Too Much Grade? By Miranda Reiman
            It was just three years ago when industry experts were pointing to a 30-year decline in beef quality. Barely more than half of the cattle were grading USDA Choice, but today the picture is much different. Improvements in genetics, ration changes and better feeding conditions all led to a rise in quality to where Choice cattle made up 60% of the total last spring. Recent weeks find that nationwide number closer to 65%.
            That seems like happy news for an industry that seemed to be spinning its wheels, actually losing ground in the consumer acceptance arena. But now that the quality surge appears steady and strong, rather than just an anomaly in the data or a seasonal spike, some wonder if it’s too much of a good thing.
            Don’t be fooled. Few other businesses can get by with the mentality that mostly Choice is good enough. At the implement dealer, getting an acceptable product just over half the time wouldn’t sit well with you. What if your coveralls or rubber boots met your expectations 6 out or 10 times you bought them? You wouldn’t choose that brand again.
            That’s no different than picking beef as your protein source. You may feel an allegiance, a duty, to have a steak or burger when you dine out, but millions of consumers only connect to the flavor, juiciness and tenderness. Surely 65% Choice isn’t too much of a good thing in their eyes. 
            Evaluating the economics might leave you puzzled then. Choice/Select spread has slipped from its record levels of a few years ago, and producers selling on a grid might get discouraged.
            Take a closer look and you’ll find the reason for a lower price spread between Choice and Select: That ratio typically just includes low Choice, perhaps only a couple of marbling flecks better than Select. That’s because nearly all of the premium Choice beef has gone into branded products.
            There’s a larger and more stable premium out there for higher Choice and Prime brands. And study after study has proven that it doesn’t cost any more to aim for quality.
            Plus, market signals need time to adjust. Cow numbers are shrinking and all of these consumers that have developed a taste for Choice and better beef are going to continue craving it. The result? An increased premium, especially if your neighbor decides he’s put too much quality in his herd.
            As the economy continues to recover, pent-up consumer demand should drive up the incentive for hitting quality marks.
            Some years you might actually get too much rain. Although the green pastures are appreciated, if you can’t get hay put up o the wet weather causes problems with mud and sickness you might think, “Enough is enough.” When you’re trying to build your herd numbers, too many male calves can be a challenge, or too much “attitude” in a cow. But too much grade? That’s just a myth.


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DTN/The Progressive Farmer, Posted September 29, 2010
Nine Billion Souls Hungry For Meat? By John Harrington, DTN Livestock Analyst

(AFP) – With meat eating on the increase, livestock producers will have to double their output when the world population hits nine billion, experts attending the World Meat Congress said Monday in Buenos Aires.

“The challenge is how to reach sustainable production of 460 million tons (per year) by 2050, when there will be nine billion souls” on earth, Meat International Permanent Organization director and one of the event organizers Arturo Llavallol told AFP.

Key to meeting the challenge, he said, was addressing the growing threat to the farming sector posed by “climate change, with its droughts and floods, among other problems.”

Beside the rise in world population, meat eating is becoming more popular. The Chinese, for example now consume four times as much meat than 30 years ago – up to 59.5 kilograms (131 pounds) per year from 13.7 kilograms (30.2 pounds), according to the UN World Food Programme figures disclosed at the congress.

In some developing countries meat consumption is as high as 80 kilograms (176 pounds) per year, it added.

The WFP estimates that world production of beef, pork and lamb needs to double when the current world population of 6.0 billion increases by 50 percent.

“There’s no other choice but to take care of our planet and stop its deterioration,” said Llavallol.

Sort & Cull Comments: Part of the problem in recruiting ambitious young people for careers in livestock production has been the dubious suggestion that meat consumption is somehow on its last legs. The above article clearly points to the opposite extreme.

Although no more than 3-4 percent of the U.S. consumers “claim” to be vegetarians (diehard vegans constitute less than 10 percent of this small club), this tiny minority has been very successful in casting a disproportionately large shadow over the cultural landscape.

All maverick cud-chewers need is a strategically scheduled interview on Oprah or Entertainment Tonight and new life is pumped into the fantasy that meat consumption will soon go the way of cigarette smoking and the chemically delicious Twinkie.

While I think the case can be made that per capita meat consumption in the U.S. has peaked out, perhaps along with mature economies of Western Europe, appetite potential in much of the developing world have only begun to expand. Indeed, the dynamic combination of incoming growth could ultimately make the above projections look too conservative.

The real question concerns the ability of producers in this country to fully participate in this likely expansion. In short, can we overcome fundamental barriers like labor shortages (e.g., a generation of new cattle ranchers willing to aggressively expand herd size) and environmental restrictions?



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ABC Kitchen - New York

The best dish at ABC Kitchen was the Akaushi cheeseburger with herbed mayo, pickled jalapeños, wild arugula, herbed mayo and grated Cato Corner cheese.   I had never heard of Akaushi before my lunch at ABC Kitchen, and am now left wondering why this incredibly tender and flavorful meat hasn’t become mainstream yet.  Akaushi means ‘red cow’ in Japanese, and it’s a Japanese Wagyu brand of cattle that has the characteristic marbled meat and rich flavors of other Wagyu brands like Kobe beef.  Akaushi originally came from Kumamoto prefecture in Japan, and the small number of Akaushi cows that were imported to the US many years ago are now being raised at HeartBrand Beef in Harwood, Texas.  The perfect spiciness of the jalapeños, the creamy herb mayo, the sharp grated cheese that doesn’t overwhelm, the bitterness of the wild arugula and the soft Eli’s bun, all perfectly balanced the luscious
fattiness and flavors of the medium rare Akaushi burger patty to make one of the best burgers that I have ever had in my life. 

  
Sam and Harry's in Schaumburg's Renaissance Hotel, Chicago

                                       Schaumburg's Video


Akaushi is a 100-percent, all-natural product with no hormones or antibiotics and it's currently being served in one Schaumburg steakhouse.  

   If fat equals flavor, then anything graded higher than prime -- such as the fatty Kobe, or its domestic cousin, wagyu-- would naturally be a richer product. Or so the reasoning goes. But akaushi presents a new option for steakhouses.