Agricultural News
Producers Find it Easy to Join the Certified Angus Beef Team
Tue, 06 Nov 2012 13:20:36 CST
If one question is asked of Certified Angus Beef staff members more than anything else, it is "How do I join the CAB program? How do I sign up?" says Gary Fike.
The good news is there are no forms to fill out, no papers to sign.
"The way the program works is that if you raise the cattle and own them through the harvest phase in the fed cattle industry, when those cattle are sold to a packer, if they meet our ten carcass requirements and are predominantly black hided, those cattle will earn premiums above a choice yield-grade three carcass or a par value. And, so, that's how you participate in the program."
Fike says producers who sell their cattle before the end stage will still realize an advantage.
"There's a premium that's involved with cattle that will qualify for our brand from a phenotypic appearance-they're predominantly a high percentage of Angus cattle. They will bring more than cattle who are not black hided and maybe have a dairy or other influence in their breed makeup."
Seed stock producers are noticing a pull through demand for their bulls.
John Pfeiffer, an Oklahoma Angus breeder says, "As the CAB program has gotten stronger, and people realized there was a better demand for animals that graded better and would hang up a better carcass on a rail and put more money back in their pockets, then they became a lot more concerned with buying cattle that would grade as well as produce those desirable carcasses and not be too fat in the yield grades."
Tracy Thomas of U.S. Premium Beef says those premiums provide incentives for ranchers and feeders.
"The window of opportunity is wide open and it's just the size for the right kind of producer who wants to utilize some of the tools we will offer to them in order to increase their herd, learn more about what's going on underneath those hides in the cattle that they have and learn where they can make some of those improvements and how those improvements will pay off at the end. When you dangle the right kind of economic carrots out there, cattle producers and beef producers respond. That's been proven over and over again."
With a quality mindset and a desire to improve, Fike says any producer can get involved in producing Certified Angus Beef.
To view the video version of this story, click inside the frame below.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
