Beef symposium focuses on value

Audubon: ‘We now think ranching is good for the environment.’
Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
The second annual Wyoming Beef Symposium, held in Newcastle on April 12, featured several speakers. The symposium’s main focus was beef sustainability, financial sustainability and certifications to help ranchers. 
According to Lacey Sloan, manager of the Weston County Natural Resource District and organizer of the event, the symposium focused on marketing beef, featuring speakers the with Red Angus Association of America, Audubon Rockies and the University of Wyoming. 
Two programs discussed during the event were Beef Quality Assurance, known as BQA, and Audubon’s Conservation Ranching Program. Both programs give ranchers a “stamp” to put on their product and allows consumers to connect with the beef product, according to the speakers. 
The Beef Quality Assurance program, according to Steve Paisley, Extension beef cattle specialist with the University of Wyoming, is a voluntary program that is producer driven. 
“The program started based on industry feedback regarding injection site lesions to address that problem. This is the No. 1 success story. We went from upwards of 20 percent lesions in carcasses to well below 1 percent” Paisley said. 
He said that the program has now evolved from having just an injection-site focus to becoming a program that “builds consumer confidence that they are getting a safe product.” The program focuses on management of the animals, meeting consumer expectations and improving the quality of beef. 
“As the consumers become more removed from the process, we have to continue to show them that they are getting safe and healthy animals, a wholesome product,” Paisley said. “Safety and wholesomeness of the animals is the big thing consumers want, so we focus on pathogens and avoiding carcass defect.”
According to Paisley, this program is important because it demonstrates commitment to food safety and quality, safeguards the public image of the beef and dairy industry, upholds consumer confidence, protects from government regulations, improves the sale value, enhances herd profitability and has a certification that is industry driven, promoting good production practices. 
“It is really important that we can develop a voluntary producer-led program to fix our own problems without federal mandates,” Paisley said. “Having evidence on our side is pretty important from an industry standpoint. It is more than just injection-site focus and has now become a focus on education first.” 
Paisley said that a major part of the program is training for ranchers and beef producers. Training allows for producers to stay current on specific issues and industry trends, allows for open discussion about maintaining and improving the product quality and reinforces issues throughout the entire industry. 
BQA certification is also something that companies are looking
for, to ensure their customers that they provide wholesome safe beef for customers. 
“Companies like Wendy’s and Cargill are moving towards primarily sourcing their products from BQA-certified meat by the end of 2019, with more companies moving towards that,” Paisley said. 
Becoming certified, according to Paisley, involves either in-person training or use of video-based modules online. Producers who become BQA certified will receive a certification number for their product labels. 
After becoming certified, beef quality audits are conducted every five years, although Paisley acknowledged that sometimes the audits take place every seven years. 
The results of the growing BQA program, according to Paisley, include more prime and choice carcasses than ever before. Bruising at injection sites is still an issue, but the issue is less severe than before. 
“There are a lot of different defects out there, and hopefully we can address some of these through BQA practices,” Paisley said. “It takes $1 to prevent defects, $10 to fix a defect at the manufacturer and $100 to fix a defect for customers. The idea is that prevention is important.” 
Dusty Downey with the Audubon’s Conservation Ranching Program stated that being Audubon certified will also add value to ranchers in the area. The program allows ranchers and other land managers to create and maintain habitats that allow grassland bird species to flourish, while the ranchers continue to stay on the land and make a living. 
“We now think ranching is good for the environment, and that is a big change compared to the past,” Downey said. “There is an opportunity to change consumers’ thoughts, and we are now having the conversation about the environment and the importance of ranching on the environment, how ranching can enhance the environment.” 
According to Downey, grassland bird populations are depleting and Audubon is interested in leveling the populations out or even increasing them. What the program does is help private landowners to continue doing what they’re doing by saving bird species. 
“We thought, let’s create a program where we can work with producers to preserve birds because the short-term fix is not going to work,” Downey said. “Policy approaches have largely failed, so we created a landowner incentive program.” 
He noted that the benefit of the incentive program is that beef can bring the birds back while producers are able to put another certification on their meat products. 
Benefits to producers, according to Downey, is value added to beef products, connections to a network of land management resources and the generation of positive public exposure for ranchers. 
Audubon certification is not for the beef itself but for the ranch, according to Downey. It can be used to generate a premium. 
“Hopefully, people will see our logo and maybe pay some more,” Downey said. 
“Conscientious consumers are looking for that happy feeling that they get when they buy meat that saves birds,” Downey said. “They are donating without donating, and it makes them feel good to spend that 10 cents more. It is an interesting dynamic, but people will pay a little more, especially if they are passionate bird folks. People will pay more to get that warm, fuzzy feeling.” 
Ranchers participating in the program can expect scientific monitoring on ranches not only for birds but also for vegetation and soil, Downey said. 
To date, 60 ranches in 10 different states participate in the program, encompassing almost 2 million acres from Texas to the Dakotas. Downey said that 14 of the ranches are in Wyoming. 
“This is an opportunity for the conservation community to help shape consumer behavior and promote ranching as a solution to environmental crises,” Downey said. 
Certification for the program comes through Audubon and takes at least six months, according to Downy. The program is free for participants. 
Tom Brink, CEO of the Red Angus Association of America, explained that there is more to having sustainable products and being financially stable in the beef industry than just certifications. 
“Long-term profitability is very difficult in this industry,” Brink said. 
Producers need to think about the marketing side of their business first, Brink said, and then work backward to create a specified production plan that works within the resource base of the producer. According to Brink, producers must define and write down what the selling of the animal looks like, creating a superior-value product sold for premium prices and the specific actions needed to make that happen. 
“You need to produce to specifications, preferable for a value-added product specification,” Brink said. “I encourage and challenge you to think about it, instead of just producing cattle.” 
According to Brink, producers need to set up top-dollar feeder cattle information with a more precise description of those cattle. This includes feed information, specific health information, implant information and genetic information of the cattle the producer is selling. 
“Buyers can do something with information. They can look at what they’ve got, look at that information, and they can say these cattle are probably worth more than average,” Brink said. “It may be worth $50 a head premium if the buyer does not have to guess the background, health and genetics of the animal. They can make an informed decision on how to bid on these cattle.” 
He noted that the description should provide positive information to not devalue the cattle. 
“The future for undocumented genetically unknown feeder cattle with questionable health history is questionable in today’s market,” Brink said. “It is becoming evident that more information is becoming more important.” 
All of these things, according to Brink, are going to help create sustainability for ranchers. He noted that economic and environmental sustainability are both something ranchers have to consider. Ranchers must make a profit and must use the resources entrusted to them while leaving them better than they found them, he said. 
“Higher-value products are more sustainable by nature. They typically use the same, or fewer, resources to produce, while creating more value for the producer,” Brink said. 
He explained that a $750 commodity calf can be produced for $700, but a $800 value-added calf can be produced for the same $700. 
“Another example is that higher-performing cattle require less time on feed; therefore, they use less feed and less resources but still end up at a heavier weight,” Brink said. Several years ago, a project was done that showed high-growth carcass cattle weighing more than normal calves at 16 days younger, resulting in almost $50 a head in feed costs saved, he said. 
“What we are seeing is that
higher-value animals with better genetics are improving the sustainability and financial gain for ranchers,” Brink said.
What lies ahead for the beef industry, at least in Brink’s opinion, is the United States leveraging genetic tools and technology that will be merged with superior verification and marketing programs for animals to produce highly valuable cattle that will better satisfy consumer wants and ultimately strengthen the industry as a whole.