BQA just one topic covered at Centex Beef Alliance meeting

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas Edition

Extension livestock specialist Dr. Joe Paschal detailed the Texas Beef Quality Assurance program . -- Staff photo by Taylor

Dec. 9, 2004 - The Centex Beef Alliance had a general meeting at the Luling Foundation, earlier this fall, with presentations from various speakers including animal disease updates, the U.S. Animal Identification Program and the Texas Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program.

President Lou McGee of Kingsbury welcomed a full house and presented an update on the organization. Almost a year old, Centex continues to gain momentum and membership. According to McGee, the membership is open to "anyone in Central/South Central Texas who is eager to raise better animals that will give safer, better beef for public consumption and provide more money to the producer."

There is no herd size requirement to join the alliance, and the organization offers educational assistance in raising cattle ... from vaccinations, castration, weaning and branding to grazing/feeding practices, preconditioning and enhanced sales opportunities.

The program calls for the cattle to be bred so they will calf within a two- to three-month period, and vaccinations to be certified. The first sale for Centex is being planned for the fall of 2005, said McGee.

Along those lines, Joe C. Paschal with the Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas A&M University (TAMU), presented information on the Texas BQA Program. He said that as a voluntary program, the intent is to provide a procedure for assuring food safety and a system for process documentation. He emphasized it is not a "trace back program, a preconditioning program, an individual animal ID program, mandatory or for everybody."

In fact, the program provides cattle-handling information from the producer through the feedlot/backgrounder, the packer/processor, the retailer and ... finally ... to the consumer.

Paschal stressed the importance of injection site management and residue avoidance, in order to keep food safe for consumers. "You can't learn from experience ... you must read the instructions," he told producers.

While the use of antibiotics has dropped, it can still be found in food additives. Other problems include "foreign object avoidance," such as birdshot, buckshot, bullets or broken needles in the meat.

"We've got to get away from that culture (of shooting cattle or the over use of needles)," Paschal noted.

According to Paschal, the best location to give shots is where the meat is of low value ... in the neck ... and not to use more than 10cc/ml per shot. It should be given directly into the neck muscle. If more than 10cc's need to be administered, it should be divided and given in both sides of the animal's neck. He urged producers to select needles that fit the individual animal's size, rather that use a standard size needle on the entire herd.

Lead, such as any kind of a bullet, can be traced back to the breeder, and the way packers usually recognize lead is with "an eyeball and a knife," Paschal told the audience. He said that "based on information supplied by 15 plants, more than 10,000 carcasses with birdshot will be detected on the kill floor this year." Paschal said that best management practices do not include gathering cattle "with shotguns. And, he pointed out irresponsible hunters need to be educated about shooting in the vicinity of livestock.

Environmental quality control points he mentioned included forage management, stocking rate, forage conservation, water quality and conservation, soil conservation/erosion and grazing management. He also reminded producers that it is against the law to burn dead animals, a practice that has been around for many years.

The Texas BQA training has two levels - an introductory training level, and a level two, which teaches producers about "record keeping, third party verification of management processes and records; certification as a Texas Beef Quality Producer (TBQP), how to qualify to use Quality Mark Brand and continuing education with credits."

"You get exactly what you pay for," Paschal noted in closing remarks.

(For more information on Centex Beef Alliance: 512-488-2523 or 512-558-2585 or email at: y2k@bcsnet.net)