Progressive Angus Breeders Tout Marbling With Balance
Today’s beef customer, be it stocker, feedlot, packer or consumer, wants high marbling.
Across cow country, progressive Angus breeders are breeding with marbling in mind. Consumers have proven time and again the more they taste high-quality beef, the more they want. They are also willing to pay for it. Just look at Certified Angus Beef® (CAB®) brand sales during the last 10 years.
Angus breeders in California, Idaho and Oregon are heeding the call, but they caution that an eye for any single trait can spiral out of control quickly. These breeders advise balancing marbling with some other traits for long-term success.
Byrd Cattle Co., Red Bluff, Calif.
“Feedlots tell me every day that the three profit drivers for them are marbling, feed efficiency and docility,” says Dan Byrd of Byrd Cattle Co., Red Bluff, Calif.
Byrd aims for his bulls to be in the top 1% of the breed for marbling.
While marbling is a top priority, Byrd Cattle Co. has invested heavily in feed efficiency data. For the past 16 years, every bull sold in their sale has been tested on GrowSafe Systems®. Additionally, if the bulls aren’t docile, they don’t make the sale.
Shaw Cattle Co., Caldwell, Idaho
Sam Shaw of Shaw Cattle Co., Caldwell, Idaho, sells bulls to customers who operate in big country. To make it on the open and often dry, sparse range, cows must be able to travel and breed back, says Shaw.
Shaw believes in crossbreeding. Maintaining that Angus-based cow with a little hybrid vigor goes a long way to creating a profitable and marketable calf crop, he says.
“We hammer on a lot of traits,” Shaw states, but, “it’s still trying to find those carcass cattle that reap the benefits on the rail.”
“We work on selling those cattle that get you a premium, so your customers are happy; the feeder or the packer, whoever it is. We just have to continue to make the cattle better year after year and generation after generation.”
Thomas Angus Ranch, Baker City, Ore.
“Our customers have already determined their path, whether they are working with CAB or another branded program. They know the direction they’re going,” says Rob Thomas, owner of Thomas Angus Ranch.
Most of those paths lead toward natural program cattle, he says, which means his customers need marbling mixed with growth — optimal size, really.
Thomas explains it this way. The cattle aren’t implanted. They need to grow on their own, so ranchers don’t give up dollars on weight. Once in the feedlot, they must marble.
“If the cattle are going to jump through these hoops and bring a premium as calves on sale day, they darn well better perform on the other side,” states Thomas.
All the breeders maintain that marbling isn’t the beef industry’s silver bullet; but in the right combination, it sure can be a silver lining on sale day.
