More moms in the workforce means more changes for beef industry

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas

November 15, 2001 -- With more and more moms in the workforce, the beef industry had to make changes to survive, according to Mike McCravey of the Texas Beef Council.

Addressing the group of producers at the recent Cow-Calf Clinic in Brenham, he said that in 1980, a lot of changes had to be made in order to get the general public back eating beef. At that time, there was a lot of new information concerning heart problems, fat intake and high cholesterol which scared people from beef products and focused them on chicken and fish.

"We needed to use the industry as drivers. The demand index in 1980 was the lowest possible. Our industry might not exist if we didn't turn this thing around," said McCravey.

With changes, from the producer to the packaging, beef has made a come-back in the last 10 years, with over 300 new beef products on the market in the past three years.

"It has turned around, drastically, in fact, the beef industry has increased ever since the 1980 low point, and it continues to go up. There's a lot of different 'drivers' with a lot of different things that have helped us in the industry to make sure that the continuation of the demand increases over the period of time," said McCravey.

Along with convenience, quick meals need to be nutritious and easy to cook. The targeted audience of the beef industry continues to be the female who is between 24-54 years old, as this is the group who may have families still at home and be looking for fast, easy, nutritious meals, he added. Some of these customers do not know how to prepare different cuts of meat, said McCravey.

"The quick, easy products have made all the difference in the world. It can be fast, it can be easy, it can be convenient. We can put it in the microwave in 10 minutes or less, and we have a good product out there."

McCravey warned the producers about watching for diseases and injection site lesions that could kill the beef up-turn.

"One E-Coli outbreak in the United States, today, can just take this demand index to the bottom. We have to be very concerned about that," he said.

Export values continue to grow, according to McCravey, and much of the business now comes from Mexico, although Japan continues to be the number one importer of beef products.

"NAFTA has allowed us to export more and more beef to our friends South of the Border ... Japan is still the number one importer of our products, and may become more of an importer after what happened to them, recently, with the BSE/Mad Cow situation over there," said McCravey.

While McCravey is still not in complete agreement with NAFTA, he said it has helped in the over all exportation and quality of beef.

As far as injection site bruises and lesions, he warned producers that while bruises on humans have several days to heal, injection sites on cattle are usually new, when they are slaughtered. There is no time to heal.

"One situation (lesion) on the carcass can discount that carcass nearly $100 ... people don't understand that. That calf, in less than 24 hours when he leaves that feed lot, is hanging beef, folks," said McCravey.

"We have to be able to make sure the consumer knows we do not have diseased products. It's all in making the consumer feel good about what we're doing with the product."

The Texas Beef Council has partnered with a number of grocery stores and food labels to sell their products that meet the high standards to carry the "beef quality checks."

"The beef quality check is not presented to every product that's introduced. It has to meet certain specifications. When it does that, it can have the beef quality check," said McCravey.