KSU research center benefits cattle producers, beef eaters

The beef cattle industry is the most important sector of Kansas agriculture. Consequently, it is important that cattle research be an integral component of the program at the Kansas State University Agricultural Research Center.

Issues for cattle producers today are much broader than a few decades ago when production efficiency was the priority. Current concerns include food safety, animal welfare, the environment and product quality. Although all of these are being addressed in the research program at the center, the significant accomplishment has been the development of technology to improve beef quality while achieving marked improvements in production efficiency, which results in better use of resources.

The center has been a leader in the development of ultrasound procedures to assess beef quality in the live animal with the objective of producing meat that makes immense eating satisfaction feasible without excessive fat.

These are traits that are next to impossible to assess visually in the live animal and especially difficult to evaluate upstream in the production process and predict future carcass merit.

The technology that has been developed enables upstream evaluation of feedlot cattle and sorting into outcome groups so that each animal is harvested when the meat is most desirable and profit is maximized for the producer.

This procedure is especially important because most cattle are now sold on a pricing schedule where each animal is valued according to its carcass merit with premiums for the desired traits and discounts for those that do not meet specifications.

Currently beef is often sold as a branded product to address the expectations of different consumers. These products vary considerably in that some emphasize very lean beef while others promote beef with considerable marbling. Ultrasound technology can evaluate young cattle and predict future carcass merit. A present goal of the research program is to develop procedures to determine the appropriate management and marketing program for each individual calf at weaning.

Research has little value if it is not accepted and used by producers. The application of the the center's technology continues to grow and is now being used annually on nearly a million cattle. More than 100 technicians have received one-on-one training at the center and they are practicing throughout the United States and Canada.

Another validation of the effectiveness of this technology is provided by opportunities to select cattle for carcass contests. In these contests, entries are scored by how well they meet specifications for desired quality in which emphasis is on the proportion grading Choice and Prime, but avoiding excess fat. Cattle selected with this technology have won virtually every one of these contests that have been held.

Three years ago the top six entries of 140 in the contest were made up of cattle selected by technicians using this technology. Last year, in another nationwide contest, the grand champion and five of the top 10 entries were from herds using the KSU-ARCH ultrasound program. Of course the advantage is the ability to “see” inside the live animal and measure attributes that correlate with specific carcass characteristics as contest candidates are selected.

Some of the technicians are involved in selecting animals for the high end trade such as Allen Brothers (the elite of the mail order steak purveyors) and for suppliers of Wagyu (a Japanese breed noted for exceptional amounts of marbling) beef to the up-scale restaurants. This involves identifying cattle with abundant amounts of marbling that grade better than USDA Prime.

The documented improvement in profit from the use of this “ultrasonic cattle sorting machine” is about $20 per head. Hence, when it is adopted by all the feedlots in Kansas, which market about 6 million cattle per year, the potential economic impact to the state is nearly $120 million per year.

Because this technology determines the potential of each animal, it inspires fitting management to the individual instead of managing all cattle the same way, i.e., precision feeding. This provides abundant avenues for new research to improve quality and efficiency. This technology has become an important research tool because it enables tracking carcass development in the live animal. So, the application of this technology continues to expand.

John Brethour is a professor and beef cattle scientist at Kansas State University Agricultural Research Center in Hays.