CAB Grows Despite Smaller Cattle Numbers

A shrinking cattle herd is concerning for many, especially those in the beef business. Without product its hard to meet the demands of consumers. The Radio Oklahoma Network's Ron Hays interviewed John Stika, President of Certified Angus Beef at the recent Stakeholders Summit of the Animal Agriculture Alliance. (You can hear today's Beef Buzz below by clicking on the listen bar at the bottom of the story). Stika says surprisingly the smaller numbers has worked to their advantage.

"While there has been fewer cattle, more of them have been targed to that high quality Certified Angus Beef end point, so we see it in the percent choice and we see it in the percent prime as it has grown over the last several years and Certifified Angus has grown right along with that in terms that percentage of carcasses that hit our specifications," Stika said.

"The industry is using more Angus genetics and as we talk about those genetics are more carcass orientated then they have ever been and carcass weights have been an advantage to us as well," Stika said. "You know we have been able to produce more beef with few cows, fewer head on feed and that's been part of our success also."

"What's exciting is that the economic model is working, consumers are spending more, packers are paying more for fed cattle, feeders are paying more for feeder cattle and those cow-calf producers are paying record high prices for registered Angus bulls and ultimately that economic model which is what this brand is built on, 'pull through demand', is what we believe as this business begins to repopulate the pastures of rural America, they're going to repopulate 'em with high quality genetics, Angus genetics and genetics that are focused on meeting consumer demand," Stika said.

CAB is known for producing premium center of place quality steak cuts, but in recent years their brand also extended to include premium ground beef.

"We believe in being the highest quality product in every category and obviously ground beef is extremely important for our industry and it's important to our brand as well," Stika said.