More than 1,000 young beef cattle took a special trip to Kansas
last fall as a part of the Georgia
Beef Challenge.
Those cattle and their predecessors provided information that
helped the Georgia beef industry
earn $10 million more in 1994 than in years past.
“The Georgia Beef Challenge is a method for these cattlemen to
see where their genetics are at
this point in time,” said Robert Stewart, an animal scientist
with the University of Georgia
Extension Service.
“It’s the only reasonable way that they can get feedback on what
their genetics are producing and
contributing to the industry,” he said.
The Challenge continues into the 1995-96 calf season. With the
next group of calves to be
shipped out this month, Stewart expects producers to consign
about a thousand animals to the
program.
Stewart began the program just four years ago to eliminate the
reputation Southeastern calves had
for being inferior to beef produced in other parts of the
country.
“Because of that reputation, Southeastern farmers’ beef prices
were discounted by 7 percent,”
Stewart said. Over the years, that discount has cost the Georgia
beef industry millions of dollars.
The state’s cattle are still sold at a discount, but the rate
has dropped to 4 percent, dramatically
increasing Georgia beef farmers’ income.
Producers usually base the value of their bull selections on how
much money they take home
from the buying point. Stewart said those numbers don’t always
tell the whole story.
After finding out why Georgia farmers receive less money for
similar animals, Stewart worked to
set up the Challenge with the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association,
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture Market News, and Hitch Feeders II, a Garden City,
Kan., feedlot.
Over the past decade, consumers have demanded leaner, tenderer
beef at the grocery store. But
farmers can’t find out how lean their animals are unless they
follow them through the feedlot and
packing house.
The Challenge does just that.
Stewart said most industry trends start at the feedlot and
packing houses, “and we’re far removed
from there, so we may miss some of that information.”
Cattle in the program travel to the Kansas feedlot, where
assistants record the daily weight gain
of each animal as the cattle mature.
Then, after slaughter, each animal’s fat percentage, rib eye
area score and other facts are added to
its record.
Some cattle are more heavily muscled with very little fat.
Others lay extra fat within the muscle
— this marbling makes meat tenderer, but higher in fat.
“The ideal would be a combination of heavy muscling with the
minimum acceptable marbling for
tenderness,” Stewart said.
Consumers want beef that’s lean and tender. Armed with
information from the Georgia Beef
Challenge, a farmer can adjust his genetic program to aim for
that perfect combination.
Randolph County beef farmer Bobby Lovett found the Challenge
enlightening. “It should be very
evident to people whose calves don’t perform well that they need
to make some changes — most
likely, genetic changes,” he said.
The news is not always good for the farmer. “It’s going to point
out his strengths and weaknesses,
and we have to emphasize them both,” Stewart said.
The program is providing benefits all around: the feedlots are
getting better-quality calves from
Georgia, beef lovers are getting better steaks and roasts, and
(the benefit that makes it all work)
Georgia farmers are getting more money for their cattle.
“I think it’s making better cattlemen out of all of us,” Lovett
said.
The county Extension office has information about producing beef
and including beef in a
healthy, well-balanced diet.
