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 In a day and age where the cattle business is
seeing a vast number of changes and making a new dedication to the quality of
our product, one program saw the hand writing on the wall years ago. Entering
their third decade of steer testing, the Great
Western Beef Expo, Sterling, Colorado, has grown to be one of the most
credible and highly regarded feed out contests in the U.S.
Established in 1969, this program was
initially introduced to work with the smaller cow/calf producers. At that time,
only the large commercial feedlots were offering custom feeding programs,
however, the smaller producers usually did not have the numbers necessary to
fill these large commercial feedlot pens. Therefore, a group of 11 gentlemen
committed themselves to the first board of directors to help the smaller
cow/calf producer.
In the beginning, the feeding took place at
a couple of small, private feedlots in the Sterling area and even was conducted
at the Logan County Fairgrounds. However, these situations did not prove to be
successful so, in 1981-82, the current facilities were constructed and named the
Eastern Colorado Research Center. Initially, the program accepted pens of cattle
from producers ranging in size from 10 to 25 head.
As the expo continued to grow, some of the
individuals involved began looking into the future of the cattle business. As
they made predictions as to where they thought the industry was headed, these
individuals had the initiative to start making changes to meet their visions of
the future. They began to place more specific requirements on the producers
involved and reduced the size of the pens to five head. As they started
collecting information and testing for such things as feed efficiency, they
found that pens of five animals were the best size to work with.
More and more progressive cattlemen began
taking leadership roles in the program, as well as participating in it. It was
their vision that continued to change the program’s objectives. Individuals
like Max Fulscher of Amherst, Colorado, helped advance the program into the next
stage. Fulscher and others could see the road the industry was headed down.
Their visions of "tomorrow’s industry" lead them to implement an
even more stringent testing process. They incorporated the collection of carcass
data in order to get a better evaluation the quality of our beef product.
In 1990, the Braunvieh breed first entered
this renown contest to see how the cattle would stack up. This would later prove
to be one of the best moves the Braunvieh breed has ever made. Not even a
novelist could have written the type of story that has resulted out of this one
attempt to compare a new breed to the rest of the cattle industry.
In that first year, the Braunvieh breed was
represented by having two pens on test. The representation has grown
considerably to the point of having 14 pens in the 1998 contest. Those involved
with the Braunvieh breed have said that the cattle have the ability to produce a
high quality carcass on a regular basis, which is exactly what has come out of
the results at the Great Western Beef Expo this decade.
Two areas that can be evaluated in
determining the type of carcass being produced is the average yield grade of the
cattle and the price per pound paid for the carcass. As you can see in the
graphs below, the Braunvieh cattle have consistently produced a trimmer, higher
yielding carcass when compared to the overall average of the program. The yield
grade, along with the quality grade or marbling score, are the two components
that determine the overall value of a carcass and thus the price that carcass
receives. As you can see, when the average carcass price per pound of the
Braunvieh cattle is compared to the overall average, here also the Braunvieh
cattle have excelled over the competition.
In an attempt to recognize those pens that
are meeting the highest quality as a whole, the Max Fulscher Award was
established. This award is presented in honor of Mr. Fulscher, representing all
the work and dedication he contributed to the success of today’s Great
Western Beef Expo. The Max Fulscher Award is presented to those pens in
which every animal produces a carcass with a quality grade of Choice or better
and a yield grade of 1 or 2. Since 1990, there have been a total of 25 Max
Fulscher Awards presented. Once again, the graph above shows the dominance that
the Braunvieh breed has seen in this contest. These Braunvieh cattle have taken
home the largest number of these awards presented at the Great Western Beef
Expo. This is possibly the most prestigious award presented in any steer feed
out contest in the country.
All of these events have lead us to today,
where the Great Western Beef Expo
has earned the recognition of cattlemen all across the country. With the
program’s excellent status and the way the Braunvieh cattle have performed,
the Braunvieh breed has quickly caught the eye of the cattle industry. With the
extreme competitiveness of today’s meat protein market, our industry has
realized the importance of producing a consistent, high quality product. Thus,
as the Braunvieh breed continues to excel at the Great Western Beef Expo, and
other similar programs across the country by producing a consistent, high
quality product, more and more cattlemen will realize what this original breed
from Switzerland has to offer the cattle industry ... something that our
industry must continue to strive for if we hope to be a major part of the
consumer’s diet in years to come.
Thanks to Cattle
Today for supplying this article that appeared in their November, 1998,
issue.
For more information about the Great
Western Beef Expo visit their web site.
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