Beef is one of those foods that most consumers do not really know much about other than the cut or product that they know how to cook or like to eat.
Most consumers do not know the difference nor the reason between prime, choice or select graded cuts — except that prime and choice cost more.
In reality, those grades indicate the level of intramuscular fat in the ribeye that ensures a better, juicier, more flavorful and more tender eating experience.
In recent years, the percent of beef carcasses from young cattle grading choice or higher has improved to more than 80%. Only 20% or less graded select, which is still a lot of beef considering the U.S. produced 27 billion pounds of beef in 2019. If you asked consumers to name a grade of beef, they would be more likely to name a breed (Angus) rather than a grade because certified Angus beef (CAB) has been so successful at branding their product and enforcing specifications for quality (black hide and upper top choice marbling).
Usually, when a large supply of product enters the market, the price begins to fall as the supply overwhelms demand. However, that has not been the case with the rise in the supply of choice and prime beef.
In fact, the long-term average difference between the price for choice and select beef has doubled over the past several years and yet demand (sales and value) has continued to grow for the higher quality beef.
Part of this is because of CAB’s efforts, but a significant part is because of a shift in consumer preference as a result of eating at restaurants (prior to the pandemic anyway) but has continued as consumers began to eat at home.
Most beef cattle producers in Texas are fairly small and similar to the U.S. In fact, according to the 2017 U.S. agriculture census, 67% of us have 49 cows or less (and actually own only 15% of the U.S. breeding cows) while only 9.5% have more than 200 cows (but own 59% of the U.S. cows).
Really big outfits represent only 1% of all cattle operations but own 25% of the cows. But all of these are family operations, not corporate farms.
How can they participate in the beef quality boom? I will cover that in future articles beginning with cow-calf.
September 06, 2020 at 03:00AM
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Producing Quality Beef | Agriculture - Victoria Advocate
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Beef
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