Regardless of where you fall within the beef industry, our mutual goal of providing a quality product to consumers is common ground. To explore this idea fully, our team sat down with Glen Dolezal of Cargill Protein to discuss pressure points within the beef industry, what consumers are looking for and how the demands of consumers reflect on the beef industry.

The chance to rebuild right

During times of stress on the U.S. cattle herd, one sometimes surprising outcome can be an uptick in the overall quality of the remaining live inventory. Through the highs and lows of this industry, cattlemen have survived and — some would say — thrived when other industries might have crumbled. Critical steps taken at past pressure points have set our industry up for survival, but management and genetics remain critical components in that equation, Dolezal said.

“When I first came to work at Cargill in 1999, we were lucky to grade 50% to 55% Prime and Choice,” recalled Dolezal. “With the creation of Certified Angus Beef (CAB) in 1978, a tremendous shift in quality was brought about by Angus breeders and their focus on genetics.”

Citing the drought that took place in 2012 and 2013 as an example, actual data was collected at the time indicating that — perhaps as a result of culling the bottom end of the cow herd across a large swath of the country — producers improved the overall quality of their genetics and replacements during that time.

Though Dolezal said he didn’t believe herd rebuilding had begun yet at that point [November 2023], he stressed the role genetics play in producing high-quality, tender, juicy and flavorful beef. Producers who place importance on those traits are marketing animals that packers want to own, he said.

“As long as producers continue to make the cattle better, we’ll continue to pay. The quality has accelerated so much that I really think commodity and low-Choice beef today is the new Select,” Dolezal said. “We’re trying to push everything up into modest or higher, like Certified Angus Beef® is, and into Prime.”

The importance of moderation

With new technologies and shortcuts consistently coming to market, the journey to improved overall efficiency and growth could be deemed imminent. But when capitalizing on great genetics and management, the key to long-term longevity as an industry might lie in moderation rather than chasing extremes.

“We have to stay balanced. If we go too extreme and push Mother Nature too hard, some of these cattle, their hearts can’t handle it,” noted Dolezal. “We can reach a point to where we don’t need baby elephants. We’ve got to make sure these cattle can handle the heat, Mother Nature, the extremes that get thrown at them.”

At the same time, new technology may change an animal’s natural ability to gain and perform. As an industry, ensuring that we don’t stretch what cattle are capable of to the limit they drop 10% in grade remains a high priority. Dolezal recalled a time early in his career when plans didn’t go smoothly, and adjustments had to be made.

“When I first came to Cargill in 1999, I focused on tenderness and I thought as a meat scientist I could make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. We got on probation right away with Safeway,” he said. “They were on our brand, and if we flunked a test two months in a row with them so that they were performing on our tenderness, we lost our premium. We lost that incentive. We had to sell that product at commodity price.”

Checks and balances

That’s when Cargill instituted value-based procurement and began looking at things like time on feed and animal type.

By implementing a system of checks and balances, producers were rewarded for the uptick in quality within their own herd. Without good genetics, feeding good cattle is considerably more difficult, noted Dolezal.

Cutting corners on management can wreck good genetics, he said, comparing managing genetics to cooking a good steak. Though anything can be too much in large quantities, having open dialogue within the beef industry and implementing best practices across the board puts cattlemen on solid ground.

“Beef is expensive compared to competing proteins, but it’s delivering on its promise,” Dolezal said. “We’re not backing up on demand yet. We may see a little trading down as things get tight and inflation continues to go up, trading down to ground beef, but boy, beef still has a great perception relative to what it delivers on taste and performance for the value paid.”

The information above is summarized from the Nov. 15, 2023, episode of Angus at Work. To access the full episode — including further information on market trends — check out our Angus at Work archive on www.angus.org.

Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 16, No. 11-A