Lower quality cattle

[greengrasscattle]

The only way for them to get their records is by info, given out at the major packing plants for what they processed that day. The only fact they have is the location of the packing plant they get the records from.

I find this unbelieveable, are you suggesting that cattle slaughtered in a Texas slaughter plant, could not be traced back to the state they were raised in, if they test positive for drug residue in the kidney?

If what you say is true, where do all these lower quality cattle come from? I would think all that transportation would add unneeded expenses to the price of the beef.

 

[AudieWyoming]

I don't think that is what Novatech said at all. The packer kill data reports you are quoting do not include Information about where the cattle were fed, little lone where the carcasses were born. There are a lot of northern, southeast, wherever cattle fed and killed at the region you are asking about, just as there are many southern, southeast region cattle fed and killed up North.

The only way for them to get their records is by info, given out at the major packing plants for what they processed that day. The only fact they have is the location of the packing plant they get the records from.

I find this unbelieveable, are you suggesting that cattle slaughtered in a Texas slaughter plant, could not be traced back to the state they were raised in, if they test positive for drug residue in the kidney?

If what you say is true, where do all these lower quality cattle come from? I would think all that transportation would add unneeded expenses to the price of the beef.

Oh yea, all these lower quality cattle come from people who don't pay any attention to quality, genetics, feed, or management, no matter where they live!

 

[Jogeephus]

Just some food for thought. Couple of years ago I sold a load of 6 weights to someone in Illinois and am told they were going to put them on wheat. I'm sure these eventually made it to a feed yard so who gets credit (or the blame) for raising them?

 

[greengrasscattle]

Oh yea, all these lower quality cattle come from people who don't pay any attention to quality, genetics, feed, or management, no matter where they live!

Well it appears many of them must be live in the states I listed. It seems odd that this has been happening for years in my area, and nobody seems to understand it any better than me.

I do not believe cattle raised in regions 1 thru 5, are slaughtered in region 6. Nor do I believe that cattle from region 6 are slaughtered in regions 1 thru 5. I believe the cattle slaughtered in region 6 are representative of cattle raised in region 6. Same for regions 1 thru 5.

 

[greengrasscattle]

Just some food for thought. Couple of years ago I sold a load of 6 weights to someone in Illinois and am told they were going to put them on wheat. I'm sure these eventually made it to a feed yard so who gets credit (or the blame) for raising them?

Well I would say neither and both, as you both were part of region 1 thru 5. I'm starting to understand this somewhat. The states listed all seem to carry higher average daily temps, and they also seem to have more Brahman blood in the herds to combat those temps. But the man who slaughters Brahman blood takes a hit in carcass value, hence the dock they pay as calves.

 

[dun]

Here is a fact. Once the cattle get to the feed lot nobody knows where they came from. There are no barcodes to find out.

Hate to break it to you, but every calf going to slaughter can be traced at least as far as the place they were purchased. It's called EID. Feeders and slaughter houses share information , that's the way it is in the real world.
That's why feeders may pay a little more for the calves from Joe Doaks and less for the ones from Joe Schitt the Ragman.

 

[novatech]

Here is a fact. Once the cattle get to the feed lot nobody knows where they came from. There are no barcodes to find out.

Hate to break it to you, but every calf going to slaughter can be traced at least as far as the place they were purchased. It's called EID. Feeders and slaughter houses share information , that's the way it is in the real world.
That's why feeders may pay a little more for the calves from Joe Doaks and less for the ones from Joe Schitt the Ragman.

Once again I learn something new.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Well it appears many of them must be live in the states I listed. It seems odd that this has been happening for years in my area, and nobody seems to understand it any better than me.

I do not believe cattle raised in regions 1 thru 5, are slaughtered in region 6. Nor do I believe that cattle from region 6 are slaughtered in regions 1 thru 5. I believe the cattle slaughtered in region 6 are representative of cattle raised in region 6. Same for regions 1 thru 5.

It appears this buyer has you totally sold on the concept. No matter what tests anyone does or what grades what, or what facts exist, you are convinced. The best thing at this point is to be done with the subject.

If I ever get into a retail business, I'd like to hire that buyer you met as a salesman.

 

[cmf1]

Here's the report that gg is referring to,

http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/nw_ls196.txt

My question is this,
If a load of cattle is bought in La., or Tex., and shipped to Omaha, fed out and slaughtered there, are they then region 1-5 cattle, or are they still region 6 cattle?

Region 4 (w/AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, & TN,) I think is pretty heavily populated with Brahman influence.
If the Brahman is a contributor to low grade, Is being lumped in with regions 1,2,3,5, making the same cattle as region 6 grade higher?

Like everything else the government does, I think it's a report that can have no real applicable meaning without quite a lot more information and more reports.

 

[Brandonm22]

If your cattle buyer cruising buddy has been following prices the last couple of years, the last thing he needs to be worried about is quality grade. The Choice/Select spread has often been tiny. There is a whole lot more money in cutting death loss, cutting morbidity, increasing feed efficiency, and increasing ADG than raising marbling score another fraction.

 

[Frankie]

Like everywhere else, some southern cattle are better than others:

http://www.angusjournal.com/articlePDF/ ... cattle.pdf

 

[greengrasscattle]

Brandomn this man is not my cruising buddy, he is an arrogant, insulting man who provided unbiased proof to back up his claims. It was the lack of prime beef that he continued to jam down my throat.

Backhoe

This man has not sold me on anything the overwhelming proof has, there is nothing I would like more than to prove this man wrong. However given the facts he has provided, and the fact I have none to refute his, I have chosen to no longer deny that we produce lower quality beef and to start trying to understand why.

 

[greengrasscattle]

cmf1

I too would like to see how region 4 would grade as a stand alone region, if your hunch is true that a lot of Brahman blood is in the herds of region 4, and in fact would grade as well as the national average, that would lead me too believe that the cause of lower quality comes from something other than Brahman blood.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I have chosen to no longer deny that we produce lower quality beef and to start trying to understand why.

Given - there are some places around that still do a late spring "round-up". I have made the mistake of "helping out" a time or two. Some of these cows have never seen people before and head for the cedar breaks as soon as they see a pick-up or anything else. Some are caught and worked and others aren't. There is your "understand why" part of it. The owner is not really even sure what he has on the place. I assume this goes on in other places besides Texas but cannot attest to it. The worst case I know of is out by Mineral Wells, TX.

If you are selling 1/2 a beef regularly to peers and other customers, you want them back. It is funny how many times they want the same steer out of the same cow but her next three are heifers. That is just how it goes. At my desk (at work) there is a yellow sticky with names of it. Some have preferences and some don't. I believe last count there were 19 names of people wanting 1/2 a steer next time I send a lot to the processors. I haven't even called anyone yet. These are mostly folks who bump in to me etc. My herd is mostly brangus. So it has heavy Brahman influence. I do have a 1/2 char 1/2 brahman F-1, some brindles etc. Mostly it is brangus.

 

[Brandonm22]

WHO cares about PRIME???? If they outlawed the grade only a handful of steak houses would even be affected. I haven't seen Prime ribeyes in a meat case in YEARS!!! to choose whether to buy them or not. Cracker Barrell used to sell a Prime ribeye, but got rid of that years ago. IF there was actually a shortage of PRIME carcasses the packers would raise the premium for PRIME so high that feeders fed their cattle more. Most folks aren't shooting for PRIME they are feeding towards avg Choice (if their black they will qualify for CAB) and high yield grade 2. Start pushing for Prime and you are going to get more yield grade 4s, which to me is a bigger problem.

 

[Jogeephus]

I think the fella is making too much ado about nothing. Take this quote from the table. What is it actually saying?

Percentages derived from each category numerical total, divided by the total number offered for USDA quality grading in each corresponding area.

The way I read it it states the percentages are calculated from the number slaughtered by state. I can't see how this can be used as an indicator of the quality of beef produced by state. If you singled out Georgia I'm confident we wouldn't even grade prime since our only large meat packing plant buys mostly canners. Maybe Texas has more of these type facilities than some of the states that show better averages.

But I could be wrong. Maybe the folks in Texas and Oklahoma just own crappy cows.

 

[greengrasscattle]

I think the fella is making too much ado about nothing. Take this quote from the table. What is it actually saying?

Percentages derived from each category numerical total, divided by the total number offered for USDA quality grading in each corresponding area.

What it is saying is the way percentages are figured is by dividing the total cattle who grade prime by the total offered for grading.

Example: 6 steers graded prime out of the 200 offered for grading. Hence 3%. How do you figure percentages? 6 / 200 - .03 or 3%

 

[greengrasscattle]

If you singled out Georgia I'm confident we wouldn't even grade prime since our only large meat packing plant buys mostly canners. Maybe Texas has more of these type facilities than some of the states that show better averages.

But I could be wrong. Maybe the folks in Texas and Oklahoma just own crappy cows.

Cows are not available for prime grade.

Cattle over 30 months of age, cannot grade select but they can grade prime, choice, and standard.

 

[Jogeephus]

I hope you are getting my point. Can't see how that report indicates anything about the quality of cattle within the state its butchered in.

I think the big question is why did our national average of prime drop in half after 1980?

 

[greengrasscattle]

I hope you are getting my point. Can't see how that report indicates anything about the quality of cattle within the state its butchered in.

I think the big question is why did our national average of prime drop in half after 1980?

No I am not getting your point. It is sad when 5 states with large numbers of cattle can not make 1% prime grade.

What makes you think that this report is not repesentative of the quality of cattle in that given region? If anything it shows cattle to be of better quality than actually is available. Grading is a producers and packer paid service. They are only going to have types of cattle graded that will grade well enough to recoup costs.