The Alabama Cooperative Extension System has been hitting the ground running with Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) trainings. In conjunction with the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, the Alabama Extension Animal Science and Forages team helps provide BQA education, trainings, and certification for the state’s many beef cattle producers.

Beef Quality Assurance provides systematic information to US beef producers of how good husbandry techniques can be coupled with accepted scientific knowledge to raise cattle under optimum management conditions. BQA programs have evolved to include best practices related to cattle handling, facility management, cattle transportation, good recordkeeping, and protecting herd health, which all result in better outcomes for cattle and producers. Alabama BQA is managed by the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association through Beef Checkoff funding

The success of the Alabama BQA program is because of the willingness of cattle producers to actively and voluntarily participate in the program. Much of the program’s success is also thanks to the state’s agriscience instructors. There are many agriscience professionals throughout Alabama that include the BQA training as part of their in-class curriculum and devote time every year to teach the next generation of both farmers and consumers what the beef industry is doing to ensure the production of safe, wholesome beef.

BQA Certification

There are two training options for producers looking to become BQA certified: in-person and online. Alabama leads the nation in BQA certification with 9,349 participants certified through the online program and 300 in-person training certifications. With the total number of certifications across the United States being 29,803, Alabama certifications account for one-third of all certifications in the country.

In-Person Training

Producers can become certified by attending one of the in-person trainings organized by Extension agents throughout Alabama and successfully passing a certification exam. As these events are planned, details are added to the online calendars for Alabama Extension and the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association at www.aces.edu/calendar and www.bamabeef.org/events.

If a producer doesn’t see a training opportunity in their area, they can contact the animal science and forages Extension agent in their area. A list of Extension agents broken down by area is available on the Meet the Team – Animal Science and Forages Team web page at www.aces.edu. Producers can also contact the Alabama BQA cocoordinators, Soren Rodning and Ali Gotcher, to ask about training opportunities.

• Soren Rodning, Extension Specialist
  • (334) 329-1665
  • rodnisp@auburn.edu
• Ali Gotcher, Extension Agent
  • (334) 752-1718
  • acg0134@auburn.edu

Online Training

Producers can receive BQA training and certification online at no cost through the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The training that a producer chooses to complete can be specific for different segments of the cattle industry. For example, participants may choose to complete training for cow-calf, stocker, feed yard, dairy, and/or transportation. Online trainings are offered in English and Spanish. The central theme of the online program is BQA: the Right Way is the Only Way to demonstrate producers’ commitment to doing things the right way. Certification through the online program satisfies state requirements. So, if cattle producers sell their cattle at a sale in Alabama that requires BQA certification, the certification they received online will satisfy that requirement. Learn more about online training at www.bqa.org.

Summary

Regardless of the option a producer chooses, BQA is a great learning opportunity that can improve cattle well-being and production. It is also a strong statement to people not involved in agriculture that the beef industry cares about doing things the right way for both cattle and consumers. For more information on Alabama BQA, including a series of educational publications, visit the Alabama Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Resources web page at www.aces.edu.