(Above: Extension Animal Scientist Robert "Butch" Blaylock, center, discusses carcass quality with one of 24 producers who attended the Alabama Beef Excellence Program.)

The Alabama Beef Excellence Program, sponsored by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, functions with just this purpose in mind. The program is based on one simple premise: By enhancing the producers’ understanding of the beef cattle industry all the way from the "gate to the plate," they will be better equipped to turn out a top-quality product.

The most recent training, held June 18 through 20 at Auburn University, attracted 24 producers from 13 counties throughout Alabama. They were instructed in practices of selection, quality assurance and value-based marketing.

Day one, producers were acquainted with yield and quality grading of live-market steers of various finished weights.

The remaining two days were spent in the Auburn University Meats Lab where, after intensive instruction, producers were required to evaluate carcasses for yield grade, quality grade and whole-carcass value based on current market information. They also were required to measure fat thickness, ribeye area and percentage of internal fat and to estimate quality grade based on the marbling score.

Digital photos (attached to each carcass) of weaning, backgrounding stage and harvest time were included along with the live-animal market values of each animal so that trainees could determine differences in carcass value versus live-cattle type.

But it did not end there. Producers also were required to fabricate each carcass into sub-primal cuts. After being assigned to teams, trainees divided a carcass into different cuts, weighing each portion and determining the wholesale value of the entire carcass based on the weight and value of these subprimal cuts.

Live animal, whole carcass and total value of the different fabricated cuts were then compared.

Videotapes and digital photos taken of the cattle throughout all stages of their lives played a very important role throughout the three-day training. Similar records were made at the time of harvest and as the animals were evaluated and fabricated.

Graphics and data collected for the training will be used in future publications and video productions.

Elkmont cattle producer Jack Gilbert says the training was especially valuable in helping him and other producers understand the mindset of the average feedlot owner or packer.

"It gave me an overall feel for the cattle industry and how it works," Gilbert recalls.

Like the other producers, Gilbert was asked to assign a live grade and to compare these to grades assigned after slaughter. And, like the other producers, he was often shocked at how far off the mark he was when the carcasses received their final grade. Still, while the training turned out to be far more challenging than expected, it was worth the effort, he says.

"We were encouraged to try harder and see where the animals would finish, how well they would finish, and how much they would grade."

The training taught another valuable lesson, Gilbert believed, by showing producers how important it was to learn as much as they can about their cattle prior to market consignment.

"I don’t think most cattlemen know what they’ve got other than that it’s walking around on four legs," he adds. "But if you don’t know how it will grade going into market, you’re not going to get as much return for your money."

Principal instructors for this year’s training included Extension animal scientists Butch Blaylock, Bill Jones and Robert Ebert. Auburn University Animal Science instructors Chris Kerth, Tom Bonner and Ben Alderton assisted with carcass evaluation.

Plans are under way for another Alabama Beef Excellence Program in 2003.

A very similar program, designed for Extension agents and USDA graders and titled called "Strategies for Producing, Processing and Marketing Pork and Beef," was held in May.

The Alabama Beef Excellence Program was funded by grants from the Upchurch Foundation of the Auburn University Animal Sciences Department and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The Alabama Cattlemen’s Association also provided key support.

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System provided several key instructor’s as well as support for travel.

(Source: Robert "Butch" Blaylock, Extension Animal Scientist, 256-353-8702)

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