coming up Prime's better than Select and
they might think Select is better than
Prime we've seen that time and time
again but what people have known is
whenever they go and buy a product that
says Angus on it it means quality 100%
agree with you i think I think we have
done a good job branding quality
efficiency is uh yield pounds are still
king and now we're going to have them
into a harvest facility pounds are king
too that's right around the corner on
the Live Egg Ranch and livestock
marketing we live at podcast but first a
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experience in livestock marketing now
here's your hosts Tid Cordova and Casey
Mabry welcome to Live A We Live It
podcast uh from an exciting standpoint
we got rid of Tai uh this week and we
brought in a couple guests we got Dennis
Mezer and Jared Warham uh in here this
week and we're going to talk about some
different things that are going on in
the industry uh and Jared uh has brought
in some different information here uh
around some stuff so uh Jared why don't
you go ahead and introduce yourself and
kind of tell us who you are and where
you've been uh and kind of some things
that we're going to talk about today you
bet so I appreciate you having me on and
obviously I've known Dennis for a real
for a lot of years now and and we've um
you know both of us have worked in in
the beef industry and and the marketing
and livestock supply chain space for
quite a while and so I thought uh it'd
be a good day to come in here and and
visit with that watch the live a sale
that looked like it went really well so
congratulations to you guys on that uh
would love to talk about some of the
maybe the updates to to like the USDA
live animal spec uh things that are
happening with that like the yield task
force and what that may mean to the
industry and how that may impact cattle
that trade this summer which I know is
an important thing because you're
starting to book book summer sales
schedules right now with as far as
cattle and get them under contract and
uh you know what that may look like as
we go through the next 6 to 18 months as
as like places like sustainable come
online and start killing cattle and what
that uh um may mean for you know as we
migrate through the the change you know
bottoming out maybe of supplies is this
the smallest calf crop is next year's
calf crop the smallest calf crop and
things like that yeah who knows i guess
you could probably uh shake your magic
eightball and maybe figure out something
there but probably still come up with
some different information you know
before we got on here Jar and I were
talking i think the biggest thing that
you wanted to talk about here was u the
live animal spec uh in that way so
traditionally speaking just to kind of
educate people on that um cattle go into
the cooler or cattle come into a packing
plant uh they get designated as either
Angus or non- Angus uh those cattle are
then marked on some type of a way in
that plant and designated as the ability
to go into uh the branded box beef
program the largest branded box beef
program out there would be the first one
that would do be the the G1 sort which
is certified Angus beef and then a lot
of programs get pulled out of that so
since that was incepted or the inception
of that was probably 1978 there's been a
lot of different programs that have come
off of that so now we probably got that
was the G1 that was the first box beef
program now we probably got 175 of them
and as everybody knows out there this
industry changes a drastic amount and um
there's lots of different characters of
cattle out there from a phenotypical
standpoint and a genotypical standpoint
uh to where we've got you know cattle
that are just as high quality you know
another breed like a red Angus or
something like that so Jared talk about
the the what what we talked about
earlier yeah you bet so I I think you
did a great job teeing that up so thank
you for going through that because
that's that is not that isn't something
that's that's really common knowledge
unless you've worked in the space that
you've worked in right there's a lot of
nuances to you know how Gstamps work and
what happens inside that packing plant
and how those carcasses get sorted and
designated for different box beef
programs etc but you know the recent
update to the USDA live animal spec
specifically you know which now includes
red Angus cattle um as as an Angus uh
because we know just genetically right
there's there's black Angus cattle and
then there's red Angus cattle but it's
really the same breed uh all started
with the same um you know origins etc
and then just you know because some
breeders wanted reds and blacks it kind
of went bifurcated from there long time
ago and you're right I mean CAB was
really the pioneer that put us on the
map to to identifying uh an Angus
branded program and based on quality so
it was it was something that needed to
happen because we created raving fans of
premium quality beef by doing that and
you know created a lot of trust in our
product not only domestically but
globally um you know we've both uh done
some stuff globally and we know that
there's there is a um you know American
beef has a has a you know other
countries know what it is um and so I
think uh you know that we have to give
homage to them for what they've created
in the trough it was cut by CAB and that
G1 stamp
but today I think the exciting thing
about what what's happened and what the
the team at Red Angus really pushed for
uh is the expansion of you know include
or the inclusion of red Angus cattle in
Angus programs but as well not just red
Angus uh cattle but red Angus and
additional black Angus influence cattle
like black angus Charlotte cross and red
Angus Charlotte cross so now those those
cattle can flow into an Angus branded
program and and fall under a GC schedule
if somebody wants to create their own GC
schedule to to adopt uh that new live
animal spec they can and some packers
are starting to do that yeah which is
probably allows I mean from a grander
scope um let's say I'm a red Angus
breeder out there and I've just been red
Angus red Angus red Angus on top of each
other and then you want to bring in you
talked about the yield component you
know those are going to push a lot of
quality attributes and then maybe the
antagonistic part of it would be taking
the musling out of the cattle or um and
there'll probably be people debate that
with me or taking some of the average
daily gain so like what you're
discussing is possibly having the
ability now to take a red Angus bull
breed that to some Charlay cows or take
a char could you take Charlay or is it
got to all be red Angus sire well I
think the you know it really depends on
how they want to build a GCAMP to fit
that that live animal spec update and I
would I would honestly encourage
listeners if they have questions that we
can't answer today to reach out to the
Red Angus or the Charlay Association
teams to really get some of that detail
on what they have to do it could get
pretty confusing if you don't
necessarily know you probably can't even
go that deep into here anyway and get
get it clear we know the new at least
one of the newest G stamps is G161 so
there's 160 some of those G-stamps for
Angus and they're all different right
and so to to be able to talk about each
one of them today would take forever and
so I think the best thing to do is to
talk to those breed associations to
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preferred so what is G161
that is a that is a a G stamp created by
sustainable beef uh that's the new
packing plant in North Path that's
that's just started killing cattle and I
think uh they wanted to be open-minded
and not just go down that traditional
path of hey if it's black heighted it's
an Angus right they didn't want it to be
um they didn't want to exclude
themselves from a population or
additional populations of very high
quality cattle they knew that uh you
know the black Angus Charlay cross the
red Angus cattle the red Angus Charlay
cross and then other crosses because
right if it's if it's a black Angus
cross with SH simmonl it's just going to
look black and so I think we're we're
not excluding those from this
conversation we're just assuming
everybody knows that they're already
kind of in that conversation but we are
now including the shark crosses uh with
both those Angus types into a box that
uh you know goes to a consumer as an
Angus product not a hide color base but
just an Angus product that is let's say
it's you know if they're targeting X
amount of supply of upper 2/3 upper 1/3
prime and some select they can now do
that through that mechanism to put that
product in that box so let's say I send
a set of cattle into there and Dennis
you sold a set of cattle uh they're 80%
blackhided from a phenotypical
standpoint and then 20% of the cattle
are other colors right so in trai in the
traditional way uh we send those cattle
in everything that's blackhided gets
marked with an A or some type of a
designation you know previous to this
the rest of the cattle would just fall
into a commodity sort today describe
which animals now can get that same
designation as the black heighted cattle
yeah And of course they'd have to use a
different stamp right they can't use the
the G1A they would have to use I think a
different type of stamp there in the
plant but uh and you're so I think to
answer your question it would be let's
say you have a mix pin of bluff black
and red heighted cattle and they're all
Angus uh you know whether it's source
and age or verified to be Angus desired
they can all flow into that same program
and under whatever stamp that would be
and however the packing plant wants to
handle it as far as as those carcasses
are coming down the the chain uh which
and I think that's another big uh
important part to mention is let's say
you have I mean because we know how it
works I mean the straight loads of
cattle are great but we know there's
tons of blended lots and sorted lots and
so let's say you have uh six or seven
pins that include black heighted red
heighted uh you know buckskins and
silvers you know black angus charllay
cross and all of them fall within the
specs of that that live animal um update
they could all go into that box And it
could all go down the same chain it just
has it happens to be it happens to need
to fall under the guidance and however
that particular harvest plant wants to
to manage those carcasses as they come
down the chain yeah and that harvest
plant gets to make the decision because
it would be their in-house brand yes
that it's Angus and then of the Angus
those cattle that fit that criteria
deemed by what the USDA live animal spec
changes are correct so no that's I think
that's a little bit clearer than what I
was thinking a little bit ago and it
makes a heck of a lot of sense because I
mean I know that we've got that word
Angus means equality to a lot of people
um you sit down and you start asking the
consumer namely the GR grades of beef
they may not know that prime's better
than select and they might think select
is better than prime we've seen that
time and time again but what people have
known is whenever they go and buy a
product that says Angus on it it means
quality to them and so um and so whether
you're eating a Angus hot dog or you're
eating an Angus ribeye I mean it means
something to those people so now this
just allows as the numbers have gotten
tighter to include those red Angus type
cattle absolutely and I I 100% agree
with you i think I think we have done a
good job branding quality um globally uh
and CAB's to thank for that right but
what we do know and this is just from
you know water cooler talk with friends
that are chefs and and uh uh in that
space as well as butchers and and other
studies it's Angus is the word that's
key to that it's not a hide color it's
not black Angus or red Angus it's just
Angus and so again I think because
supplies are tight and because we have
to look at our industry from a
sustainability standpoint the least
sustainable thing we can do is say "Hey
we're we're going to ignore logic and
science and we're just going to say if
it's black heighted it can only be Angus
that's not very sustainable." And I
think we can't have those conversations
it's great we need to talk about other
things like uh the climate smart and
methane i know that's always going to
dominate headlines because it's a big
topic but to me yes that's great but
there are simpler things we can do to
make our industry more sustainable from
an economic standpoint especially for
ranchers i mean cattlemen and cattle
women as you know that are involved in
production side or or cattle feeding etc
is allow them to put what is an Angus or
an Angus influence product regardless of
hide color into a box i mean we hate we
can't keep stepping over a dollar to
pick up a dime when that's that's
something that's simple to fix
absolutely so Dennis I mean as as you
look forward here and you're starting to
go out there and talk to your guys that
are booking sales and you know kind of
setting up cattle and things like that
or even the other ones you know uh how
do you think this is going to impact to
your to your operators well to to a lot
of my longtime friends and customers
that uh you know my start was with the
Charlay and so when I first started in
the marketing business I was primarily a
Charlay influenced uh go-to guy for to
market that product but this is a this
is and and kudos to Mr tom Brink he kind
of pushed this thing through uh and has
been working on it for several years so
I think I'd certainly like to reach out
to him and give him a major portion of
the credit cuz he he brought it on and
and stood behind it and and drove it
through um cattle quality has changed a
lot in in my short career um and and we
can give a lot of credit to to the Angus
side of it for that but uh from an
economical standpoint from a customer
standpoint I think it's a huge step
forward because there's a lot of
territories that uh have to have a
crossbreeding program in order to stay
viable and I think that uh we've been
we've been driven or or psychologically
we've been kind of schooled that it had
to be a one breed rotation in order to
be able to sell the product at a premium
and and which is true to a certain
degree but I think now that uh now that
we've got other options it's going to
open the door and you know I've seen a
lot of a lot of my customers that has
went to a one breed rotation just
because that's what supposedly the
industry wanted and stood for and and
that handful of cattle that we seen in
them niche markets and I won't mention
those names but that's a small portion
of the of the whole 29 million cows that
we have you know and but that's the one
that got the most recognition because we
sell them in a competitive bidding
system and those premiums they remember
that 250,000 hit of cattle a year that
was getting the the big premiums through
a vigo environment so from my standpoint
it's it's got great hope and and knowing
that we can we we've got another outlet
for that product i think time was going
to help that anyway but this is going to
enhance it and bring it back to uh a
quicker uh switch you know where most of
the most of the entities I work with
have always been a two breed rotation
you know we'll see a a black or red
heighted cow base and a and a char bull
side of it you know and then it's not
those Charlay and Red Angus are the two
that's that it's going to probably fit
the best but there's a couple other
continental breeds that could have uh
benefit from it too so yeah no I think
that's if you look at other species and
different things like that i mean
especially on the hog side they've been
able to take lots of different
attributes from different breeds and
composite them i mean what's interesting
Dennis and and Jared like when I sit
back and I think about I would have
started in this industry in 2005
and um the industry was probably grading
somewhere around 60% choice and higher
uh from a black heighted standpoint the
industry was probably about 65 to 70%
black heighted um and like you said the
market signal uh that came out not only
just from CAB but then as we piggybacked
on those I would I'm not going to
necessarily I'll say copycat programs uh
that copied that it forced uh the packer
to bid more on black heighted cattle i
give premiums for those cattle uh and
then you would give premiums back into
the country because they're like "Hey
look if I'm if I'm going to get a
premium in the in from the packer they
need to be black hided when I purchase
those." And so the market signals been
there and so then the the interesting
thing that I think about from an
efficiency standpoint so let's just say
you take single breed rotation and
you're taking all the quality attributes
for those cattle what you've done is
you've advanced the grade now I said we
were 65% choice and higher maybe 60 as
an industry u and today we're like 85
and so consistent yeah we were used to
be 2% prime now we're 12 to 15% prime
consistently and so we've definitely uh
done that now the spread between cost of
gain and cattle price has helped that
because we've made cattle bigger and
fatter and all that stuff but man what
we probably need to focus on a little
bit as an industry is that yield grading
component uh because again quality and
yield are antagonistic with each other
we're the industry you know us having
you know corn uh in the bunk at you know
450 475 it covers a lot of sins up um
now I think we need to work on you know
probably some of the terminal
characteristics you know the average
daily gain uh feed conversion because if
we start to narrow up
um
we've kind of started to narrow up the
spreads prime spreads not as big as what
it was choice spread's not as big as
what it was but if we start to narrow up
now the spread between cost of gain and
cattle price those efficiencies matter
um and so if you wanted like so so let's
just talk about that for a minute so
then if you allow guys to bring in
cattle that are buckkins skins or
silvers or whatever um terminology you
use there on the different colored
cattle it probably allows them to
probably dig from a different a bigger
pool of of bulls
so efficiency is uh yield pounds are
still king and now we're going to have
them into a harvest facility pounds are
king too agre yield is is a big part of
their bottom line so if and and it's
also a big part of of the cow calf
operation and the stalker operation so
it's one area one efficiency area that
can benefit all segments of the industry
in my mind and and if and I'm not saying
there isn't one bull rotation programs
that have you know they've done a Angus
have done a great job black Angus have
done a great job of having higher
performing genetics too but but we've
changed the industry to to where quality
grade is not really a a big issue as far
as it's pretty easy to make one grade oh
I mean the variation in cattle i mean I
think back to when I was buying fat
cattle even like in 2010 to 12 that time
period i mean I I remember buying a set
of cattle that graded 4% choice and I
thought I was going to get fired uh and
now I mean honestly that same type of
animal is going to grade a heck of a lot
higher than that so the variability has
changed a lot um but you know what we're
50% you'll grade fours and fives right
now probably you know so I mean we've
made these cattle just super fat and you
know we Jared we talked a little bit ago
there's a task force on that right so
understanding yield grade understanding
how that is because man we're so quality
driven you know 15 years ago again we
weren't necessarily quality driven now
we're choice now we're trying to get now
make a choice product and it have the
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your cattle with care since 1987 u what
do you know about this uh the the task
force on the yield grade component i
think the easiest way to to
compartmentalize that is to say there is
a group of individuals uh from academia
and from the industry that have been
challenged to add the clarity to the
yield equation that we've been really
been missing for the last several
decades so again to your guys' point I
mean we've really done a great job
genetically and then now recently with
genomically enhanced EPDS improving
quality grade to a level that you're
right I mean it's not hard to get really
good cattle to to find good cattle even
from tons of blended pin out of Florida
right you could pull a bunch of Florida
together put them on grass in Kansas and
then uh you'll finish them in somewhere
in Kansas at a feed yard and still have
pretty good results whereas 20 30 years
ago that was a total different story so
um and again on the feed efficiency
piece we've we went down that road
pretty hard and we're still working very
hard on that one so we've we've covered
those two buckets and the last one to
your point is is the yield grade so I
think the the desire from the industry
is to figure out the clarity that needs
to come and you're right I mean when
you're when you're bumping I mean I've
seen plant averages uh especially in
April you know March April May i mean
they'll bump 35 45% yield grade fours
and fives um and we just don't I think
as an industry truly know how to
quantify the losses that come from the
reduced amount of yield that is that is
uh that exists and so until we get
clarity on that we don't know how to
economically figure some of those things
out and so I think um we see the
premiums that come from from a set of
cattle that'll be 95% choice or better
and 40% primes and we we oo and awe
about it and which is great we need to
focus on that still but we can't
understand yet what is lost from the
yield equation we focus in my opinion
too much on dressing percentage and not
enough on what the actual yield equation
should look like so that's what the task
force is is being challenged with and we
hope we we add clarity to that part of
the industry and that that will then
flow back down to individuals that are
using breeds heavily like Charlay and
that rotational cross to Dennis's point
because to be sustainable we need a
maternal component we need a terminal
component and we put them together just
like every other protein's done so if we
can figure out those those yield pieces
it then adds that much more value and
power to breeds like Charlay that uh you
know and for the years I spent running
hard in the feedard space uh working for
Tom there at Top Dollar I I'd want to
talk about you know Red Angus and Black
Angus influenced feeder cattle and all
they wanted to talk about was was
Charlay Black Angus and Charlay Red
Angus influenced i mean there's not a
feed yard in this country that wouldn't
take a good set of those cuz they just
they just clip a coupon and make money
so yeah so if you think about the
incentive and I always I always make the
statement incentive drives outcome um
and the incentive today is to make
cattle big we got to get pounds on them
the byproduct of making cattle big is
like what are you producing like when we
crack the hide off of the cattle and we
or we hang them up and then we crack the
hide off of the cattle and then we look
at that that deal so if we were to lay
them out and go what's the muscle bone
and fat you'd lay it out on three deals
and say from a percentage standpoint i
used to debate this like when I worked
at Cargill and we would say all right
look the cost of gain today is a buck 10
right i'm going to sell them for 240 in
the north right so every day that I add
that to them it's two it's you know I'm
making a$130 a pound right so let's it's
going to tell you to feed them to
infinity but in in in hindsight when you
step back and you crack those cattle
open and you then you break them into
that muscle bone and fat what are you
producing in those incremental spinal
stages right at the beginning it's
probably 70% muscle i'm just throwing
numbers out there i have no idea but
it's a lot of percentage of muscle it's
going to be muscle beef that makes the
composition of the carcass right but I
think in those very very tail ends
you're producing kidney pelvic and heart
fat oh yeah and you're producing ex
external fat that's going to get trimmed
off and then you trim that off
the muscle beef today the carcass is
worth 360 the cutout value is 360 um but
then you break the components of that
cutout out if it's pure fat that pure
fat's probably worth a from a yielded
standpoint we got tallow that's real
high and you got the FTB way to do it
but let's just say the fat is worth if
the muscle's worth 350 a pound the fat's
worth 50 cents a pound okay so we're
adding uh we're we're putting on a pound
of gain that pound of gain cost a$110
it's worth when you buy it from the them
at 250 but what's the packer turning
around and selling it for right the
packer's paying 360 hanging for it and
then they turn around they're going to
sell that fat that incremental fat that
they paid 360 for for 50 cents a pound
right and and so that's the part that I
think if the easiest thing to do is say
I added a pound of weight and it's worth
260 or 240 the hardest thing to do is go
"What is that?" And and and the cattle
are the only thing out there that truly
go that direction
and it's the hardest thing to quantify
right because you can't you can't kill
the same cattle twice you don't know if
there was really fat well what you got
to do is go when we add this incremental
deal and so to your point when you talk
about the yield component of it the
yield grading component the task force
component of it the incentive is to
still overfeed cattle even if they're
50% yield grade force but hopefully now
you know what's in that 240 right yeah i
think I think that you know if you go
back 100 years ago or 50 years ago when
all the fragmentation was done and we
had all these little mom and pop shops
the guy that's buying cattle and selling
meat sat at a desk next to each other
and they went out in the packing plant
and the guy that there was that there
was that that uh that pain point of the
guy at the plant going hey these things
are too fat and then the sales guy
pushing back going I can't do this and
then the procurement guy going okay I'll
give that market signal go back but now
our system's gotten so large that the
procurement team is sitting in a in a
corporate office somewhere very far away
from the packing plant the operations
guys at the plant going "Hey these
things are fat but whatever." And then
you got the sales guys selling some
other product so it's not that you don't
have that you know you know what I'm
saying that conversation going "What
you're paying what I'm paying for
doesn't make sense."
Go ahead i got a question we all go yeah
so you know from my perspective and how
it how this this new uh grid or uh
possibility of sustainable fits me i
work mostly with cow calf guys i also
feed some cattle too so I understand
both sides of it or think I understand
both sides of it but what's relevant to
me is mostly the cow kef guy where where
I need to keep him and her viable in the
industry sustainable if you will and you
know probably one of the sharpest cow
men that I've ever had the pleasure of
being around and I've been around a lot
of them you know he always told me you
take you take a product and make it fit
your environment and it'll take care of
you in the next environment and that was
very true i mean he was running a a
pink-nosed purebred Charlay that he
retained ownership in getting them to
grade 80 some percent as keeds so I
think I think all this has to have some
common sense to it in every segment a
lot of times we're not able to control
what happens after it leaves the cow
side of it so we build the best product
we can that's got the most marketability
but I would also include in there that
we got to throw some common sense in
with it and that that char red or black
angus cross has a bigger window to
manage i mean you can manage if you're
fighting the market or or or in in
today's case you're just making them big
because that's the only way these cattle
are working for them on the other end
because of uh you got to make them big
and and and the industry is calling for
us to make them big now because you know
tight supplies we're not that far behind
in in total pounds from previous years
but we're just making them bigger so you
put yourself in a position yield we we
we could anticipated it was coming a
couple years ago those people that are
still doing a two or three breed
rotation with their Charlays and make
building their own replacements they're
in the driver's seat now they're selling
pounds they're selling a product that
that you can manage different and I
think management is is a factor that we
don't measure scientifically
um but management is a big part of the
final outcome too you know I can take I
can take a set of about anything um
breed wise and if I manage them right
I'm going to put them at least in a
pretty high percentage quality grade if
I'm managing them even better I'm going
to make them yield so I think from from
a cow cave side from the start of the
production line I think this is putting
them in a position to really be in the
driver's seat both from their
perspective and then for every segment
of the industry yeah you bet you bet so
Jared what were you going to say a
second ago yeah you just just listened
to you talk I I kind of had just some
questions pop up in my head you know the
the there's several hamsters up there
when the wheels get to go and they're
all kind of in different directions as
long as they all go the same way no they
don't and they aren't the same speed
either so it it can be kind of confusing
at times but I wonder you know in our in
our in our as we have strived as an
industry to you know chase uh trust of
the consumer by by putting a product in
front of them that they really wanted
because at the end of the day we're in
the food business right whether we're
you know we we love breeding cattle and
we're passionate about it because that's
what we love to do but we're still in
the food business and so we've we've
built trust because we focused on um you
know the product and the endpoint and
and so to to listen to you talk through
that scenario i wonder what you know so
we haven't had a lot of motivation to
solve the yield issue till now it's
coming but is it because it's been so
easy and there's such a huge demand for
grind in this country that because of
the trimmings and because that fat can
go out and we can blend it and so the
fact that they can bring in um you know
cow meat etc blended to make that grind
and we eat like how many hamburgers a
day in this country i mean is that
something that's maybe covered this up a
little bit i don't know it just popped
in my head that be I mean how many how
many pounds of grind so if you go to
other countries they don't they don't
feed cattle as hard as we do obviously
they don't have the grain base that we
do and they don't produce the fat that
we do uh so it ends up making us you
know bring it in and people like fat i
mean my favorite cut we're sitting here
at Cooper's Barbecue and they offered
brisket on the deal for free and I went
and bought a short rib cuz it's 50% fat
and that's I'm a fat dude right so
anyway that's that's what people like
and so yeah to that point absolutely but
I think that we're truly subsidizing
that hamburger if you really think about
it um with import meat that's cheaper
than what we're having to pay here
that's what I was getting at is is the
50 cents is the is the discount that
they're paying for that fat after
they're trimming that carcass out but
because they bring in that import meat
it it raises the value it raises overall
value because we have so much demand for
grind and hamburgers it kind of washes i
don't know yeah know what's funny i mean
you talk about the blend between the
hamburgers is like if you go to any food
service restaurant your your hamburger
patties are like a 73 mhm um and then
what's everybody want when they go home
when they go buy an 85 because they feel
fat if they're pulling up there and
getting the 73s or something like that
we cook out the water on the leaner
stuff and we cook out the fat on the
fatter stuff but no to your absolutely
to your point I mean the consumer in the
US likes that uh the consumer in the US
is there but I mean from a dollars and
cents standpoint I think we've gotten
too far past the deal we've been in the
situation before back in 15 and 16 we
had the same economic signal out there
now the market prices were a little bit
different but we had super cheap corn we
had really high cattle we overfed cattle
it allowed us to do that during this
time period and then what what'll happen
though in my mind um is you'll get to a
point at where we have more equilibrium
as far as the demand and the supply
cattle today it's too it's way out there
right we got too many shackles not
enough cattle that that'll ride itself i
mean the packer margin is very very
tough and then so the ones that start to
really understand the cutability
attributes and and really it's not the
cutability attributes it's what am I
paying for this stuff and this is the
only industry really as I think through
it that doesn't know what when they're
buying that animal it's all a prediction
on what the value is going to be i mean
you go into any other industry the
lumber industry and things like that
they buy wood there or they buy these
logs they know and they can analyze it
we don't know we we single trade cattle
or double trait we go yield quality
grade and then we start to measure you
know fat thickness and ribeye area
compared to a standard to get that yield
grade component but man I'll just tell
you this anytime that I've ever been at
a packing plant I sit there and I just
look at carcasses and I try to
understand it and I cut my teeth in meat
judging and trying to understand what's
the value of it and then I've boned
cattle myself uh and it had not in any
recent time but I've I've boned cattle
myself and then you go and lay it out
there like I said a pile of muscle a
pile of bone and a pile of fat the
muscles worth a lot of money today we're
not discounting cattle that much mhm
because to Dennis's point earlier he was
talking about yield is the driver and
pounds are the driver pounds are
definitely the driver you could sell
cattle today at a discount because you
overfed them and it still makes more
sense to to overfeed them because the
economics incentive the roll back's
there right and so the beneficiary of
that in my opinion Dennis is the rancher
today because the feedard has done he's
he's said "All right look this is what I
can pay for the cattle i can pay more
because the markets the the the
component of the cost of gain is so
small from a feed cost standpoint that
they're putting it back into the feeder
cattle so I think as we move forward
here the ones that the people that need
to understand it is like all right how
do I make the animal more efficient
because from a competing protein
standpoint I think those other proteins
have done a a good job i'm not going to
say a better job but they've done a good
we we've we've definitely been in the
quality attribute of it um from a beef
standpoint because honestly there's not
very many of us that'll sit down and
enjoy a pork chop we like we like the
sausage but it's you know 30% fat like
it's all fat give me some pork belly
buddy so but it it's a longer process
for us to make a change i mean we're
we're two and a half times probably
longer than that i think it's longer
than that cuz you have generational
mindset
but well even gestation wise I'm saying
though you know we it generational
Yeah not going to put a limousine on my
cows because my grandpa did it and it
didn't work or hey I'm going to put all
limousines on there whatever you know
I'm not trying to pick on breeds but uh
it it it and it's hard
I think in the other in the other
industries that that the the life cycle
of them so short and and the
environment's controlled in the pork and
the poultry industry right y um ours is
so different you can't if you're in you
know in the southeast it's going to be
hard for you to run Angus cows and if
you're in the northwest it's going to be
hard for you to
you know anything with kind of humps or
you know anything thin hided so I think
it's all geographical driven but no I
think those conversations have been
awesome and um you guys I appreciate you
being on here for sure i know Ty
definitely missed out this uh this
episode getting off here but Ty might be
one of the
best yeah Tai's right over here we just
didn't have four chairs and we he was uh
he was the one we booted him out of this
deal but I appreciate you guys getting
on here this week i mean it's Do you
have any other closing comments you want
to say man I don't think so i enjoyed
this thanks for having me enjoyed the
sale always enjoy catching up with
Dennis and and and well the crew here
cuz there's a lot of years we spent uh
kind of in the same space right so um
but no I I I I I think I appreciate your
opportunity to to come hang out with you
guys and talk about this stuff cuz we're
all we're all passionate about the
industry and so just talking about it's
a lot of fun for me and and I do think
it's important to educate the industry
and I and I not only on the the things
like the the the yield task force which
we hope is going to bring about some
some needed change but also with this
new USDA live animal spec update it
impacts a lot of ranchers a lot of men a
lot of women all up down the supply
chain and and It could uh be something
that helps uh you know as we go through
this tight supply of the next two or
three years and we have some new packing
plants come online it might be the one
thing that saves them instead of
competing only for those black heighted
cattle that they have to that they used
to have to force into that that box now
they have a bigger pool of cattle to
maybe scale out and and make their
business a little more robust from that
standpoint and get through the next few
years because we do need diversity in
the packing space right so I think we
need to be conscientious of of ways that
we can as an industry help them survive
yeah you bet no I think all those things
are very very important and I mean like
always we're trying to get some
information out there to you guys and
really stimulate thought and
conversation so if y'all ever have any
questions or something just reach out to
us uh whether it's on Facebook or any
kind of social media platform we can get
you connected with Jared or or uh or
Dennis or myself or Ty on any of these
things if you guys have any topics you
want to hear about uh dang sure let us
know we can do that or have any interest
on getting on here we're trying to get
like a diverse audience to get onto this
deal um and just like I said we we want
to make sure that we're it's more
educational than anything else and you
kind of learn something from it so uh
appreciate everybody listening uh thanks
for getting on the live act we live it
podcast again casey Mabry here uh
usually I got Ty this time I got Dennis
and that's that's a lot better for this
one but uh like and subscribe your uh on
the on the social media uh because
that's the first time that I've ever
said that but uh again if you guys have
any questions whatsoever let us know
have a great
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battling in