#62 - Kara Lee, Your Link in the Chain

Kara Lee is Director of Producer Engagement for the Certified Angus Beef Program. A native of Indiana, she now resides in northeast Kansas.

On the episode, we highlight the many speakers and information shared at the 2024 Feeding Quality Forum, held in Dodge City, KS, last month.

Slides and further information may be found at:

www.feedingqualityforum.com

Episode Transcript

Microphone (Yeti Stereo (00:09):
Thanks for joining us for episode 62 of
Practically Ranching.
I'm Matt Perrier, and we arehere thanks to Dalebanks Angus
in Eureka, Kansas.
We're currently taking bullpictures and laying out the
catalog for our upcoming sale.
November 23rd.
If you'd like to receive acatalog in a month or so, go to

(00:29):
Dalebanks.com and drop us arequest.
While you're there fill out ourtwo or maybe three minute survey
on genetic selection and traitpriorities in your herd.
This week's episode packs abunch of information from a
bunch of different sources.
Kara Lee serves as the directorof producer engagement for the

(00:54):
Certified Angus beef program.
And Kara is going to give us agreat overview of the recent
feeding quality forum that washeld down in Dodge city, last
August.
We cover the speakers highpoints relative to beef demand
and economics, credibility andyield grade estimation, packer
premiums for genetics, uh, beefquality assurance, feeding

(01:18):
technologies, and then at theend, kara gives us a little
taste of what it's like for acattlemen to get, to attend
their.
Annual CB conference, which wasjust held in upstate New York.
Now.
You understand my allegiance tothe Angus breed and its programs
are no secret.

(01:38):
And regardless of yourperspective toward this breed or
the CAB brand.
This CAB staff does a phenomenaljob of creating demand for high
quality beef from the consumer.
And then they also do aphenomenal job of figuring out
ways to pass that back throughthe supply chain to get to
producers.

(01:58):
And because they have createdthis demand pull model for CAB,
they need more supply.
And so they're constantlystriving to find ways to help
producers increase the amount ofAngus influenced cattle that
meet their specifications andsatisfy that consumer demand.
The feeding quality forum is oneof those pathways to producing

(02:19):
more better cab.
And I'll bet, regardless of thetype of cattle you produce or
feed or market.
You just may hear something thatwill help you in these
endeavors.
So, thanks again for listeningand enjoy this conversation with
Kara Lee.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (02:37):
My daughter, Hannah, who had just
turned 16, came to me with aproposal that I take her and
another friend of hers to theZach Bryan concert in Kansas
city, and it overlapped.
So the good father that I was, Iwent to Zach Bryan instead of
the certified Angus beef feedingquality forum in Dodge city,

(02:59):
Kansas.
So you're going to have to.
Fill me in, give me theCliffsNotes version.
I missed, I skipped class, so.
What can you tell me thathappened?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (03:07):
Well, well, first and foremost, I can
tell you that as proud as I amof our team and our feeding
quality forum, I think you madethe right dad decision that
night.
That's, uh, you know, lifehappens, but, uh, no, we were,
we were very thrilled with ourfeeding quality forum this year.
Um, so it was the first timewe'd had the event back in
Southwest Kansas for severalyears.

(03:28):
Um, this is the, the 19th yearthat we had done it.
put on Feeding Quality Forum andum, we knew that um, it was, it
was past time for us to get backto southwest Kansas and Dodge
City did not disappoint.
We know when we think about thatevent our primary audience is
your professional cattlefeeders, but our secondary and

(03:49):
tertiary audiences are yourcommercial cow calf producer who
has a vested interest in eitherQuality feeder calf marketing or
retained ownership throughcattle feeding and then your
seed stock producers who areGetting involved at a customer
service level with theircustomers to be focused on
quality as well And we were wewere right in the heart of that

(04:10):
We had a record number ofattendees this year by the time
you take out speakers and staff.
We were right at 260 trueparticipants who came and joined
us in Dodge We put together a, apre-event tour with the help of
our good friends at NationalBeef.
They let us bring a, a verysmall subset of our attendees in
for a packing plant tour.

(04:30):
It was the first year we'd beenable to make our way back into a
plant since pre covid I, andthat was a, um, a perennial
request from our attendees.
They said, when are we gonna beable to get back into a plant?
And we were excited to, to beable to pull that together for
them with again, the help ofNational Beef and our friends at
USPB, but, um, you know, we, wecame right off of that into a

(04:51):
day and a half of just somereally excellent content.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (04:55):
Good.
Well, I've only been to one ofthose in the past was in Kansas
city.
What was that three years ago?
I think maybe four.
honestly, every time I had seenthat, and I think this is kind
of how it was developed wasbasically, as you said, for feed
yards, first and foremost.
And I'd always seen the titleand said, well, that's, I'm not

(05:15):
a cattle feeder, uh, with theexception of owning a few on
feed, um, that's not for me.
Man, I went and was blown away.
I mean, one of the most cuttingedge lineups of speakers and the
discussions in the hallwaysafterwards and the questions in
the bar that evening.
I mean, they're just, it was agreat place to really dig deep

(05:38):
on some, not just Angus orcertified Angus beef topics, but
beef industry topics.
And the speakers, got thatstarted and everybody followed
along.
If there was one takeaway, onebit of information, one speaker,
one topic that you thinkprobably as folks were driving
back home that evening, that hitthem the hardest, what would

(06:01):
that have been?
Or was, can you narrow it down?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (06:03):
Well, it's hard to narrow things down
to, to just one particularspeaker, but I, I was so pleased
to hear the prevalent themeacross.
Both days, multiple speakers,the notion of paying attention
to how your link in the chain iseither impacted by a previous

(06:24):
link or impacts the next personUm, the idea that, uh, quality
focus can't just be, you know,The job of the feeder or the job
of the cow calf producer or thejob of the seed stock producer.
It takes everybody.
And each of those steps in thechain today, they're paying
attention to more data and usingmore technology and tools than

(06:45):
we ever have before.
Um, we're in a totally differentpricing market and we're in a
different quality market.
And so we have to be in adifferent management market to,
to keep up with those things.
And that was something that itjust felt very consistent across
all of our speakers.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (07:01):
That's awesome.
And the, you know, the oldisland mentality that We used to
have for decades, if notcenturies in the beef industry
that, you know, I am a cow calfproducer and whatever happens to
that calf after he leaves myplace and I get my check...
I could care less.
Um, I think that's gone.
I, at least on the high qualityside of things, because as you

(07:23):
said, I mean, any one link inthat chain that's weak, that
screws it up, everybody getsdinged.
It may not happen this year, butin the longterm, I think, uh,
Dr.
Dan Thompson has been on thispodcast before has called it the
one beef concept, I think.
And, and it, you know, we areall in it together.
All, all for one, one for all.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (07:43):
Yeah, that's, it's a pretty lonely
mindset to think just about howyour decisions impact yourself.
And, you know, as we look at allthe different entities, uh, we,
we all go farther when we gotogether and, um, the more
successful, you know, you're aseed stock producer, Matt, the
more successful your customersare, the more successful you are
as somebody selling bulls andthe more successful the feeder

(08:06):
is.
The more valuable those feedercattle are the next year.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (08:10):
Yeah.
That's, uh, you know, not to gettoo deep into the industry
politics or discussions, butsometimes when I hear folks in
one segment start lambastingsomebody in another segment,
whether it's cow calf producerscomplaining about Corporate
feeders or packers or retailersor whomever else.
I laugh and I said, if I treatedmy customers as a seed stock

(08:32):
producer, if I treated mycustomers, like you all are
talking about your customer,cause that's who that feed yard
is, or if we're feeding cattle,that's who that packer is...
I wouldn't have any customersleft.
And so, yeah, we don't have tojust say, you know, whatever you
want to give me is fine.
Uh, but yeah, there is value inall of us being transparent
enough to share thatinformation, to share, uh, those

(08:56):
gains or those losses wheneverwe can and, uh, try to make, you
know, grow the, grow the pie foreverybody.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2 (09:01):
Absolutely.
And that's one of my favoritethings about feeding quality
form is that you have so many ofthose segments represented in
the room.
And I mean, we, we put a packeron the stage.
We put professional cattlefeeders on stage.
We have veterinarians on stageand seed stock producers, um,
everything along the way.
And, you know, everyone has aresponsibility obviously to make
good business decisions for whatmakes them money.

(09:24):
But, uh, to be sustainable inthe long run, um, We've got to
look at how it impactseverybody.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (09:30):
Yeah, no doubt about it.
So.
Who else did you have?
And I guess we can just kind ofgo through and you can give me
the, the, uh, shortenedcondensed version or any high
points that you may have had,um, one by one in order or
however, uh, but give us some ofthe topics that were talked
about there from the stage.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (09:47):
we'll give you the cliff notes, you
know, so one of the, the keylead off speakers that we've had
for several years on thisprogram has been Dan Bosse, Dan,
being the president of AgResource Company.
He's a global economist thatworks not just in the beef
industry but across the globe.
Lots of different ag commoditiesand, uh, you know, Dan's one of
those guys that he can quiteliterally tell you what anything

(10:09):
has to do with the price of teain China.
But when you, when you thinkabout how that relates to our
book of business, you know, hewould have shared that for 17
years, the U.
S.
is top trading partner has beenChina.
And that's not the case today,which has had some pretty big
ripple effects.
Um, he would have shared that,you know, right now farm revenue

(10:30):
overall is down 37 percent since2002.
So in just three years time, um,we're down 69 billion in farm
revenue.
But the really exciting thingfor beef producers is that the
beef sector remains an extremelybright spot for the global ag
economy.
Um, They are predicting that cowcalf margins are going to be

(10:52):
estimated to be greater than orequal to five hundred dollars
ahead In in the coming yearwhile retail meat prices remain
at record highs And so you thinkabout you know The ability to
kind of fly in the face of thelaw of supply and demand and and
we've seen this before We'reputting more high quality beef
into a box today Then we everhave, and yet there's still

(11:15):
premiums out there available forproducers and the consumers we
know are paying more for beef,but they still, they're, they're
not looking to downgrade tolower quality.
We may have some competition inthe market when it comes to
other proteins, but when they'rebuying beef, they, they know
they're not going out to buybeef because it's the cheapest
protein and so they want to getthe quality stuff, which is, is

(11:38):
very encouraging.
Um, And we kind of seguedstraight from Dan into the
economics of how that qualityfocus really impacts the cow
calf producer.
Um, and looking at, um, theoverall box supply of certified
Angus beef.
So, Paul Dykstra would haveshared some really cool insight

(11:59):
regarding.
Um, affectionately referred toit as the influential 10%.
And what we're talking aboutthere is, um, you know, today
certified Angus beef accountsfor, um, over 20 percent of all
fed cattle in the marketplacewhen you combine, the amount of
Angus influence on overall fedcattle and then layer in
acceptance rates.

(12:20):
We're more than 20 percent ofthat box, but 10 percent of
those total a stamp cattle Soyour total potential supply of
certified Angus beef 10 percentof it Misses our brand's
marbling threshold by 30 pointsor less And when you think about
how that comes home to roost allthe way back to the seed stock

(12:42):
producer, the commercial guybuying bulls, um, you know,
there's a lot of conversationsabout herd rebuilding, focusing
on balanced trait selection atthe ranch.
You know, we, we know we needcows that get bred every year.
We know we need cows with goodfeet and legs.
We've got to balance ourphenotype with our genotypes
across multiple traits.

(13:02):
Um, when we look at, uh, A 10percent potential supply
increase that is only 30marbling points away from our
brand standards.
That tells us that the peak ofour bell shape curve, man, we
are, we are so close.
We are right there.
And so we don't have tonecessarily be making the most
dramatic decisions when we thinkabout marbling, you know,

(13:26):
certified Angus beef talks aboutmarbling a lot, not because we
want producers to do singletrait selection.
That's, that's absolutely amisconception.
That's not our book of businesswhatsoever, but we talk about it
because it's the number oneplace that producers are leaving
money on the table when it comesto those premiums.
And so, um, you know, when Paulkind of broke that down into,
you know, Sharing just how closeso much of our supply is it just

(13:50):
encourages rangers to be mindfulof marbling.
Let's not make it the only thingthat we're thinking about, but
but let's not throw the baby outwith the bathwater when we're
thinking about our selection andmanagement decisions.
if you run the economics ofshifting 10 percent of that
supply.
Across the marbling thresholdthat modest or higher threshold,

(14:11):
you know that calculates to Justshy of$47 per head for cattle
sold on a carcass basis versusindustry average that could be
available so that's you know,that's really it's encouraging
to us as a brand from a supplyperspective, But I think it's a
really unique opportunity forproducers as they're thinking
about you know, someone whomight not have traditionally

(14:33):
thought of themselves as a UmQuote unquote carcass focus
producer.
Um, you know, you don't have tomake that your only focus, but
let's not be anti when we thinkabout selection, there's a lot
of opportunity to make someincremental decisions that can
have some pretty big effects.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (14:49):
Right.
And there's, there's just toomany options out there, from a
genetic standpoint to completelydisregard that opportunity for
profit, whether you areretaining ownership and being
paid that premium directly ornot.
I mean, these program cattle,uh, when we get to talking about
traceability and all thesedifferent opportunities, some

(15:09):
would say liabilities, but Iwould say opportunities for the
commercial cow calf producer,even if they want to sell those
as weaned calves, or asyearlings, or as balling calves
straight off the cow, somebodyis going to know how those
cattle did, and there are likelygoing to be premiums associated

(15:30):
with more demand associated withthose cattle next year.
so yeah, it's, it's, it's allpart of the puzzle and, and, you
know, you're talking$47additional in carcass value.
Quite often, that's thedifference between profit and
loss for that feeder.
I mean, you talked about Dansaying that hopefully we're
seeing the opportunity for 500plus margins in the cow calf

(15:54):
world.
Most of these fed cattle,granted they own them for a
shorter time and there's allkinds of different differences
there within the segments.
But a lot of the times thosecattle are making plus or minus
a hundred bucks a head.
And so you talk about a 50 perhead opportunity and that's

(16:14):
quite often in the black insteadof in the red.
So it's, it's huge.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_123 (16:18):
What you were talking about with the
premiums and program cattle isthat It plays so nicely into a
comment that I distinctlyremember Randall Spare, a
veterinarian from Ashland, KS,He was another one of our
speakers and as he was talkingabout, you know, utilizing tools
and selection, He said we reallyhave two kinds of cow calf
producers in the marketplacetoday You have your price takers

(16:39):
and your price makers and Ithink that holds true today
whether whether you're sellingfeeder cattle, you know, six
weeks post weaning, or you'reretaining ownership all the way
through, you know, there areabilities to add bells and
whistles to those cattle becausethe next guy down the line cares
more today than they ever havebefore about the information

(16:59):
there.
And, um, if, if you want to be aprice maker, meaning, you know,
you've invested in the rightgenetics, the management, the
health, everything, Takeadvantage of some of those
opportunities and be a littlebit more of a price maker than a
price taker.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (17:14):
Yeah, and, and it all goes together,
even as specifically for the cowcalf segment.
you miss any of those linkswithin your own business, if you
buy the good genetics and feedthose cattle right, and have
them on a good vaccination,mineral program, and then open
the trailer gate, dump them outthe back and don't tell anybody,

(17:34):
you're probably not going to topthe market, uh, whether you
enroll those on some kind of aprogram and Somehow, if you're
going to go to the work, you'vegot to represent them.
And let somebody that's going tobe bidding on those cattle know
why it is that they're worthmore, not just quote unquote
reputation.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (17:52):
Yeah.
Progressive management isexcellent and I'm a big
proponent of progressivemanagement, but it requires
progressive marketing to reallycapitalize on it.
And I think sometimes, you know,as producers we're, And don't
get me wrong.
There are a lot of people whoare very good at it.
But sometimes we're really goodat just doing the right thing,
keeping our head down.
And we get a littleuncomfortable with talking about

(18:14):
all of the things that we havedone right and communicating
that with the next person downthe line.
And again, I think they'rebetter opportunities for folks
to get plugged in today thanever before to help them do
that.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (18:27):
Yep, I would agree.
Alright, so after Dan talkedabout the economic side of
things, where did you go fromthere?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12335 (18:35):
So that's when we kind of rolled
into Paul thinking about that,uh, that grayed out and moving
things on down.
And, um, so we, I, I mentioned,um, Randall Spare coming in and
talking a little bit aboutheifer retention.
You know, we, we specificallywanted to bring someone in to
talk about replacement femaledecisions, which, you know, You
know, that maybe seems a littleout of place on what's on an

(18:55):
agenda that traditionally is afeedlot conference.
Um, but as we've, we've reallytried to be intentional about
bringing content that's relevantto your commercial cow calf
guys.
And, um, we know that right nowwith record low in recent
history, cow herd numbers, thedecisions that are made.
At the herd rebuild in thecoming years, we either have to

(19:17):
live with the consequences ofthose decisions or reap the
rewards of those decisions forseveral years down the line.
And, um, you know, one of thethings that that Randall talked
about was not, you know, again,not single trait selection from
a marbling perspective, but justshifting our mindset a little
bit about.
When we think about marbling, weknow there are tools out there

(19:38):
today that help us evaluatecommercial females.
Um, and maybe it's not aboutselecting your very top end.
But if you can identify, I mean,any of us, if you're a
commercial cow calf guy, thatsays, Um, you know, you sell
your calves, you know, bawlingright off the cow...
if you had an opportunity toidentify your bottom 20, 20

(19:58):
percent of your performers,especially if you could do it,
before you ever took the time todevelop that replacement heifer,
and go through, you know,getting her, you know, Pregnant
the first day and second time ifyou could identify who had your
your least potential at the verybeginning what a great bang for
your buck on the investment thatyou can make on those
replacement females today.

(20:19):
And I mean He would have talkedkind of just piling on to the
things that paul talked about ifwe're if we can Look under the
hood at marbling potential postweaning gain potential today
Versus you know 18 months fromnow when you're trying to preg
check that heifer You Then whynot do it?
Now's a great time to do it.
So we, we jumped in from thereand shifted a little bit over to

(20:44):
talking about, the Packerperspective.
So we, we were fortunate enoughto have Chad Barker join us from
National Beef.
he and Mark McCulley sat onstage and just had a little bit
of a fireside chat to talkthrough, um, what, what are the
Packers seeing today?
You know, Chad being over theirprocurement for National Beef,
um, I think it's just, Always agreat opportunity for an

(21:04):
audience like that to have someopen Q and a dialogue with with
the guys who are out therebidding on those cattle and the
message we heard loud and clearfrom Chad is that, care more
about the predictability of thecattle they're buying today.
you know, some of your listenersmay or may not be aware of the

(21:25):
premiums that National Beef hasrecently announced.
You know, today they're offeringa five dollar per head premium
for cattle coming from thefeedlot to them that have an
Angus Link genetic merit scorecard with a beef score greater
than or equal to 100.
I'm not the expert enough inAngus Link to get into all of
the details about how a personwould become involved.

(21:45):
You could certainly reach out tothe association for that, but I
think that the key message thereis that, um, you know, the
packers are going to make movesthat are going to increase their
quality and increaseprofitability.
And they see, uh, they seeenough value in sourcing high
quality cattle with geneticpotential to say, we want to
turn around and send thefinancial signal back to the

(22:06):
producer that says we want moreof them.
We want more of those particularcattle.
And, and I know that was, youknow, you think about the buzz
in the hallway, the bar chatsafterwards, that was a popular
topic among, among producers,just that that's a big move for
a Packer to step out and say, wewant to put our money where our
mouth is on that,

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (22:26):
if you would have told me 20 years ago,
maybe even five years ago that apacker, a big four packer would
have anything in theirnegotiation or their grid or
however you want to describe itthat pertain to genetics, I
would have laughed in your face.

(22:47):
I mean, yeah, they understandthat there are differences, but
for the most part, they've said,you send it to us and we'll
figure out where it can go andbe the most value.
We'll that's our job.
We'll sort it.
We'll partition it out.
We'll find the customer not,Hey, not only do we not want
them to be this size or this fatthickness or whatever the case

(23:09):
may be, we want them to.
achieve this level of geneticsfor these traits or higher.
And when I, when I saw thatpress release, I guess it's been
maybe close to a year now.
Um, first I had to read it twiceto make sure that I, that I was
seeing national beef, that itwas an actual packer talking
about paying a premium forgenetics, not just what the

(23:30):
cattle did.
But then, I mean, the phonestarts ringing and everybody's
like, what's his Genetic MeritScorecard or, you know, why in
the world would a packer careabout genetics?
It's because they know whatmakes them money.
They're businessmen and theyunderstand what makes them
money.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (23:44):
Yeah, it makes some money and they,
you know, they quantify geneticsdifferently today.
I mean, I think seed stockproducers have probably been
ahead of the curve in terms ofhow we think we quantify
genetics.
Because seed stock producershave been using EPDs and genomic
tools for some time.
You know, you talk about justgoing five years back, I would

(24:06):
venture a guess that your packerand even some of your, you know,
feeders, you know, five to 10years ago, they would think
about genetic selection as beingsourcing black hided cattle.
And, um, today that that's notgood enough to quantify those.
We want to be able to createvalue differentiation because
not all black hides are createdequally.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (24:26):
So anything else from Chad or Mark
in the Packer discussion?
What did they talk any aboutwhere they see consumer
preferences and how much they'regoing to be willing to pay for
this shorter supply of hopefullyhigher quality beef?
Uh, did they get into thedollars and cents there?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_1233 (24:45):
you know, if I had a crystal ball to
tell you how much national beefor any Packer was going to pay
for cattle, I'm not sure I needto have my day job, but,

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (24:55):
with me.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_123 (24:56):
but, you know, the, I mean, it was a
very strong message of, ofquality and then that's, that's
why they can pay these$5 perhead premiums on these Angus
link calves because that's,that's where their, their
potential lies in new business.
And, you know, kind of a, maybean unintended consequence, if
you will, of, the pandemic whenwe had, you know, we had really

(25:17):
high prime rates because youtake these cattle with really
high genetic potential and youadd some unexpected days on feed
on top of them.
and then you close down therestaurant industry who has
typically sucked up all of thatprime.
market.
what you have now is retailerswho are putting prime in the
meat case who have not typicallyhad enough supply of prime to do

(25:38):
that.
And, and guess what?
Their customers liked it.
And now we have retailers whoare, they are seeking out prime.
They're not just buying primebecause it's what's there
because the restaurants aren'tbuying it.
They're trying to spec outprime.
you know, national andcompetitors like them are seeing
that that's where a lot of theprofit potential is to grow the

(25:59):
market is because, you know,consumers, they might be buying
beef a little less frequently,but when they are buying it,
They want the good stuff.
And um, you know is and I thinkthe the really encouraging thing
is that that's that's somethingproducers are Primed to step up
to the plate and meet the demandof I mean, we're right there

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (26:20):
Yeah.
That's one of those COVIDstories that not all of us
realized and maybe a good thingfrom a beef standpoint is how we
got that retail customer back tobuy in good beef because I
remember all too well 30 yearsago.
Now, as I was coming out ofcollege.
And we first saw the dollarsspent on beef away from home

(26:44):
surpass the dollars spent onbeef to be cooked at home.
In other words, they werespending more money at the
restaurants, then pretty soon,from a volume standpoint, they
were almost buying more beef ata restaurant or a quick service
someplace than they were thegrocery store.
And all the.
All the experts said, we'reprobably not going back.

(27:05):
People are not going to spendthe time to cook.
We better just focus on foodservice because that's where
it's at.
Well, guess what?
COVID changed all that.
And Oh, by the way, we, asproducers, we're making a
totally different, i.
e.
better product in two weeks.
2024 or 2020, sorry.
Then we were in the 1980s andnineties when they'd take it

(27:28):
home and cook it a little toofar and have shoe leather.
So they took it home and whetherthey cooked it right or wrong,
it was still doggone good.
And they went back and paid morefor it next time.
And when we saw the, theabsolute run up in wholesale
beef prices there, During andeven after COVID, as those
restaurants open back up, Iremember John Stika telling me

(27:49):
that part of it was there's abidding war going on right now
between your major retailers whocaptured some of that market
share back away from the foodservice industry, and they're
not letting go of it.
They realize they can move thisbeef through and, and, um, yeah,
so it's, it's a great thing forbeef producers.
And, Again, there aren't a lotof happy stories post COVID, but

(28:12):
that might be one.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (28:13):
Yeah, yeah, that was one of them and
one thing that this This kind ofresonated from some of Chad's
comments, but then also, um,Dale Woerner from Texas Tech was
on our program the second day,um, along with Pete Anderson,
and there was a lot ofdiscussion around, red meat
yield and the important, notonly the importance of paying
attention to red meat yield toproducers, but looking at the

(28:35):
way we measure that today.
So we had a really great panel,The first evening as part of our
Industry Achievement Award so wehad Glen Dolezal from Cargill,
um, Derek Vogt, who's aconsultant, has a lot of
experience with USDA, and AbramBabcock, who's with Adams
Landing Cattle, um, they were apanel talking about industry
involvement in, the evolution ofcarcass grating, between those

(28:59):
three guys talking about gratingand, Dr.
Woerner and Chad and Petetalking about red meat yield,
there's just a lot to unpackthere, both with, with what's
going on today and what thefuture looks like regarding
that.
So, Dale Woerner shared somereally cool insight talking
about, technology that's beingevaluated today to look at red

(29:20):
meat yield going forward.
when we think about the currentyield grade equation, there are
probably some limitations towhat that equation can give us
today compared to, what'srelevant to the industry.
And so he would have shared, youknow, your ribeye area only
explains about three percent ofthe total variation in true red
meat yield, which is just, youknow, mind boggling to me when I

(29:42):
think about how important redmeat yield is to the Packer, um,
how that trickles down from apricing perspective.
Um, and I always, you know,personally, if I, if I take my
company hat off, my personalskepticism comes out when I see
some of these things that seemlike they're very futuristic and
maybe for the rich and thecurious.
But when Dale was sharing someof the, the 3d imaging models of

(30:05):
what they can do today to lookat carcasses and, you know,
they're, Things are a littlegray on what the timeline of
actual implementation couldpotentially look like, but we're
not talking 15 years down theroad.
We're talking, you know, in muchnearer term than that of perhaps
the ability to move away from oradapt a current yield grade

(30:27):
equation to get a more accuratered meat yield piece of the pie.
Um, I mentioned Pete Andersonearlier.
That was You know, the, the redmeat yield some was, was
something that he would havetalked a lot about, um,
especially as we think aboutmanaging cattle today in the
current pricing environment, um,whether you're merchandising
live cattle or on a carcassbasis, um, we know cost of gain

(30:50):
is extremely important, and yourprofitability only goes up until
your cost of gain exceeds yoursale price.
we know that Your yield gradepremiums are really nice, but
they don't necessarily driveyour grid results.
that's where your quality comesinto play and thinking about
balancing out, you know, we, apound of gold is worth more than
a pound of lead.

(31:11):
And so it's how it can't just beabout creating pounds.
We want to be creating the rightkind of pounds, um, and having
the ability to, you know, asfeeders kind of maximizing that
red meat yield.
with, the highest quality typeof red meat mingled in between.
If a listener were to say, giveme one session to go back and

(31:32):
look through the, uh, the recap.
I heard so many outstandingcomments about Pete Anderson's
session on our second day.
And I mean, Pete's a, he's aveteran of our industry that's
well respected as a consultant.
but.
You know, he, he definitely, we,we didn't get a wash, rinse,
repeat of, of what Pete wouldalways share.
He very much had our audience inmind.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (31:54):
That's fascinating.
And I have, um, haven't reachedout yet, but I'm hoping to have
Dr.
Werner on the podcast and maybeI need to have Pete on there
instead, or in addition to, butto talk about just that, because
even though let's get very CABspecific for now, even though
marbling is the biggest reasonthat a stamped carcasses,--i.

(32:17):
e.
Those black hided animals thatwalk in the pack and plant
door-- marbling is the reasonthat they don't make it.
For what I can't remember whatpercentage

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (32:25):
About 80%.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (32:27):
80 percent of the, of the A stamped
cattle that don't make theprogram is because they didn't
exceed that modest zero or midchoice or higher.
But you know, when we starttalking about Excessively big
rib eyes and, excessive fatthickness.
And then, you know, you talkabout fours and fives discounts,
not that that necessarily keepsthem out of CAB.

(32:47):
There are a lot of things from acutability standpoint and from a
consumer acceptance standpoint,that if we had better tools, we
may be able to manage thosebetter.
But first off, we've got tofigure out how to send the right
price signals and, and havingtechnology that does that better
than the old, you know, YG 1through 5 that, uh, I think was
developed on a totally differenttype of cattle in what, the

(33:11):
1950s or

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_1233 (33:12):
And a totally different beef
merchandising system, too.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (33:15):
True, true.
Yeah.
All commodity, all commodity andbasically three to four breeds
instead of however many we havenow that are in the mix.
So yeah, that, uh, and.
If it's okay, I will include alink here in the notes to maybe,
uh, the website that has some ofthese, of these, um, synopses

(33:35):
about the feed and quality forum

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (33:37):
Yeah, the feedingqualityforum.
com would have links to slidesthat both Dale Woerner and Pete
Anderson would have shared.

matt_2_09-13-2024_1233 (33:44):
Awesome.
We'll have that in there.
So I'm sure there were plenty ofdiscussions in the hallways, uh,
after that about, you know, howdo CAB specs change?
Not that we can answer thattoday, but that's one thing
about the program as, as Rigidand as stringent and as
dedicated as you all have beensince its inception in the mid

(34:05):
seventies to that quality and tothe marbling, as the industry
has subtly changed in itsmanagement and, and customer
consumer preferences, you allhave added things in there too,
to make sure, I mean, notexceeding, is it a 16 inch eye,
uh, to get into the program andthings like that as carcass
weights have been bigger.
So I'm sure there'll be possiblysome changes there as well.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (34:28):
Yeah, and so Daniel Clark, um, Dr.
Clark, one of our meatscientists at Certified Angus
Beef, he actually joined DaleWoerner for the presentation to
talk a little bit about some ofthe recent evolution of
Certified Angus Beef specs, um,because it, you know, it's all
very interrelated with this redmeat yield conversation.
Um, the one we have adjustedmost.

(34:48):
Frequently and most recentlywould be that hot carcass weight
spec and it's no secret toanyone who's paying attention to
historical carcass weights We'renot making them any smaller.
and quite frankly, there's notan economic signal out there,
Especially with cow herd numberswhere they are today, there's
not an economic signal to makethem smaller Um, you think back
to again some of some of chad'scomments you think about the

(35:10):
logistics of running a plant mygoodness those guys have had to
um You They've had to rework themachine about how they get
cattle through a facility likethat today compared to what they
did in 1970, because we're,we're running different sizes of
carcasses through, but, youknow, as a brand, I would say
we've tried to remain relevant,relevant to both the consumer

(35:31):
side of the business and to theproduction side of the business
and, um, and increasing thosecarcass weights with, uh, A lot
of consist data behind him tosee, you know, how far can we
realistically raise this hotcarcass weight without
sacrificing quality?
you mentioned the ribeye areaspec, you know, we, we are
kicking some more cattle outtoday than historically because

(35:54):
of excessive ribeye area.
We have a 10 to 16 square inch.
Um, it's not the bottom end thatwe're kicking cattle out on.
It's, it's on that top end forsure.
but today it's not beenimplemented by the majority of,
of processors by any stretch,but we do have a A provision
written into our specs withPackers today that if you have a

(36:16):
carcass that meets all, I shouldsay all ten, nine of your
certified Angus beefspecifications, but has a ribeye
area that falls above 16 squareinches, but below 19 square
inches, the Packers still hasthe ability to put everything
except your middle meats inthere.

(36:37):
into a certified Angus beef box.
So, I mean, you can, you canstill use the tenders, but they
can't use the ribeyes, yourstrips, and your shortloins.
Um, because as we look atconsumer demand, it's the size
of your shortloins and yourribeyes that are really the
concern.
can we take the, the brisket andthe chuck and the round from an
animal with a 17 square inchribeye that otherwise meets

(36:58):
certified Angus beef specs and,and still meet consumer demand?
Sure, we can do that.
now, Again, you've got to haveyour standard operating
procedures written into theplant's operations to allow them
to do that.
Um, but that's just another waythat we've tried to, to look at
production today and remainrelevant without sacrificing on
quality.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (37:17):
Were there any discussions this year?
And I know probably in thehallway that we're after that
talk, but about consumeracceptance of these bigger,
especially middlemeat strips,ribeyes?
And at what point do we eitherfigure out a pricing structure
podcast, countless times thatwill reward that sweet spot.

(37:39):
Whatever it might be 16,whatever the case may be, or
figure out how to cut thesethings and serve them two pieces
of a ribeye?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (37:49):
Yeah.
And, you know, I don't know thatthe, that it's the consumer,
what I, what I would consideryour true consumer pushback that
we get so much on that versus.
trade levels.
So it's not necessarily, I mean,yes, when you get a ribeye
That's to a certain size, youknow, Mr.
and Mrs.
Consumer at the meat case mightget a little bit of sticker
shock when they see a price perpound on a ribeye that's cake

(38:12):
platter size.
Um, that, that gets a little,that gets a little pricey.
Um, But I would say the biggestissue is when you have too much
variability in the box.
So I'll just use a barbecuejoint for example.
Um, if, if I'm running abarbecue restaurant and, um,
maybe I'm smoking some ribeyesfor, for my high end barbecue

(38:32):
joint.
if I order a case of ribs frommy distributor, that distributor
has a weight limit that they'reallowed to have on their cases
of meat.
And so the packer knows I can'tsell my distributor a case
that's any heavier than X numberof pounds.
And if I take a, you know, a 19square inch ribeye and toss in

(38:54):
that box, it's not just thesize.
Think about how much that thingweighs.
if I want to hit my weight countand my piece count, maybe I need
to fit two or three more ribsinto that box.
What am I going to go look for?
Am I going to go look foranother big rib to put in that
box?
Or am I going to look for asmall rib to put in that box?
Probably gonna look for asmaller one so I can hit both my
piece count and my weight count.
and what that does is then whenthe restaurant opens up the box,

(39:17):
you've got a lot ofinconsistency.
I mean, it's like, you know,being a feeder and getting, you
know, five weights and eightweights and the same trailer
load.
You can't manage those cattlethe same and expect them to have
the same weight.
The same kind of outcomes.
Um, and so I think we're, youknow, our, our quickest
opportunity, and this is, thisis opinion, this is, this is
Kara's thoughts, not Kara'sfacts.
Um, but I think we're where,where I think we have the, the

(39:41):
most opportunity in the, in thenear term, is really even
thinking about ways that we sortthose pieces a little bit
differently.
And, you know, it's likeanything else you gotta think
about implementing packing codesand sorting and, you know, is a,
is a plant willing to draw anextra line in the sand between
various sizes.
And so instead of having, youknow, a small and a large, do

(40:03):
you have a small, medium and alarge, something that allows
your customer to define, I wantthis size, or I want this
weight.
do we have to price those alittle bit differently?
Possibly, um, some customers aregoing to want something a little
bit smaller, and maybe that'swhat drives your financial
signal ultimately, but I thinkthere are a lot of trade
customers out there who might bewilling to take your bigger

(40:26):
pieces if they could say, canyou, can you guarantee me that
I'll get the consistency acrossthe board?
you mentioned the, themerchandising, cutting these
animals a little differently.
that's, that's certainly aconversation that we've had a
lot thinking about, you know,how we break down the rib, and,
and the, the packers that havetalked about implementing that
provision of being able to,stamp a carcass of CAB and pull

(40:49):
out your middles.
They, you know, they're lookingat do we have a customer who
wants those really big ribeyesbecause they want to pull the
spinalis off and utilize thatsomewhere else in their, in
their menu or on their in theirshelves versus utilizing a heart
of ribeye.
Um, you know, it's, I thinkwe're still a far cry away from,
you know, From pulling all thosespinalises off, you know, you

(41:11):
and I, we like to walk into arestaurant.
We want to see that full ribeyesteak on a plate.
I don't know what I'm looking atnecessarily if I just, if
somebody pulled that meat candyoff and away from me, but um,
you know, we're there, there aresome accounts that are making
some strides in that direction.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (41:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it's like so many otherthings in our industry.
You know, the beef industry isprobably laden in tradition and
a little slow to change, but ifyou really look back at what
we've done from a carcassutilization standpoint from a
new product development frompricing and value standpoint, we
have come a long way.

(41:45):
And since our old commodity daysof the 1990s and prior.
And so we'll figure it out.
And especially if the consumerand the retailer, food service,
distributor, packer, all thoselinks in the chain, as we talked
about before, especially if theyrecognize that there's value,
we'll figure out a way to pullthat forward and partition it

(42:07):
out.
So, all right.
So where do, where'd we go nextafter the cutability and yield
grade and that type ofdiscussion?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (42:16):
Yeah.
It might, it might be jumpingthe gun a little bit from a
content perspective, but I'mkind of tying back into some of
Chad's comments as a packer.
Um, we had a really great paneltalking about how cattle feeders
today value genetic information.
Again, back to the comment Imade about, we can't just look
at a black hide today.

(42:36):
and this is where we, we had achance to put some, some real
world cattle feeders up on thescene.
We had Tom Fanning from thePratt Feeders group who joined
us and Grant Morgan from PokyFeeders both up there.
We also had Troy Marshall fromthe American Angus Association
and I would say Troy's key rolethere, you know, Troy oversees
that Angus Link program.
And we knew that if if the nightbefore we were going to have

(42:57):
Chad up there talking about howvaluable Angus link information
was to them We need to be ableto give our audience a resource
to say, you know, how can I tapinto this?
What do I need to think about?
What can I do?
And and troy had some reallygood insight to share just in
terms of what he's seeing cattlefeeders do from a demand
perspective And and procuringthose cattle.

(43:17):
you know, tom Tom's just onehe's a class act of a human and
has so much insight as a cattlefeeder Um, and he would have
talked a lot about the evolvingmentality of cattle feeders
today.
and, and I can say this cause hesaid it from stage.
I told him I would be quotinghim on this.
He said, you know, cattlefeeders need to have the courage

(43:38):
to pay the premiums for thesehigh quality cattle.
Um, he said it in, he said it inrehearsal and was brave enough
again to say it on themicrophone on stage, so I'm not
afraid to quote him on that.
He said, that's, that's whereour bread and butter lays in
success of being of being a highquality cattle feeder is being
able to procure, you know, thebest blank canvas out there that

(44:00):
we can work on.
I would say one of the mostencouraging things that Grant
shared from their experience atPoky is You know the the
evolution of a mindset that youcould only get high quality
cattle from a certain part ofthe country.
Yeah, you say, you know Ascattle feeders, we maybe had
this Misconception or maybe itwas misconception based in truth
years ago that you could go tocertain regions And that's

(44:23):
that's the only place you'regoing to get high quality cattle
if you go down to texas, newmexico, oklahoma, You're looking
at something that's commoditybased.
And he said they as a cattlefeeder, they've seen a major
shift in the mindset of thecommercial cow calf guy in the
southern part of the centralplains and the south and the
southwest of being focused onquality.

(44:46):
And as a cattle feeder thinkingabout the logistics of freight
and where they have to go to getthose cattle, he said it's
really encouraging to them tothink about being able to source
high quality genetics a littlecloser to home where maybe they
hadn't.
past, which was, um, you know,it's always nice to be able to,
to dispel some of those oldmisconceptions as well.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (45:06):
What else from the feeders?
Did you hear our, our, our, Arethey concerned as everybody else
I hear about in the feedingindustry about cattle numbers
and, and did they talk any aboutsupply and demand or were you
more just focused

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (45:18):
Yeah.
I mean, I don't think anybody'snot concerned about numbers.
Um, even the cow calf guy,who's, who's maybe looking at
some quality margins.
We, we know that that thing'snot going to last forever.
And, um, you know, there was alot of commentary there to the
same thing.
We just mentioned that theeconomic signals are not there
to make them any smaller,especially with costs of corn

(45:38):
right now, you know, prices ofinputs.
Um, it, it's about, it's aboutmaking them, I won't say making
them necessarily bigger, butbetter and maximizing again,
that red meat yield.
but you know, it's not justselling pounds across the scale.
If we want to make, if we're notgoing to have as many of them to
feed, we want to feed.

(45:59):
the best ones that we can, andwe want to make the most margin
on them that we can.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (46:03):
did Tom elaborate any when he said
cattle feeders need to have thecourage to pay premiums for
those high quality cattle, didhe describe what is a high
quality set of feeders coming toPratt or Buffalo or wherever it
might be that he's buying them?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (46:19):
Nope, that's a great question.
And honestly, that that'sexactly why we had Troy joining
these guys, because they've hadsome experience, whether it's
with Angus Link or other programcattle.
you know, they need to begetting animals that have some
kind of information on them.
And it's a combination of boththe genetic information on those
cattle and the health.
You know, health is one of thosethings that Grant talked a lot

(46:41):
about as well, and I couldn'tagree more with him.
He said, um, high geneticpotential doesn't do me any good
if I can't keep them alive.
And I, I empathize andappreciate that.
And, um, we, we also, we hadanother panel talking about
technologies and, um, Dr.
A.
J.
Tarpoff from K StateVeterinarian there.
Know, He got as basic as talkingabout health strategies to say,

(47:03):
you know, as cow calf producers,we can't be pouring the coals to
these cattle from a geneticperspective and forgetting some
of our most basic healthprotocols.
and even thinking about, youknow, the things that, you know,
if we've, if we've done the samething health wise for the last
20 years, when was the last timewe re evaluated that?
And I appreciate Grant'scommentary on that of Um, you

(47:26):
gotta have both to do well.
I can't pay more for, for highquality cattle if they don't
have a good health protocol thatgoes with them.
But, I kinda, I elaborated alittle more on your question
there about how tom would havesaid they quantified it.
But, um, yeah, it's a little ofboth.
You know, we've got programcattle that are related to
genetics, to age and source, tohealth, um, to your NHTCs.

(47:48):
I would say.
The genetic information, um, andany of the management and health
ahead of time were, were the twothings that were most prevalent
with those two guys.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (47:56):
Great.
So where'd you go after the feedyards and value from their
standpoint and management?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_123357 (48:04):
I mentioned AJ was on a panel
there a minute ago and, um, thatwas a, a collective between he
and then, um, Justin Gleghorn.
from Cactus Feeders, um, whichwas moderated by Dr.
Kirsten Nichols from ourCertified Angus Beef team.
Um, we really asked them to kindof talk a little bit about, you
know, expanding on what, onceyou get past the, the
procurement and the management,um, talking about technologies

(48:28):
as a whole.
And I will tell you initiallywhen we first invited these guys
to, to join us for the program,our thought process was, um, the
FDA has made some regulatorychanges in recent history re
implanting and things like that.
And we said, you know, if we'vegot cattle feeders and
commercial cow calf guys in thesame room, um, is anyone other

(48:49):
than the cattle feeders evenaware of re implanting
regulations?
And are there questions thateach of them have for the other,
things they want the other toknow about how their management
impacts the next guy down theline?
Um, I think, you know, they wereable to, To rest some minds at
ease on the sky is not fallingis as it's related to that.

(49:09):
But, um, you know, Justin wouldhave talked quite a bit about
the way they look at, um,efficiency technologies at
cactus in terms of theimportance that genetics play.
to them and being able toutilize some of those
technologies.
Um, we know that there are somegrowth and efficiency tech, feed
efficiency technologies thathave potential at some point to

(49:31):
impact your quality grade.
And, um, you know, to them, it'svery important to know what the
potential looks like on thosecattle before, um, They consider
utilizing a technology likethat.
and there's a, you know, some ofthose technologies have a pretty
broad range, to, to be, to begenerous of how many days they

(49:54):
can be used and whatnot.
And I know every feeder hastheir own proprietary,
Prescription of how many daysthey will or won't use a certain
technology, but for them, hewould say that, uh, knowing the
genetic potential of thosecattle makes a big difference to
them.
Um, in other words, if, youknow, if you've got some cattle
that, you know, they're notgonna grade to start with, You

(50:16):
know, you're probably not goingto downgrade them even further
utilizing a technology.
And so, you know, you thinkabout how that, how that plays
into procurement.
If they know more about thecattle ahead of time, um, and
whether or not they can utilizesome of those technologies, they
can price those cattledifferently if they know the
genetic potential is there thatthey can utilize a technology a

(50:36):
little differently.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (50:38):
And that's more of a feed yard
focused deal, I would assume.
I mean, obviously we've got cowcalf producers who are using
implants and things like that,but I assume they're even more
so talking about some feedadditives and, um, yeah, you,
you, you name it.
There's, there's endlessopportunities out there.
And like you said, a lot of thatis proprietary the way they do
it.
But, um, Uh, all regulated underFDA and granted, we've got

(51:00):
consumers that have differentperspectives on technology and,
quite often have a negativeconnotation to any kind of
technology.
But when we look at the numbersthat we've got in terms of beef
numbers and cattle numbers, um,by not using any of these, we're
gonna, we're gonna hurtourselves in more probably,

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_1 (51:19):
We've, we've got to be able to do more
with less.
We've got to do it responsiblyand we've got to do it
judiciously.
Um, and, and I think that's,that's where a lot of the open
dialogue.
I, I never want a feedingquality forum session to be a
commercial for one particularproduct or one particular
program, um, because there are alot of different ways to slice

(51:40):
that pie.
Okay.
But we want to be able to havesome open dialogue across
multiple facets of the industryabout how, how each one is
impacted.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (51:49):
All right.
From there,

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_1233 (51:50):
Um, from there, I will say we, we
kind of wrap things up.
Um, our, our final session was,um, a little bit of a, I'll call
it the PS, if you will, becausewe actually had a, we had a post
event, um, that, uh, wasoffered.
At High Plains Feedyard, um,just about 20 miles or so south
of Dodge City, Tom Jones therewas gracious enough to host us.

(52:13):
Many folks know that CertifiedAngus Beef has been very
involved with one of ourpartners, Sysco, in, um,
promoting our Raise With Respectcampaign over the last couple
years, which is reallyencouraging folks to become BQA
certified, or in most people'scases, recertified.
We know BQA is not a, not a newprogram.
and as we visited with thefolks, even at KLA, in the six

(52:34):
months leading up to FeedingQuality Forum, you know, they
would have expressed that one ofthe, the requests they get a lot
is from feed yards who aresaying, you know, You know, I
need to have all of my employeestrained because BQA is not new
for them.
They have these requirementsalready in place that I need all
of my employees BQA trained.
Um, but if you don't havesomebody on a regular rotation,

(52:55):
you're getting a lot of callsregularly to get lots of
different employees trained.
And so we said, you know, we'regoing to be in Dodge City.
We're going to be, you know,within just a couple hours drive
of a lot of cattle on feed.
Let's do a training that'sreally focused towards those
feed yard employees.
Um, we brought in a hispanic, aspanish translator for some of
the hispanic demographic thatare working in the feed yards.

(53:18):
Um, and we said we're, we'regoing to do a, an on feed yard
feedlot BQA training, hosted bynone other than, um, Someone who
I affectionately refer to as oneof the godfathers of BQA, um,
Dr.
Bob Smith, AJ Tarpoff would havejoined him as well.
but knowing that that was kindof our, our followup, like after
we close out feeding qualityforum, couple hours later
everyone's invited down theroad.

(53:39):
We actually invited Dr.
Bob to do a, um, a session kindof on the lessons and beef
quality assurance of what we'velearned over the years.
And, you know, personally thatwas just something that I
appreciated.
So much to have someone withthat much perspective about
where we've come in theindustry, because, you know,
I've, been around long enoughthat I remember when BQA was all

(54:01):
about injection sites.
Um, and sometimes today, youknow, it's, it's easy to kind of
roll your eyes and think, oh,that's all BQA is.
Well, first of all, that's nottrue.
It's a lot more than justinjection sites.
But when you're, you sharingsome of the data from the
nineties and we were looking athigher than 20, more than 20
percent of your top butts thatwe're ending up in retail food

(54:24):
service consumer hands had somekind of site injection lesion.
It's like, man, this, this stuffmatters.
And when you think about aprogram like that, making, I, I
would, I'm not fast enough on myfeet to put the dollars and
cents to that about what kind ofan impact that has had on our
business over the last 25 years,but it is staggering and

(54:48):
significant.
And then you think about, um,you.
you go beyond injection sites toall the other things that BQA
is.
Um, we're not just doing thisbecause it's the right thing.
It is the right thing, but we'redoing it because it makes sense
for the consumer.
It makes sense for our walletand it makes sense for the
cattle and our employees.
And so it was, it was just areally fun way.

(55:11):
Um, to kind of put a cherry ontop of the program for with
someone who knows the cattlefeeding business at an intimate
level and has seen firsthand theimpact of, um, of a program like
Beef Quality Assurance and then,just appreciate he and AJ
lending their time to us thatafternoon for the program down
at High Plains later on.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (55:32):
Well, it sounds like I missed a bunch,
but, uh, you have done a nicejob of taking a, what almost two
day, if you count the BQA andtour before two day program into
50 some minutes.
and like you said, we can makethose, uh, those links to some
of the presentations availablefor folks if they want to dig a

(55:52):
little deeper and see some ofthose slides as well.
So now that you've got FeedingQuality Forum behind you, by the
time this podcast airs, you'llprobably be on a plane headed
for, is it New York?

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12 (56:07):
York.
Yep.
Yes, sir.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (56:08):
beef annual conference.
Um, very few, if any of us thatare listening to this podcast,
have or will ever get theopportunity to maybe go to the
CAB conference.
But got to go one time and was,had been told how cool it was.
And I'm like, well, you know, Ilike managed expectations and

(56:29):
the expectations I have are waytoo high for this thing.
So I know I'm going to bedisappointed.
I wasn't.
It is unbelievable.
And I guess you can put it intowords better than I tell me what
somebody sees from a producerstandpoint, as such as yourself
the attendees and thediscussions and everything that

(56:51):
goes on with CAB conference,because it's different than any
meet any cowboy meeting thatI've ever been to.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_12335 (56:56):
It is and you're, you're humble,
Matt, because you also let usput you to work the year that
you came to our annualconference.
But, um, you know, I would saythat as I approach our
conference through a cattleman'seyes, the key things that,
Always, every year, it doesn'tmatter how many times you go,
you never become tired ofseeing, one: how dedicated these

(57:20):
people are to selling highquality beef.
Um, so the primary audience forour annual conference is your,
your trade end users, yourrestauranteurs, food service
distributors, retailers, furtherprocessors, you know, folks who
are making smoked and curedproducts, marinated consumer
package things.
Um, we've got over 600 peopleregistered to be with us in

(57:42):
Verona, New York, and just shyof 500 of those are our true
brand partners who are, youknow, it's not just all spouses
and guests.
They are, man, they are sopassionate about making beef
sales successful.
They love the certified Angusbeef brand and they love what
our producers do.
They may not know Everything orhalf of what you do Um, but matt

(58:06):
you can probably attest to thisfor the handful of producers who
are there whether they are ouraward winners Some of our board
of directors, maybe some guestspeakers If you got boots and a
cowboy hat on our folks Ourcustomers are going to stop you
in the hallway and say Thank youfor what you do.
when I've had producers who havegone for the first time, they've
told me I've never felt soappreciated about what I do for

(58:30):
a living as going to theCertified Angus Beef Conference.
And, and I think, you know, andthey, they leave with An equal
appreciation for what a valueadded processor or a retailer
does to make them successful.
It's, it's such a tangible wayto see how these ends of the
chain that are so far removedfrom the day to day of what we

(58:51):
do, man, we rely on each other.
Um, and then the even moreexciting thing is, you know,
it's the month after our annualconference.
our customers leave thatconference ready to run through
a brick wall like the Kool Aidman to sell some certified Angus
beef and they're following upwith our sales team and our
marketing team, you know, on theflight home from annual

(59:13):
conference saying, well, I, Isaw this, that somebody else had
done.
How can I implement that in myplace of business?
I mean, that's, that's why we dothe conference the way we do
because it, It gets peoplejazzed up about the brand.
It makes them leave, um, with a,a reinforced sense of why they
do what they do.
Um, I've had the opportunity thelast two years to host multiple

(59:37):
producer panels on our mainstage and what I hear
consistently from Licensees asthey say that that's the reason
I come to this conferencebecause I want to hear from the
cattlemen.
I want to hear from theranchers.
I want to hear from the cattlefeeders because they get me
excited about what I do.
Um, and I, I hope I know, I hopeI never get to a point in my
career where that doesn't leaveme with just a little bit of a

(59:58):
warm and fuzzy in my heart aboutwhat we do.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (01:00:01):
well, it is, it is exactly what you
described and more.
And you're right when you go inthere as a producer and as
everybody listening to thispodcast can attest, we're pretty
easy to spot regardless of whatwe're wearing, they just know
that we aren't normal.
We run cows.
Uh, but yeah, I mean, pardon thepun.

(01:00:25):
We were like fresh meat.
I mean, these guys could not askus enough questions or tell us
enough stories of how beef andquite often specifically
certified Angus beef.
But we try to stay fairlyagnostic here on this podcast,
but just in general, they wantto know how that family legacy,

(01:00:49):
how that.
Ranch, how that new upstart farmor whatever the case may be,
came to being, and then theywant to share back how beef has
affected their business, whetherthey are a distributor or a
packer or a restaurant or aretailer or a food service.
I mean, you know, I, chefs, Imet so many people that I didn't

even a (01:01:10):
maybe knew existed, but B
cared about what I do every day,because they want to share it.
And, you know, from a businessstandpoint, they know that that
makes them money.
The further we go into today'ssociety, that is more and more

(01:01:31):
removed from the farm and ranch,the more those consumers crave a
story of how that food got totheir plates or how that steak
got into the grocery store.
And those guys are starving tobe able to tell that story for
us.
And, um, yeah, it was, it waslike no conference I've ever
been to.
Um, it did, it not only excitedthose folks to go home and do a

(01:01:55):
better job of selling more beef,it inspired me to go home and do
a better job selecting geneticsand producing what I hope will
end up in their restaurants ortheir grocery stores or whatever
channels that they're workingin.
Because, yeah, it really didremind me of something that we
often forget.

(01:02:16):
We're in the cattle business.
We're here to get cows bred andget calves on the ground and get
those calves weaned and sold tothe next link in the chain.
And I think we forget about thatlast link and we don't realize
not only is that a source of allnew money coming into the beef
industry, it's, it's a source ofpride that they got the

(01:02:39):
opportunity to buy that steak orbuy that roast or wow that
family at their restaurant thatevening on their anniversary or
whatever the case may be.
So, yeah.
It's, it's an exciting thing toget to go to.
And, and yeah, I'm, I'm envious.
Uh, I know it's a lot of work.
I've seen your staff and I mean,I don't know how you all get it
done because it is a well oiledmachine.
And but anyways, it's a, it's agreat event.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_123 (01:03:02):
It's a labor of love for the full
team and Matt, you're exactlyright.
I mean, I think producers oftenfeel, you know, we, we feel like
we're under attack because theloud microphone that we may be
here is the vocal minority ofThe consumer that's anti beef
and, you know, ranchers feellike, you know, somebody else is

(01:03:24):
trying to tell us how to do ourjob.
And it's easy, it's easy andunderstandable to get frustrated
and feel like everybody's out toget you.
But if, if I could tell folks,you know, one message of
encouragement, um, back at thefarm, the ranch, your, your
feedlot, wherever you are.
Um, you got a lot ofcheerleaders out there who want
you to be successful and lovewhat you do.

(01:03:47):
And like Matt said, they'rejust, they're just itching to
tell that story.
And that's one of the, we tryand send them home from
conference with a few extrapages in that story to tell.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (01:03:57):
Yeah, well, you do a great job of it,
not just during conference, butin all that you do and working
with producers in your directorof producer engagement.
role, but also in the whole teamwith CAB and doing the best job
that we can to offer, not justvalue and high quality beef, but
also that, that story and thatsizzle to the steak.

(01:04:18):
So, well, thanks a bunch Karafor being here today and always
great to talk with you andappreciate you, uh, sharing all
the, all the insights from thefeeding quality forum and,
conference.
So have a great week up in NewYork and appreciate you being
here.

kara-lee-_2_09-13-2024_1233 (01:04:33):
All right.
Thanks for the opportunity,Matt.

matt_2_09-13-2024_123340 (01:04:34):
You bet.

Microphone (Yeti Stereo (01:04:35):
Thanks again for listening to
practically ranching brought toyou by Dalebanks Angus.
as we've said before, if youlike what we're doing here, give
us that five star rating, dropus a comment and be sure to
follow us to hear futureepisodes as soon as they're out.
And be sure to make plans tojoin us for our annual sale,
november 23rd at the ranchNorthwest of Eureka, Kansas.

(01:04:58):
As I mentioned at the start ofthe podcast, we're laying out
the catalog, we're taking bothphotos this week, and these
catalogs should be together andavailable by about November 1st.
If you'd like to receive one,drop me a note at Matt Perrier,
Dale banks.com.
Or you can fill out [e-mail].
God bless each of you will seeagain in two weeks.