Texas Beef Council addresses goals and objectives for Texas Beef 706

By MONETTE TAYLOR | South Central Texas

Mike De La Zerda

December 27, 2001 -- What is the definition of beef quality?

According to the Texas Beef Council, "it is a beef product that consistently exceeds customer expectations. Expectations may include taste, price, packaging, color, safety, leanness, ease of preparation and anything else important to that consumer."

On Dec. 17, a large group of producers attended the South Central Texas 706 Feedyard Field Day at Graham Land and Cattle Company in Gonzales.

The agenda was the second in a three event program concerning the "Beef 706" program set up by the Texas Beef Council. Earlier this fall, teams were formed and calves selected to follow through from feedlot to harvest in the program. The third and final meeting will be held at Texas A&M University in January, when participants will examine the carcasses.

"What this 706 program is geared up to do is educate producers as far as the end product is concerned," said Mike De La Zerda, Beef Quality Manager of the Texas Beef Council.

"We spend most of our lives as cattle producers, focusing on getting those calves born and getting them sold. But, whatever happens to them afterwards?" he asked.

Topics covered in the program include what goes on in the feed lot with the cattle, how they're harvested, how to produce quality beef, food safety and the latest, beef nutrition.

"The reason we've included some of these, like beef nutrition and convenience products, these are some new areas that are getting attention now days. We want to educate producers as far as some of the things they can do that causes increased quality.

"At the same time, we know that there's pressure from non-producers ... the general public ... wanting to know some answers to some different questions," said De La Zerda.

The National Beef Quality Audit (NBQA) was a study that was conducted in 1991 and 1995 for the purpose of "examining the incidence and magnitude of quality defects that occur due to selection, management and production practices."

According to information received in these studies, the 1995 study produced the same, number one concern of packers and consumers ... a lack of uniformity in the beef.

Other concerns of the consumer group were inadequate tenderness, low palatability, excessive external fat and price too high for value received.

As long as the end-user feels there needs to be changes in the beef industry, in order to compete with the quality and other fast food meats, producers will need to conform more closely to guidelines and beef programs developed to address the problems.

"We're trying to share some of the information and get as much of it to you (producers) as possible," said De La Zerda.

"We, also, talk about marketing cattle. Whether those cattle were sold on a live basis, or on a grid basis ... two different marketing schemes ... and the ultimate box beef value."

De La Zerda said that producers need to be more and more aware of the importance of good record keeping in their herds. He said it is very important to follow the cattle through the feedyard and in the packing plant if they want to get the full picture.

"We don't have any specific topics that deal with record keeping, but on your own ... think about things you've learned that can help keep better records on your cattle. We can make better decisions on some of the information we get back for our next herd," he said.

The Texas Beef Council offers several programs to producers including the Regional Beef Quality Meeting, Beef 706, Beef 20-20, Level 1 Beef Quality Assurance Training and the ultimate program, Level 2 Beef Quality Assurance Training which can lead to a certification certificate, according to De La Zerda.