Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is back talking with the President of Certified Angus Beef, John Stika, about Certified Angus Beef and high-quality Angus cattle.
“Angus producers and cattlemen and women have been the ones who have stepped up to the plate in offering quality-focused genetics and producing quality carcasses,” Stika said. “Our job is to just go sell it. If we don’t have any inventory, we can’t sell it.”
The high quality of Certified Angus Beef, Stika said, all starts with those Angus members.
“Certified Angus Beef carcasses represent 22 percent of all fed cattle harvested in the U.S.,” Stika said.
In 2006, Stika said Certified Angus Beef made up less than six percent of all fed cattle harvested in the U.S.
“There has been a huge transformational shift in terms of focusing on quality in the industry,” Stika said. “I believe (that shift is) led by Angus breeders. That is the group of people that really stepped up to the plate.”
This year, Stika said, was a record year for selling Prime Certified Angus Beef. It was thought that consumers would trade to lower priced cuts of beef in the midst of higher prices at the meat counter, Stika said, but this was not the case for Prime Certified Angus Beef.
“Consumers are really our focus, and we continue to learn a great deal every year,” Stika said. “I think the key thing that we are finding out is that consumers are looking for solutions. We know that beef quality and taste is king, but they are selecting brands based on those brands that are going to provide solutions that are going to make their lives easier.”
In creating demand for registered Angus genetics, Stika said that effort crosses over and creates value for everyone in the beef business.
“We are going to spend a lot of time, as we have in recent years, continuing to bring farmers and ranchers and their families to the forefront,” Stika said. “Our customers and consumers want to know more about what Angus producers do, and I mean that in a very positive way. They want to understand the story of families that are involved in beef production and producing Certified Angus Beef, not to question their production practices, but to understand how we are all connected from the ranch clear to the plate.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
