At the 2025 Hemphill County Beef Conference, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, visited with the President of Certified Angus Beef (CAB), John Stika, about the rise of CAB Prime. Yesterday’s BeefBuzz with Stika centered upon the importance of value and taste to consumers.
In beef grading over the past 20 years, CAB Prime has been catching up to and now surpassing Select. “We are celebrating the sixth consecutive week where Prime’s percentage in the industry has outpaced Select,” Stika touted.
In 2006, only six percent of the fed cattle population graded as Prime, and forty percent were Select. Last year, thirteen percent graded Select, and approximately 25 percent graded CAB Prime.
“To now see Prime coming forward as that next quality level that’s going to surpass Select really tells us that Select isn’t a product that has demand, it has an outlet for disappearance. Consumers really are sending a signal to our industry that they will continue to step up and pay the price for Prime and Choice beef,” Stika affirmed.
Food service has been CAB’s most consistent channel of growth for the past 15 years because of the variety of options offered from white table fine dining cloth to hamburger joints, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
“We are also seeing some strength in retail,” Stika observed. “We continue to look forward to where we see beef taking on a stronger position in the feature ad activity that retailers have. This is encouraging.”
Although the uncertainty surrounding tariffs is preventing growth in the international sector at this time, foreign demand for U.S. beef remains strong.
Even with beef demand so high and cattle numbers so low, Stika is confident that things will balance out in the end. “We’ll repopulate back to some level, and we’re excited about that, maybe beginning to start,” he said. “We continue to improve genetics and management of these cattle, and continue to see our acceptance rates grow. We came off of a record acceptance rate last year, where thirty-seven to thirty-eight percent of all Angus-influenced cattle met the brand’s standards, and we anticipate that will continue to grow.
“We believe that our biggest growth vehicle for the next three years of low cattle numbers is going to be Certified Angus Beef Prime.”
With low numbers, high prices, and CAB Prime remaining as its already proven growth strategy, CAB strategists expect increasingly higher percentages of fed cattle to meet the Prime quality standards.
“We are going to fight for growth, fight to add value to the beef production system, and make sure that Angus producers and those dependent on Angus genetics continue to benefit from the decisions they’ve made to focus on quality,” Stika asserted.
Referring to the jump in quality after the last rebuild, Stika expects less of a jump in the Angus influence this time around because the last increase was so large; however, he expects the Angus genetics used to be the best available as producers focus on economic needs and consumer demand.
“The ability to use genomics and genetic predictions to drive Certified Angus Beef supply has never been stronger than it is,” Stika noted. “From our standpoint, looking for sires and females that carry the Targeting the Brand™ logo with a mix of the marbling EPD and Dollar grid that really focuses toward producing Certified Angus Beef to using GeneMax® Advantage™ to do a genomic sort on your commercial Angus females to know which ones really are targeted towards a quality market. The American Angus Association has the AngusLink program that helps producers help the cattle feeder understand the genetic merit that Angus cattle bring to the marketplace and hopefully assign value to their ability accordingly to hit Prime and Certified Angus Beef when they hit the grid.”
Stika pointed out that it took 47 years to build Certified Angus Beef up to the brand it is today and that it hasn’t been easy to do.
“We’re honored to be able to serve the industry, from the Angus cow calf producer clear to the end user and consumers, and be the conduit of bringing all of these sectors together to make their lives and their businesses more successful. In all honesty, that is how we look at whether or not we are winning. It’s neat to see a community of folks focused on quality come together,” Stika concluded.
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 at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
