Anyone who has stood reserve to the champion, missed their plane by mere minutes or aimed a tick to the right during deer season, knows what it’s like to be “this close.”

A cattle production version of “this close” is the 260,000 head of cattle that miss out on qualifying for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand by a mere 30 points of marbling. 

Data collected on 2.6 million head harvested at packing plants across the United States illustrates the characteristics of carcasses that make CAB and those that don’t.  

“A critical 10% of those carcasses are just within 30 degrees of the 500-point marbling score line, which is that modest zero marbling, the entry point into the CAB brand,” said Paul Dykstra, CAB director of supply management and analysis.

Measured on a 1,000-point scale, modest zero represents the upper two-thirds of the Choice brand, and in the recent data, 82% of the cattle that fail to earn a CAB stamp do so because they fall short of that marbling threshold.

“The thought that then comes to mind is: they’re close but no cigar, right? So you’ve got to figure out what you do differently moving forward,” Dykstra said. “Each and every day we have, in modern history, produced a lot of cattle that were almost good enough. So, what can we do differently?” 

Bolstering supply, premiums

Those 10% are important for the brand trying to grow supply in a time when cow herd numbers aren’t increasing at a rapid pace. 

“We are pretty excited for the brand and availability of product to our consumers and to our licensees,” he says. 

A 30-degree marbling shift in that entire population of cattle would take the percentage of Primes from 10.5% to 13.9%, and the number of CAB qualifiers from 44.5 to 51%. 

But it also matters to the owners of those cattle. 

A 30-degree bump in marbling score on a group of cattle, compared to average Angus-type pens, would earn an additional $24.60 per head in carcass premiums. When compared to industrywide (all breeds and types), that moves to $46.94. 

“Historically a $25 profit itself would’ve been very acceptable in the cattle feeding sector. But today when we’re thinking about an asset in a fed steer or heifer worth in the range of $3,000, depending on grade, a $25 change in the value of that animal is a smaller proportion of the total than what we’d like it to be,” he noted. 

So, what if the grade moves up more dramatically? A 70-degree marbling shift is all that it takes to move the average population to 20% Prime and 58% CAB. 

“Prime premiums are larger than CAB premiums, so it’s a good goal to focus on Prime and in doing so, we pull in a lot of Choice CAB carcass, too,” he said. “We drag everything higher when we shoot for the top.”

With that adjustment, the per-head premiums move to $65.74.

“That’s double the industry average today, but 20% Primes are very doable without a monumental change in the cow herd,” Dykstra said. 

Driving progress

Since marbling is the top reason cattle fail to make CAB, Dykstra recommends selection pressure for it. 

“Not to the detriment of any other trait, of course,” he noted. “I must always qualify the statement by saying balanced-trait selection is the way to go, but do so with marbling in mind.”

The CAB Targeting the Brand™ logo is a tool that can guide commercial cattlemen by quickly identifying cattle with a high probability of creating at least 50% CAB qualifiers in their offspring. Seedstock breeders can use the mark on those animals with a +0.65 marbling expected progeny difference (EPD) and a +55 grid value ($G) dollar value index.

“We know lots of folks are shooting for marbling EPDs well above that, and that’s great, too,” Dykstra said. “You can make faster and larger leaps toward higher marbling achievements when doing so.”

Management is part of the equation, and there are opportunities from nutrition to health protocols at the ranch and in the feedyard that can help push that 10% over the line. 

Dykstra said Angus breeders are to thank for much of the progress made industrywide in the last two decades. 

“Collectively the seedstock sector, of course, is driving the change,” he said. “They have put more concentration on carcass traits and marbling specifically, and done a tremendous job in the last 15 or 20 years.”

More commercial producers are conscious of carcass traits today, too. 

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more people who may be retaining ownership or feeding cattle in the commercial cow-calf sector, but just cognizant that the value of their feeder calves is affected by whether or not those cattle go on to achieve high marbling measurements in the cooler,” he says. 

Steadily, cattlemen are turning “just missed its” into “made its” one selection decision at a time. 

Editor’s note: Dykstra presented at the 2024 Feeding Quality Forum in Dodge City, Kan.