governmental control, which Huseman said brings even more operational challenges and uncertainties.

As a call to action, he said producers must become more aware of what they are actually doing. “Too many times we obtain permits for production without truly knowing the contents, except for how long it lasts.”

He also stressed the need to look at regulations, in and outside of agriculture, in a new light: Consider not only the effects they could have today but in the future as well.

“We’ve got to review absolutely everything,” Huseman said.  “Even if it’s not directed at our industry now, someday it will be.”

Gaining that awareness, producers need to pass the information along.

“I think every single environmentalist, animal activist, scientist, homemaker—anyone in the world—would agree the purpose of animal agriculture is to generate high-quality food at an affordable cost, low environmental impact and in an animal-welfare friendly way,” Koch said. “Find the common ground on the purpose of the industry.  Then start speaking up about your practices.”

The Feeding Quality Forums were co-sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health, Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), Feedlot Magazine and Purina Land O’Lakes. More information and proceedings are available at www.cabcattle.com.

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Ranch, beef, sales education rolled into one

By Miranda Reiman

You don’t hear of too many September graduations. But then again, there aren’t that many MBA programs that consist of ranch visits, meats labs and sales sessions.

Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB) launched its Master’s of Brand Advantages program in late 2010 and the first class will receive their degrees at the company’s annual conference in Sunriver, Ore., later this month. The second class is in progress.

“Meat experience in sales is not as in-depth as it used to be,” says Deanna Walenciak, CAB marketing director. “As our industry has changed, there are not as many people working their way up through the cut shop to sales.”

The void makes people less prepared to face sales objections or confidently sell a premium product like the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand. The company set out to change that through an intensive, hands-on course encompassing three sessions and covering everything from cattle production to beef sales.

“They need to understand production agriculture and they need to have experienced it,” Walenciak says.

The first two classes have taken a trip to southwest Kansas, where they break down into small groups and spend a half day with Angus ranchers, visit a CAB-licensed feedyard and tour CAB-licensed packing plants at Dodge City.

Berry Bortz, who runs CB Farms near Preston, Kan., with his wife Carla, hosted a handful of the students this summer.

“We felt if they wanted to take the time to learn about our products, we owed it to the industry, and those people in particular, to tell them the truth,” he says. “We do have a good story to tell.”

The family narrated through a production calendar before driving out to the pastures where they keep their registered and commercial Angus cattle.

“They were awestruck at how many decisions and how much hands-on stuff actually happens out here,” Bortz says. “One of the guys made a comment, ‘The next time somebody asks me why a steak costs so much I’ll tell them it’s cheap. It should be twice as much for all the work that goes into it.’”

“All we’re doing is showcasing what we have every day as an industry, and that’s people committed to raising great beef,” Walenciak says. “There are so many misperceptions out there. The people in this class are the ones who are selling the ranchers’ products every day to the best chefs in the country. If they’ve never been to a ranch, they can’t tell the great story that we have with passion and enthusiasm.”

Tom Chamot of New York-based Palmer Food Services says the experience taught him about the level of animal care from ranch to feedlot.

 “They are well-designed and managed facilities for the finishing phase,” he says with a note of confidence in answering questions about cattle feeding, including antibiotic and hormone use.

Each session follows a similar cram-packed schedule. In the meats-focused class, participants walk through the fabrication process.

“You need time, not watching somebody else do it or watching a video, but time with your knife in hand, breaking down a carcass,” Walenciak says.

The final part is all about application.

“If we give them all this knowledge, we really have to help them connect the dots,” she says. That means role-playing and practice. The class tackles statements they might hear out in the field ranging from implant usage and factory farms to price and quality.

“If we had a tagline,” Walenciak says, “it would be, ‘Product knowledge is the key to overcoming every sales objection.’”

CAB licensees apply for a spot in the MBA training. At the end of each segment, they complete a test and then it wraps up with a morning-long final exam.

 “If you know the beef industry inside and out, you’ll be better at selling beef. If they feel they’re educated on the industry, they will become more valuable as a consultant to their customers,” Walenciak says.

Chamot is just one example of how it’s supposed to work.

“Producers have an unbelievable amount of care and integrity and pride in what they do and they do it for us,” he says. “I’m empowered with knowledge and confidence—my gun is fully loaded to answer questions I normally wouldn’t have been able to answer.”

The second class started in June, and Walenciak hopes the first alumni are just the beginning.

“These classes are phenomenal, but we can’t change the world with 20 grads,” she says. “In the very near future we want to have many, many more classes rotating through.”

B3R Sustainability

Historic opportunities for beef stocker industry

April 18, 2011

Sky-high corn prices don’t typically outline “exciting opportunities” in the cattle business, but one economist says those in the stocker business can benefit from high feed costs by focusing on available forage. 

“I think in the next 20 to 30 years, this industry is going to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to raise high-quality beef with the least amount of grain. That means that every one of you [stocker cattlemen] has a tremendous opportunity, because it’s going to put an emphasis back on forage.”

That was Oklahoma State University agriculture economics professor Derrell Peel’s message at last month’s “Backgrounding for Quality” field day. The event, held at the Collinge Ranch near Hamilton, Kan., was sponsored by Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), Pfizer Animal Health and Pratt Feeders LLC.

The tightest grain supplies in 15 years are only half of the concern.

“We are extremely tight on cattle,” Peel said. The industry has liquidated cattle 13 of the past 15 years. As of January 2010, total cattle inventory was less than 93 million head, the lowest since 1959.

“We still don’t have any data that tells us that we are saving heifers,” he said. “I think we’re looking at 3 to 5 years, at least, before we fundamentally change herd numbers.”

So every cattlemen needs to make the most out of each calf they care for, but usually that quest for eking out more quality includes corn.

“Corn prices are probably not coming down any time soon. We’re in a whole new world,” Peel said. “It’s not a supply problem. We’ve continued to produce record levels, but the increased total demand for this product has made us barely able to meet our needs.”

The average price for corn during the past 25 years was $2.25 per bushel, less than one-third the level of many spring 2011 reports. Energy competitors for those bushels are not going away, even if policy changes, he said.

“How do we survive high corn prices? In the short run, we make changes by taking cattle into the feedlot at higher weights and utilize the forages we have as much as we can,” Peel said. “Longer term, I think we might have to re-evaluate how we feed cattle altogether. Long term, your forage business is going to take on an emphasis like it’s not had in 30 to 40 years.”

There is a glimmer of good news.

“The beef industry can survive higher corn prices better than pork or poultry,” he said. “We spent 50 years in this country trying to figure out how to allow cattle to eat the most cheap grain they could, and that was the right thing to do in that environment.”

The next few decades will focus on how to maintain quality while decreasing grain dependence, he said.

Just as the corn prices are sure to stay high, Peel predicts the same for beef prices.

“It always makes me nervous of course, when prices come on that fast, that they’ll go away that fast. But this really is something that’s been building for a long time,” he said. “Fed cattle have increased relative to feeder cattle, relative to the calves and boxed beef—all of these prices have moved together. That tells me that these prices are proved by real market fundamentals.”

For more information on the meeting, search “Backgrounding for Quality” on the Black Ink Blog, www.blackinkwithcab.com.

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Out of the comfort zone

From big city lights to sights and sounds of cattle country

 

by Jennifer Kiko

A group of reporters walks into a barn …

The punch line is not what you would expect.

A gathering of mainstream media professionals from Midtown Manhattan did walk into a barn – and cattle pasture – at Trowbridge Farm near Ghent, N.Y. The experience was no laughing matter, though participants left with smiling faces and appreciation for cattle production.

Trowbridge Angus Farm has been producing Angus cattle for more than half a century. It is the only New York Angus farm to host an annual bull sale. Phil Trowbridge, wife Annie, and their children P.J. and Amy, hosted the field trip with the Certified Angus Beef ® brand.

“It was an opportunity to show people not familiar with agriculture and our line of work how we do business,” Trowbridge said.

The tour group was composed of food editors and columnists from publications like the New York Times, New York Post, Time Magazine, Hemispheres, Food Arts, and Everyday with Rachael Ray.

Participants walked the pasture as the Trowbridges described environmental practices and management. They explained why all beef is not created equal – offering an overview of beef and brand categories, including organic, natural and prime. CAB Supply Development Director Mark McCully offered a brief description of bull selection and the importance of genetics. The Trowbridges provided visual aids – four bulls with printouts of their expected progeny differences (EPDs) and traits.

It was important that media encounter cattle in their natural setting to highlight the Trowbridges’ concern for environmental issues and green areas. “They were able to see a serene farm – so common in this industry – and honestly, I think they expected to find more of an industrial operation,” Trowbridge said.

Certified Angus Beef ® brand corporate chef Scott Popovic discussed cuts, grades of beef and the role marbling plays in high-quality meat. The group was joined by Marc John Sarrazin, of the brand’s long-time foodservice licensee Debragga and Spitler, and Chef John Doherty, formerly of The Waldorf=Astoria.

“The weather was glorious, the grass green and the reporters amazed at the visual health and disposition of the cattle,” said Tracey Erickson, vice president, Certified Angus Beef LLC. “As you might imagine, this group is far removed from agriculture, so the opportunity to see the farm, family and live animals up close was an eye opener.”

The Trowbridges were impressed with their guests. “They were hungry for information and eager to learn more about our farm,” he said. “They gobbled up the next-generation thing and were excited to talk with my son. Genetics, embryo transfer and forages were all topics of interest.”

It has never been more important for producers to tell their story and showcase production practices. For the Trowbridges – and the Certified Angus Beef ® brand – results have been positive. Features stories are in the works and information has already shown up on several attendees’ food blogs.

One participant commented, “I adored the farm. The entire place was clean, the air so exquisite. They clearly take pride in and enjoy what they do.”

To learn more about the Trowbridge family and farm, visit trowbridgeangusfarms.com, and to learn more about the brand, visit certifiedangusbeef.com.