It's too bad we can't be paid for our beef "on the rail" after it is slaughtered and the hide removed... and the carcass graded.
You can, IF you're big enough.
There are some possibilities. One such program is the Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity in southwest Iowa. About 20 years ago, I sent 18 steers there to be fed. Darrel Busby was the extension guy in Iowa at that time. He has since retired. The program still exists but may be different now. That program had small farmer feeders that receive cattle from a system of coordinators over the country that put the loads together locally and ship them to the feeders. Overall program coordination by the Iowa extension people. I retained ownership of the steers and was paid based on the carcass. Lots of carcass data on individual steers, carcass data grouped by sires, etc. Be careful what you wish for. There can be rewards for carcass IF you have the right carcass. There can be pain and suffering if you do not. Education can be very helpful but can be very expensive. There are risks that come with the possibility of reward. Participants do learn the value of their steers. Also the importance of vaccination programs, management, herd health, docility, and other factors that contribute to profitability. I hope this Texas facility is successful.
You can. It is called selling on the grid. I know that Tyson at Pasco WA that is how they pay for cattle. And I also know that you can take in goose neck loads so it is not limited to the big feedlots. They have a base price and go up or down from that price depending on grade, yield, and a few other factors.
These are important points that I think get overlooked far too often. If you ask a rancher, "Do you raise top quality cattle?" The answer is always, yes of course I do, but unless they are getting data back in some form or another they really don't know if they are or not. Personally, I would love to have a national database of carcass data that you could look up based on USDA tag numbers. Right now, you sell a small group of calves locally and then you have no idea where they end up or how they graded. If there was a database, you could look up the tag numbers of the calves sold and download the data.
You can. The packers call it "grade and yield", Some folks call it "grade and steal".
That's a great idea.
I agree but I will still wager there are more black cattle with the hide off than are killed.
Do you only run a feed lot?
