2016 National Beef Quality Audit shows room for improvement

After years of trying to improve beef cattle, have we made enough progress yet? That question was asked and answered in the 2016 National Beef Quality Audit, the most recent since 2011.For those waiting for the answer, it’s still “no,” Mark McCully said. The Certified Angus Beef brand’s vice president of supply grants cattle are better, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. The NBQA cites a lost opportunity of $15.75 per head in quality grade alone. A glance at actual beef grades vs. the NBQA targets of 5% Prime, 35% Premium Choice, 35% Low Choice, 25% Select and no Standards could lead some to proclaim, “Mission accomplished.” McCully sees more to achieve and said ranchers have the tools and beef genetics to do it.“We can still get better,” he said.Breeding time sets up the most marbling improvement, but that’s only potential.“Anything throughout the management of that animal that sacrifices quality grade is an economic loss to the whole beef enterprise,” McCully said. That’s an opportunity, McCully said, for seedstock producers to use selection tools available to maintain upward pressure on marbling while creating more value down the line. “As genetic designers of the cattle and as the people who manage them, we need to keep yield grade and cutability in mind. Same with carcass weight,” he said.McCully suggests multi-trait selection to produce cattle that capture more of all the money left on the table.