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Demand for high quality beef is a risk management tool

A livestock market analyst says demand for high-quality beef continues at a record pace and that’s a good risk management tool for producers.

Scott Brown with the University of Missouri says for the second consecutive year Certified Angus Beef (CAB) sales will break the 1 billion pounds mark.  “For the 11^th consecutive year they set a record for the amount of CAB product they’ve sold,” he says.  “About 1.13 billion pounds of CAB product that was sold in 2017.  It reminds me that demand for higher quality beef certainly has been strong as we’ve gone through this year.”

He tells Brownfield investing in genetics can pay off and producers can use it as a risk management tool.  “If consumers demand those higher quality beef cuts more than lower quality and if producers can breed animals that grade higher and they might get a higher price, it’s worth it,” he says.  “It’s important to see how strong that demand has been.”

Brown says it’s important to put the products consumers want in front of them at the meat case – and as long as consumers are willing to pay more for high-quality beef, producers should capitalize on that demand.

In 2017, CAB accounted for 18.4 percent of the total US fed cattle harvest and for the first time ever exceeded the total of fed cattle grading USDA Select.