USMEF Weekly Audio Report: Already a Major Market for U.S. Beef Livers, South Africa Holds Potential for More Business

Dec 06, 2017

Since reopening to U.S. beef last year, South Africa has quickly emerged as a top 10 volume market. This year it is the fifth-largest market for U.S. beef variety meat and second-largest (behind Egypt) for beef livers. Monty Brown, who represents the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) in Africa, explains that while livers currently make up most U.S. beef sales in South Africa, he sees potential for higher-end muscle cuts and a wider range of variety meat – such as kidneys and hearts.

Brown notes that while South Africa’s domestic industry produces beef of relatively high quality, there are still opportunities to differentiate the unique attributes of U.S. beef.

Source: USMEF

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.