Beef is beef, right? Nothing could be further from the truth.
There are four components to the production of premium beef: Husbandry, genetics, diet, and age. For a more in-depth look click here.
Conception to consumption. Husbandry is important.
The steers that we grow out were born on this ranch. Their whole lives, development, and health have been guided by us. We know every shot they've been given, any ailments that they've had, anything that could negatively affect them in their future career path. They've been handled using low-stress handling techniques so that they are calm and easy to work with. Temperament of cattle plays a critical role in their carcass quality when all other things are equal.
Here is a really interesting article on the benefits of calm cattle from South Dakota State Extension showing that it affected backfat, marbling, carcass weight, and tenderness.
There has been more
recent research showing that fetal programming via the dam's nutrition during late pregnancy can set that gestating calf up for better muscle and marbling characteristics later in life.
Also the
research has shown that the nutrition of those calves between when they are weaned (and depending on if they are weaned early or late) and when they are started on a finishing ration (often referred to as a "backgrounding" period) also can set that calf up for success or failure even IF it has the best genetics.
Knowing these nutritional thresholds that must be met in order to produce the best beef we can, we test all of our purchased forages and adjust the mixture fed to maintain the crucial nutritional needs for every life-stage. This is not industry standard by a long shot, but it is OUR standard.
Genetics
Genetics play a large part in the quality of beef. USDA quality grade is determined solely by marbling, which is intramuscular (within the muscle) fat that distributes a buttery flavor throughout the meat. However, a primary quality that contributes towards the eating experience is tenderness. In commercially available meat, this is not evaluated, and in most herds is completely unknown, so the customer doesn't know if the choice or prime steak that they're buying is going to be tender. Marbling does not by itself impart tenderness to beef. In the last few years, genetic markers have been isolated for various production traits, including marbling and tenderness. The gene markers for tenderness were isolated by corresponding with low
Warner-Bratzler shear force values.
We test our cowherd using the
HD50k test developed by Zoetis. We utilize bulls with HD50K test data through artificial insemination, and test our clean-up bulls. This gives us predictability in the genetic carcass merit of the steers we choose to feed and raise for our customers. All Angus are not created equal. The genetic test ranks the animals in their traits from 1 – 99, and a random cross section of the breed will encompass values throughout that whole range.
Diet
To produce “finished” beef, the animal needs to be fed a diet that far exceeds its dietary requirements for maintenance. We feed premium meadow grass or grain-hay with a mixture of grains including corn, barley, and peas or soybean meal. This mix will change throughout the grow-out as the steer changes from the growing phase to the finishing phase and his protein/ energy balance requirements change. It's also important to balance the mineral components of the diet.
Age
For cattle to marble properly, they need to have reached a maturity level. The animals need to be at least a year of age before they can start to adequately marble (although as discussed in the husbandry section of this page, the baseline for that has already been laid in late gestation and late calf-hood). Our steers are generally 17-19 months of age at slaughter.
