Angus Shrugged

The Certified Angus Beef (CAB) brand started up back in 1978 in the midst of the then big, lean “beef revolution.” CAB is certified to the G-1 carcass specification by the AMS (the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service) Today there are many other AMS beef carcass certification program specifications that also carry the Angus breed name. Every beef carcass certification program (not just those naming Angus) is written to reflect what the user of their specific program desirers to be certified. Further, a program does not have to reflect any other G-specifications, but can. Undoubtedly, the success of the CAB G-1 specification (the first G-specification) program has by now aided in both the promotion of many other Angus named beef marketing programs and the widespread marketing usage of the word Angus. What has currently given the word Angus such mighty beef marketing clout? To answer that question one has to go back to the “lean” times of the late 1960’s and all of the 1970’s; when animal fat was almost universally promoted a being bad. The apparent healthcare driven war on fat was in full swing during those years. And, the vast majority of beef producers were all too happy to switch their beef production practices to large “Continental” breeds. After all, those larger cattle produce more pounds per animal unit to sell. Continental/Exotic beef breeds had mostly been developed as draft oxen or triple purpose draft, milking and salvage meat cattle. Continental breeds also often display a fast rate of weight gain (feed efficiency). The concept of not having to feed nearly as much expensive grain, to get cattle up to market weight, was an economically appealing beef production practice. Delicious corn-fed marbling is expensive to put on even early maturing beef breeds. And, so it was that the then popular Hereford and Angus medium frame-score “British” beef breeds became widely viewed as vestiges of days gone by. Interestingly, at that point in time, Hereford was the most common worldwide beef breed. Then starting in 1978 a small group of conservative beef producers “bet the farm” on what they saw as tried and true beef production methods. Those folks were a Black Angus group out to promote their maligned breed. Their guess about the high eating quality future of beef market demand has proven to be correct. And, today the word Angus is widely perceived as being synonymous with high eating quality beef.

So, how has the Angus name strayed from the old-world beef “horse that it rode in on?” The most easily discernable way is size: “For the Angus breed, yearling weight is considered a reliable indicator of mature weight, has increased 96 pounds since the early 1970’s. In that same time period, Angus steer weights have increased 300 pounds , and heifers are up 239 pounds, on average.” Much of that increase in Angus cattle weights came from once Continental cow breed herds; that Angus bulls have now been servicing for 30 or more years. Way back, both the Hereford and Angus British breeds were known to produce some very large cattle. Over time those beef animals were selected to produce smaller, earlier maturing market cattle that had a propensity to marble well at a young/tender age. Restaurant demand for loin steak portion size control is another desirable attribute of medium frame score cattle. Thick-cut beef steaks are much easier to cook to the requested degrees of doneness. Also, when cut thick, rib-eye area steaks over 12.5 to 13.5 square inches weigh too much for portion control purposes. Although large diameter rib-eyes do appeal to many retail buyers, those big steaks can get too expensive; especially when cut to thicknesses that are optimal for grilling. In the first two phases of the beef industry, feeder calf producers and feed lot operators are financially motivated to sell as many pounds per animal unit as possible. Beef packers are sandwiched between end-user demand and producer economic interests. In their own financial best interest, large beef packers often pay a per hundred weight discount on carcasses over 900 pounds. That discount is due to standard boxed- beef container size, the reasonable net weight of beef boxes, the amount of trim fat sometimes associated with heavy carcasses (wholesale cuts are trimmed to packer standard’s fat thickness) as-well-as reduced portion-control supply. Hot carcass weights in the 600 to 900 pound range are what packers prefer. Using a 63% average dressing percentage, a 1,000 pound live steer will yield a carcass weighing around 600 pounds, a 1,400 pound steer will yield about a 900 pound carcass and a 2,100 pounder will yield a hot carcass in the 1,300 pound range (yes, I have seen market beef carcasses that big). The popular CAB brand is the brain-child of the American Black Angus association and inherent producer financial interests are reflected in the G-1 specification by allowing both 1,050 pound hot carcass weights and up to either a 16 or 17 square inch rib-eyes. One would expect 1,050 pound carcasses to come from live market cattle weighing about 1,670 pounds. I reckon that on over 900 pound Angus eligible carcasses that get certified, the CAB premium cancels out the the standard heavy carcass discount.

A lot of what needs to be explained in this post has already been covered in my Beef Cattle Color Discrimination blog post, please (Click Here) to view it. The first paragraph of that post is a discussion of discrimination in general; you might want to skip reading that part. However, the remainder makes several cogent points related to how Angus shrugged.

Stage of animal maturity is a major consideration in beef carcass Quality Grading. The G-1 specification calls-for A-Maturity carcasses; as judged by the ossification of evidenced in the split chine bone and the color of non dark-cutter lean, to a lesser extent. Currently, the A -B carcass maturity line (from approximately 30 months of age market cattle) is also being judged by beef plant kill-floor Inspectors by way of dentition. When USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) employees judge a carcass to be from a beef animal over 30 months of age they paint the exposed chine bone with edible Inspection ink. When blue chine bones are present at the time of carcass grading, Grading maturity rules revert to reading chine bone ossification – as was done in the past. However, if blue painted chine bones are not there during Official Grading, the newer Quality Grade Maturity rules allow for up to D-0 chine bone ossification before market beef carcasses are deemed to not be in the A-Maturity group. Consequently, the A-Maturity specification is not nearly as restrictive as it used to be. The upshot is that more market cattle are fed forages and/or grain for longer periods of time. Those longer finishing periods can also help obtain higher beef carcass marbling degrees. And, young cows that displayed calving problems can now be more often graded as market beef; instead of receiving the Commercial grade. Every once and a while, whole cow (not steers & heifers) herds can be seen being offered on chain-driven trolley rails.

As I learned in Washington. DC nearly 30 years ago, “perception is everything.” So if you perceive Angus to produce the best eating beef, more power to the Black Angus Association. They have captured the hearts of beef eaters around the world. Straying a little from CAB’s founding principles does not appear to have mattered much.

One thought on “Angus Shrugged

  1. Yet another post this year! A very nice history of why the slogan isn’t
    Beef the other Red Stuff. I recall reading in the ’70s about French
    animals, and Beefalo as the future of beef.
    (Not to mention baby beef, a different subject). Not to much of any of them for sale in retail now.
    I appreciated the links to prior articles.
    The New Red Stuff is grass fed. IMO. Can you do an post about that?
    Trying grass fed beef, so far, might turn me in to a Vegan 😉
    By the way I have nothing against French animals, Beefalo, and miss baby beef.

Comments are closed.