Beef Quality

Every time you process your cattle, you have an opportunity to impact Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) for good or for ill. Your goal as owner and manager should be to impact it for the better.

As the beef cattle industry focuses on stewardship in animal health and antimicrobial use, we are continually reminded to follow FDA labels on all animal products.

For decades, cow-calf producers have immunized young cattle for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) as a service to buyers of feeder cattle and a way to add value to their calf crop.

Dark-cutting beef can mean a significant discount for beef producers.

USDA’s Market News Service from March 12 showed a discount of $33.91 per hundredweight on a carcass basis.

For centuries, farmers have determined a cow’s age by the number and wear of its teeth. Beef processors currently examine the number of permanent incisors present at harvest.

At the “Wagyu Olympics” in northern Japan last fall, Wagyu cattle from across the country competed for supreme standing among Japan’s most coveted cattle breed.