EPISODE NAME: Board Recap: Improving Tools, Long-range Planning and a Ribeye Area Adjustment 

As the breed continues to make progress, the American Angus Association Board of Directors meets quarterly to provide direction on projects that will keep the Angus breed on top. This episode covered a lot of ground, including the following topics: 

• Ongoing research in Angus Genetics Inc., from validation studies to ongoing bovine congestive heart failure (BCHF) work  
• Crafting a data recognition program  
• Improvements to the GeneMax^® test for commercial Angus females  
• AngusLink^SM success and packer feedback  
• A ribeye area specification adjustment for Certified Angus Beef 
• Changes to National Junior Angus Show competitions 

 
The state of the Angus business is strong, and this digs in to all the ways that is true.  

HOSTS: Miranda Reiman and Mark McCully 

GUESTS:  

Jonathan Perry, chairman of the American Angus Association, has spent much of his life working in the purebred business.  In 1998, Fred and Rinda Clark of Deer Valley Farm, Fayetteville, Tenn., offered him the opportunity to manage their purebred program. 

As general manager of Deer Valley, Perry developed an Angus program that balances all economically relevant traits in cattle that maintain structural soundness and phenotype. Each year, more than 500 bulls are marketed through three sales. 

Perry and his wife established the Hickory House restaurant in 2014, and it specializes in serving 100% Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB)-branded product. 

Roger Wann, Poteau, Okla., was elected to the American Angus Association Board in 2022. He was raised on a multigenerational commercial cow-calf ranch. After the purchase of commercial Angus cows and an Angus bull from Belle Point Ranch, the benefits of Angus genetics became clear. After graduating from OSU, he earned a master’s in physiology of reproduction from Texas A&M and began a career with ABS Global, where he assisted cattle producers in learning the value of efficient reproductive management programs. Wann Ranch hosts an annual production sale and markets 120 to 140 bulls. 

He served on the board for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Oklahoma Angus Association and has helped develop its Angus feeder-calf sale.  

John Stika, president, Certified Angus Beef, leads the American Angus Association’s consumer-facing subsidiary. The brand that is owned by registered Angus breeders and operates to create pull-through demand for Angus cattle has grown to more than 1.234 billion pounds of sales annually under his leadership. He joined CAB in 1999 in what was the feeder-packer relations division, before working in business development and assuming the role of president in 2006. He’s a Kansas farm boy, with degrees in animal and meat science from Kansas State University and the University of Kentucky. 

Related Reading:

Close, But No Certification

Angus Releases New Teat and Udder Research EPDs

Angus Releases Cow Longevity Prediction

AGI White Paper Looks at Future of Phenotyping, Commercial Data

Producers to be Paid Grid Premiums for AngusLink Beef Scores

Miranda Reiman (00:00:02):
Welcome to the Angus Conversation. I'm your host Miranda Reiman with my co-host Mark McCully, CEO of the American Angus Association, and we just wrapped up a great week here in St. Joseph. I know I say that every single time, but

Mark McCully (00:00:15):
We do say that. But it was a super productive week of our February board meetings, and this comes on the, it's two weeks prior to the board meetings. We also have committee meetings and we do those virtually. And so a lot of work has been done leading up to these board meetings, a lot of discussions by the committees. And then that really sets us up to start on Monday. And here we are, Thursday morning just concluded, getting through the American Angus Association Board as well as our four entities. The Foundation, Certified Angus Beef, AGI, and Angus Media all have separate board meetings. Sometimes that's a surprise to members. When I talk about our board meetings, they're like, what on earth did you guys talk about for four days? But when you start looking at the sophistication of this business and this organization anymore, there's a lot to get through.

Miranda Reiman (00:01:03):
And of course, in between there, a number of us were at the Cattle Industry Convention and trade show, including guests that we have around the table here today. So some of us are going on little bit of sleep, and maybe we're at the end of our clean laundry. So we're going to try to get through this quick so that everybody can finally get home to their operations. But of course, we have our current chairman of the board, Jonathan Perry from Fayetteville, Tennessee. I'm glad to have you here.

Johnathan Perry (00:01:29):
Thanks for having me on. Miranda

Miranda Reiman (00:01:31):
And Roger Wann is a first time guest here on the podcast from Poteau, Oklahoma. Did I say it right?

Roger Wann (00:01:37):
You did perfect.

Miranda Reiman (00:01:37):
Perfect. As a Minnesotan would say an Oklahoma Town name.

Roger Wann (00:01:40):
Exactly. You did great, Miranda. Thank you.

Miranda Reiman (00:01:42):
Good. Well, thank you guys for joining us. And of course we also asked John Stika with Certified Angus Beef to come on.

John Stika (00:01:49):
Yeah, glad to be here.

Miranda Reiman (00:01:50):
Yes. We will have a few of these topics that we're going to talk about today. We actually recorded some podcasts at Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show that you'll have to listen to in subsequent episodes. So we might just tell you like, Hey, we're going to talk

Mark McCully (00:02:02):
Do you want more on that?

Miranda Reiman (00:02:03):
Yeah, we're going to talk a little bit on that, but maybe Mark, start out by you give us, I guess I would call it a state of the association every time or an update. And here in February, it's kind of a good check-in point, I guess, on how the association's doing this year. Right.

Mark McCully (00:02:16):
Of course. We operate on a fiscal year that started back in October, so four months in, and of course the financial health of the organization and all the entities was something that we spend time in. We have actually a finance and planning committee that first goes through our financials and our investment strategies and all those things. And then also just an update on our core business. From a core business standpoint, we're excited to report registrations are up. We've had really two great months here lately with registrations. So fiscal year to date, registrations are up, female transfers are down significantly. I think that's an element of maybe breeders, keeping some females back. And we haven't seen maybe as many females being sold, so transfers are off a little bit. But otherwise, I guess guys, state of the business, we were pretty happy with some of the numbers we were able to share.

Roger Wann (00:03:05):
Bull transfers were actually up. Great point. So it's very strong dynamic, I think.

Johnathan Perry (00:03:10):
Yeah, I think it's very indicative of breeders wanting to keep females, breeders trying to expand a little bit. Market's very positive. Not very often that we just sat around the room talking about how short on bulls we all are. I mean, so the demand for registered Angus Bulls is definitely on the rise and going to be pretty positive for the next few years here, we believe. And I think we'll see registrations maintained and grow. I think you have a lot of metrics indicating that things are going to get really good as we go forward.

Miranda Reiman (00:03:44):
And we heard from our regional managers, we always have a few of them in for board meetings, and they said same thing, sales in their area, just strong kind of gangbuster on demand there.

Mark McCully (00:03:54):
We looked at fiscal year to date, so October, so this covers the fall sales season plus January. We have sold this year at least through those that we get reported through our regional managers over 15,000 bulls, which was up about a thousand over what we reported last year, those four months. But the average selling price average bull price is up $1,370 over last year at 8,347. I mean, that's kind of incredible, guys.

Johnathan Perry (00:04:20):
Phenomenal, strong demand.

Miranda Reiman (00:04:23):
And then when we think about Certified Angus Beef demand, one thing that I guess we've been writing down for a number of years is do more with less, do more with less. So we've got smaller numbers coming through, but we've been able to,

John Stika (00:04:36):
Yeah, it's been phenomenal. When you look at the fact that Certified Angus Beef sales just remain extremely strong, actually since our board meeting back on Tuesday, the January projection actually shot up to exceed where we were a year ago, which takes us exactly flush with where we were at this time in 2024. And so after a very strong sales position from October and November, a sluggish December, January came back barnstorming. And it's just really exciting to see that the demand that's out there at the prices that we all expect and need consumers to pay for this product,

Miranda Reiman (00:05:13):
Right. And with those fewer head that we have available, much larger hot carcass weights, bigger jump than we see.

John Stika (00:05:19):
Yeah, they're definitely bigger. Our average hot carcass weight from a CAB standpoint, well over 920 pounds now. And that's steers and heifers combined. And so these cattle are big, they're rich, and they're producing a product that consumers are just seeking out. And so if you're going to make pounds, make pounds of gold, not pounds of lead. And Angus producers have gotten really good at that.

Johnathan Perry (00:05:40):
John, I think it's good to point out that it's not just Certified Angus Beef that's coming in large. I mean industry, industrywide, carcasses are as big as we've seen them.

John Stika (00:05:48):
Oh yeah, you're right, JP. Yeah, they're big. They're all big.

Mark McCully (00:05:53):
On the demand side guys, I think one of the questions I get from producers is they know the prices that they're selling, feeder cattle, fed cattle, cull bulls, cull cows, and that question comes up, how much are consumers going to pay for our product? I guess maybe John and JP and the restaurant business. I mean, how do you guys tackle these high prices?

John Stika (00:06:12):
Well, I would just tell you that's been the single biggest question that you get from a producer. And we've been basically seeing record high prices every year since I've been in this business now. And the question is, when will the consumer push back? And my standard response based on observation and experience today is, I'm sure there's a line out there somewhere where the consumer is not comfortable, but we've not found it yet. And I think the reality is is that line continues to move as consumers get comfortable with the fact that maybe all costs are higher, all things are more expensive, and they just continue to evaluate that. I talk about all the time that price value relationship, and as long as we continue to put a product out there that they value, that they see benefit and putting their hard earned dollars out there, that line continues to get pushed out where it needs to be to allow profitability to flow through every segment of the beef production and merchandising chain that touch Certified Angus Beef. And it's been pretty exciting, JP

Johnathan Perry (00:07:14):
And I don't know if we're indicative of everybody, but we're very beef centric on our menu, very Certified Angus Beef. Obviously

Mark McCully (00:07:22):
We wouldn't let you on the podcast.

Johnathan Perry (00:07:24):
Absolutely. We're 100% Certified Angus Beef, but oddly enough, what we've seen is you would expect just the opposite. We've seen a shift in menu selection. You would think that as prices go up, maybe the time of year when people's wallet's a little tighter, you'd think they would trend down to the lower cost items on our menu, just the opposite, the higher quality cuts, the Prime strip, the filets, the ribeyes, we're selling more of those products than ever more of those cuts than ever the lesser quality cuts. And as you go down in price, that's where we're actually seeing a down downturn in uptake on those. But the higher the quality gets, the more demand we seem to see on the menu for it. And we're charging prices that quite frankly, as a rural guy that doesn't live in the heart of a big city, we look at what we're charging, you think, wow, I can't believe somebody will, but they continue to come in and want it.

Miranda Reiman (00:08:25):
That's fantastic kind of first person experience there. And we talked a lot about if we had a crystal ball and could predict these kind of things. I guess as we move into the, today we covered our long range strategic plan and trying to predict out what supply would look like, what demand will look like. Are the assumptions that you made the last time that plan was updated a couple of years ago, are they still true?

Mark McCully (00:08:47):
Yeah, yeah. It's an exercise we go through with the board. I think I talk all the time how important I believe these long range objectives are because it keeps us as staff making sure we're between the lines. It's a great way for a board to sometimes, as I said, sometimes there's lots of noise out there and there's lots of shiny things and lots of new, and really stay focused on the strategic. It helps our, be transparent with our membership of the things we're talking about here in the boardrooms and the things we're working for as their association. And I think trying to look down the road, obviously that's a hard task, but it's so important to try to envision what this industry's likely going to be, what our members are going to be dealing with three, four or five years down the road. So we spent some time doing that this morning.

Roger Wann (00:09:32):
Yes,

Mark McCully (00:09:32):
Sure.

Johnathan Perry (00:09:32):
The thing that I noticed, I commented to Mark on that, give kudos to him. I mean, that original list of strategies was developed when in 2000, ?

Mark McCully (00:09:44):
Well, about 2020, 2022

Johnathan Perry (00:09:47):
2020? And it's amazing not to a boards benefit, but Mark and his staff were so prophetic in where we would be today,

Mark McCully (00:09:56):
Prophet Mark? I like that.

Johnathan Perry (00:09:57):
Yeah, Saint Mark. But it's amazing to me when you read these strategies today, five years later, they are extremely relevant today. I mean, great job of Mark and the staff, dreaming those strategies up and being in the right spot when we got there.

Mark McCully (00:10:18):
I hope that's really a product of you guys as board members. The questions you asked, the concerns, the ideas you guys bring forward, what our membership is asking about and talking about, I hope those are things that, again, the word relevant was a word that we talked an awful lot about and how do we continue to stay relevant to all facets of our membership? And for some, we talked a lot about data and the phenotypes and how important those were and how do we continue to evolve in that regard, but also know we have members that are part of this association for lots of different reasons, and so trying to predict what they all need is hard.

Roger Wann (00:10:53):
Yeah, I think the word relevant was the key word of the week through a lot of our discussions. But as far as the input and the discussions from the board members, there's a wide variety of experience and backgrounds and educators and agriculturalists and professional people that have had quite a background of experience to draw on and to bring to those discussions. So there's always another angle to consider once you get folks talking.

Miranda Reiman (00:11:24):
Well, and I think all of the things that you talked about in the boardroom, you asked them to rank what their relevance was to supply and if you thought that that assumption was true or false. So I think a lot of those things, everybody might have the same opinion on if that assumption is true, but how much it impacts

Mark McCully (00:11:41):
How much impact, how much we respond to it.

Miranda Reiman (00:11:44):
Right.

Roger Wann (00:11:44):
Certainly. Certainly.

Miranda Reiman (00:11:46):
So you bring up the phenotypes, Mark, and that probably leads us right into a discussion as we talk a little bit about Angus Genetics Incorporated. And we had a pretty long and in depth discussion there about everything from the AGI Imagine forum, which happened last fall and some of the things that it predicted in its white paper. I dunno if you guys had observations on hearing about that or

Roger Wann (00:12:11):
I did not attend that, but I spoke to several people that did attend the Imagine Conference last fall. And I think just the thought provoking process that the staff led the attendees through was very strong and has continued to have a lasting impact on the folks that were there. And I don't think anywhere does the word relevance mean more than when we're talking about genetic discovery and genetic tools to make cattle better for the future. And certainly AGI is looked at as the professional in the industry and we want to be sure it stays there.

Miranda Reiman (00:12:48):
I think we talked about that as being both our challenge and that that's probably where some of our biggest competition comes from. Also in that space as well as it's our biggest asset for sure. So if you want to know more about that, AGI Imagine Forum and also the white paper, we will have a podcast coming out on that here in the next couple of weeks. So that's a good one to tune into to really dig in deep on that. But that also framed up some of our discussion in AGI

Johnathan Perry (00:13:13):
Sure and AGI, Kelli, her whole team. I've gotten several calls leading up to the board meeting, what's on the agenda, what are the big topics, what are we going to tackle? And not that there weren't a lot of things going on, but I would say that Kelli and her team dominated the lead up in the meeting this week. A lot of things going on in AGI, they are, as Roger says, the relevance and they're a leader in the industry for providing those tools, taking our memberships data, bringing it in-house, doing all the things that they do with it, turning it around and sending it back to us in a tool that makes us money and makes us more productive. And they're working on a lot of things. Functional longevity, teat and udder EPDs, I mean those are in forms of research EPDs today, but the plans are in May, they're going to roll right out as EPDs and go to work for all of us as breeders. They are incorporating that into the maternal weaned calf value. There's a whole lot going on inside of that shop and inside of those traits, we've had call after call members wanting more data, more relevance put on the maternal side of our cow families. And John Stika and I both talk about this a lot. People tend to think that we can't be terminal and maternal, but I'd say putting marbling in maternal is one of the easiest things we can do in this business. And we started CAB because our maternal females created a product that was superior in marbling and superior in taste. And still today, I mean we need it all. It's all relevant, but it all can go together in one package. Absolutely. And thanks to Kelli and her team, we have a list of those tools that can make us very productive and very successful incorporating all those tools together.

Roger Wann (00:15:07):
Those tools, really the value there is inherent in the data that's presented, the amount of performance information submitted by our members. So we spent some time going over that and I continue to hear, oh, everybody's just doing genomics, which is a very important part of animal breeding today, and nobody's turning in enough performance data. That's really not the case. The amount of foot scores and teat and udder scores that are rolling into breed improvement and being used by Angus Genetics Inc. To produce the kind of tools then that we can use to continue to improve cattle, it's amazing the rate at which we're expanding

Johnathan Perry (00:15:44):
I think one of Mark's greatest frustrations is he'll start most every meeting giving us a graph or a metric of how many phenotypes we are actually still collecting in this breed. And everybody tends to want to say, genomics is king and the phenotypes don don't contribute, and the phenotypes don't matter

Mark McCully (00:16:04):
Nobody's collecting data.

Johnathan Perry (00:16:05):
And Mark's like, no, you guys don't understand. We're still bringing in more phenotypes than ever. Phenotypes are still king. And without those phenotypes, genomics have no way to be trained or be relevant.

Mark McCully (00:16:18):
And I think that in that white paper that we talked about, I think that's the opening statement, is the phenotype is king and the phenotypes, and we use that term phenotypes. I know sometimes folks use it as well. Phenotype is just what the cattle look like. We are using phenotypes, meaning measures and metrics, whether that's a birth weight, whether that's an udder score, a foot score, a marbling score, those are all individual phenotypes. Right.

Roger Wann (00:16:43):
When we discussed that in terms of maternal, I remember being on a panel with Kelli at a Oklahoma Cattleman's, young Cattleman's Leadership Academy, I don't remember six or seven years ago, and she was, boy, I wish we could get more than 60,000 cows in inventory reporting said, it's just terrible. That's all we have. Well, today we have three times that many. We have 120, 120,000 full MaternalPlus cows today. With full complement of data that comes along with that. So we're growing rapidly, it appears to me

Mark McCully (00:17:19):
You have to report whole herd reporting. Now we're up to almost 169,000 cows, females. And I mean, what a growth,

Miranda Reiman (00:17:27):
Up 19.1%

Mark McCully (00:17:27):
and kudos to our breeders that have really, understand the value of whole herd reporting and committed to that. That's been exciting growth.

Johnathan Perry (00:17:34):
And that data, that data is largely what's enabling AGI to build those maternal EPDs and maternal indexes. I mean, without that membership data coming in through whole herd reporting, it's pretty hard to collect those phenotypes, pretty hard to get those hard-to-measure traits. And from fertility to teat and udder and everything, I mean the membership's driving that bus.

Mark McCully (00:17:54):
Yep. And I think we talk about the tools and not just exclusively to our breeders. I know one of the focuses of the board and around AGI has been to also help making sure we're helping our commercial producers. Clearly that comes through the bull selection side of things, but also GeneMax our commercial tests or our test for commercial heifers to help them in selection. And so we spent a fair amount of time in AGI getting an update from Dr. Medeiros on all the work he's been doing to incorporate the Angus indexes into GeneMax and our marketing and promotion plans and what's going on on that front,

Roger Wann (00:18:33):
And then how that fuels right into AngusLink and Genetic Merit Scorecards maintaining that documented value of feeder calves all the way through to the packer today, John, and which fuels the supply that you need at CAB

John Stika (00:18:49):
Indeed

Mark McCully (00:18:50):
Outside of, this was not in AGI, this was back in our commercial programs committee call a couple of weeks ago, but we had the procurement folks from National Beef join the call and talk about how AngusLink is working for them. They shared some data I think our listeners would be sure interested in. It's not, 2,600 head. They've run through that program so far. Those cattle are averaging almost 44%, 43.7% Prime, 87% CAB and Prime. The cattle, they broke 'em down. Troy Marshall broke 'em down. Between those under 125 GMS beef score, those cattle are 25.5% Prime. So obviously pretty good smoking above the industry average. But those over 125 are running 53% Prime

Miranda Reiman (00:19:40):
Which also shows the tool works. It's great validation.

Mark McCully (00:19:43):
Exactly. And they're 1500 pounds. These are 963 pound carcasses. These are not little cattle that don't perform or grade.

Johnathan Perry (00:19:50):
And I mean in that program with National, those cattle were selected and bought on those scorecards. I mean, they have faith in our scoring system. They believed it worked and they brought back the first data of the kills and it was pretty indicative that it was right on.

Roger Wann (00:20:07):
I don't know of one single thing that would point out the value of a registered Angus bull better than that set of data from National.

Miranda Reiman (00:20:15):
And what was the message you heard loud and clear from 'em in procurement?

Roger Wann (00:20:18):
We need more. A whole bunch more.

Johnathan Perry (00:20:20):
That's exactly what I wrote down information was that they love the product, but they need more. They need, what'd they tell us, Mark? They needed 30,000.

Miranda Reiman (00:20:28):
50, I thought I heard 50,000

Roger Wann (00:20:29):
A thousand head a week. And they could build a brand around that.

Johnathan Perry (00:20:32):
That. Absolutely. And so they're hungry for it. They got a home for it and they know it will work. I'm going to back up to the GeneMax scorecard. One of the things that we worked really hard the last few years as a board was to put some metrics on all of these tools that was a common currency. And I think one of the real powerful things we got done in the last couple of years was getting those indexes on that GeneMax scorecard when a commercial customer comes to you needing to buy bulls, and he's got no way to translate what that Genemax scorecard tells him to what your data and your American Angus EPDs in that catalog will do for him and how he makes bull selections. So I think that was a huge thing and something that we really need to promote with that Genemax scorecard going forward.

Miranda Reiman (00:21:19):
And that really helps you guys as breeders too, be able to serve as more of a coach or a mentor in that as well.

Johnathan Perry (00:21:24):
Well, he's got a gauge for where he is at and what he needs to improve and what quite frankly he's already really good at, so he can make more informed bull selections and do a better job of upgrading his cow herd.

Miranda Reiman (00:21:37):
Another part of the, I guess relaunch of GeneMax that fell into that communications and marketing side of it was they showed us an intelligence report. So they're also going to help maybe give a little bit more direction on what do these numbers mean when you get 'em back.

Mark McCully (00:21:52):
I think all of us can get stifled if we're not careful of just getting a bunch of data but not having it summarized in a useful way. And that's really what that's about.

Johnathan Perry (00:22:00):
Sure. And the intentions, not to tell him where to go or what to buy, but how to interpret that data, how to utilize what's best to help himself.

Miranda Reiman (00:22:11):
Yeah, what kind of questions should you be asking yourself? Exactly. So also in AGI I guess before we leave that area, we talked about a lot of things that fell under either improving service or improving operations, improving the tools, all of those kind of things. Kelly's group talked about the higher discovery pipeline and how that could make things more efficient and maybe help solve problems that we get in here as an AGI team.

Mark McCully (00:22:35):
And that's something they've been working on for a while. I think most that have been involved in doing parentage. They know to submit the bulls that are the likely sires, and then through genomics we sort those things out with the parentage markers, really what this is doing is leveraging those bigger genomic profiles and that bigger amount of data that we have on parent animals today to maybe even start be able to start the process with here's what the genomics actually can go out and almost discover this is the likely sire, these are the likely two, three sires when you get into full sibs and things like that. And then give that back to the breeder, to the member to say and affirm what the genetics have identified. And that's what we know. That's how the dairy industries and others have done it, but it's really all done out of capability of the technology and the adoption of, we've got so many cattle that have a genomic profile on 'em today and just trying to make this easier for members. We know that that's what a lot of the AGI customer service team works on every day is being a little bit of playing some CSI out there trying to figure out is this the right cow? Is this the right sire? Absolutely. So hopefully this is an advancement that makes it easier for our members.

Roger Wann (00:23:49):
Yeah. Well, we're still on this breed improvement discussion. I'd just say to any member Angus breeder out there that would like to be involved in MaternalPlus isn't really sure how to get started with inventory reporting. I mean our breeding improvement staff, Devin and everybody in that group, she's just awesome to walk you through that initial head scratching like this is a little overwhelming. I haven't cleaned up my inventory online and not sure I ever have.

Miranda Reiman (00:24:20):
Are you speaking from experience here, Roger?

Roger Wann (00:24:21):
That's what mine looked like about three years ago.

Johnathan Perry (00:24:24):
Esther and her team are really good.

Roger Wann (00:24:27):
There's some great tools to help you identify cows that most likely aren't really there and start to get those eliminated out of the herd. And once you get to that point, then the process just becomes easier every year.

Miranda Reiman (00:24:42):
Other things that we talked about were updates on upcoming research, things like validation study with the University of Illinois and some of our dollar value indexes also, hopefully being able to capture some phenotypes with that as well.

Mark McCully (00:24:54):
And then also advancements on the bovine congestive heart failure research. I know that that's something that this board has certainly been interested in progressing that research along. I know we have members, especially those that run at altitude and in some areas that becomes a little bit more of a reoccurring question. So got an update. Really the plans is kind of looking towards fall. We've got a grad student that's going to be able to join that's been working on the project through the spring and continue to help advance with this. This data is not easy data to get to. And I think that's when I talk to breeders, what just go into the genomic database and figure it out. That's not how this one works.

Miranda Reiman (00:25:35):
And have the phenotypes

Mark McCully (00:25:36):
Really important phenotypes and I think the key, and there's some other products in the market today, but the key is we want to make sure that the product, the tool that we put in breeder's hands is representative of and we're confident that it's representative the diversity within our breed. And I think that's why we're being so careful at going at this research to make sure it's a tool that can really make some advancements and represents all of our breed,

Johnathan Perry (00:26:01):
But also built in our population on our pedigrees. And while I'll reiterate what Mark says there, while the end result's not here today, it's front and center in their shop. They are working on it daily. It is a major topic that they are putting lots of time and effort into and it is definitely front and center.

Miranda Reiman (00:26:24):
I guess I'm kind of jumping around here a little bit, but before we leave the data discussion, and you've already kind of given a great commercial for MaternalPlus, one thing that they talked about in the breed improvement committee would've been the data recognition program and our opportunity to maybe shed some light on or I guess shine a light on those people that are submitting that data.

Mark McCully (00:26:43):
I think it's something this board's talked about for quite some time. How do we give credit? I always say give credit to those breeders that breeders know that the more data you turn in, the better that our tools are going to be at describing your genetics. But we know in this competitive world and in a world where labor's short and time is short and making that investment and collecting and submitting the data, is there anything more you guys that we can put in place that really help kind of differentiate those breeders? And so some concepts were brought forward to the breed improvement committee around maybe again, some recognition based on recognizing breeders that are going if you well above and beyond in terms of the number of traits that they're measuring and collecting and submitting. And so had some concepts that the board gave us some feedback on and we'll continue to advance that idea.

Johnathan Perry (00:27:32):
And that's a good thing to recognize breeders that are doing that. I mean, ultimately you see that success in your own herd, in your own genetic improvement, but still we feel like there's a reason to recognize those breeders at different levels that are going that extra step. You're right, it takes tons of man hours, not as much expenses as is man hours and effort and time and your time's worth money. So there should be some recognition for going that extra mile

Miranda Reiman (00:28:00):
And then they could use that in their marketing.

Johnathan Perry (00:28:03):
And I think people need to understand that those members are making a huge impact on the rest of our data and they deserve some recognition.

Miranda Reiman (00:28:13):
Absolutely. We had a lot of other committee meetings, but I guess one that we spent quite a bit of time on then would be the CAB, the entity board meeting there and that was more data. John, tell us about your consist study that you've been working on and maybe the kind of things you learned from that.

John Stika (00:28:29):
Sure. Well, I think every year one of the things that maybe membership isn't necessarily aware of is we do an ongoing consist study of just the supply chain that goes into Certified Angus Beef. And so we've been doing that. I'd say going back the original consist that was done was done back in the nineties.

Miranda Reiman (00:28:47):
You guys used to go in the coolers and get that data yourself?

John Stika (00:28:49):
No, exactly. And probably the last one that was done by hand was in 2005, 2006 when we made that original discussion around moving from a yield grade 3.9 or leaner specification to a component spec of ribeye area back fat and hot carcass weight. And ever since that time, our licensed packer partners have been very good to work with us to capture a snapshot of the supply chain. We ask the major packers to submit to us all the carcass data on Angus influenced cattle for one full week every month of the year. And that gives us good representation from a seasonal standpoint, gives us great insight from a geography standpoint as well in terms of where the product and where the cattle are from a quality perspective. And so that database annually is around 2 million carcasses

Miranda Reiman (00:29:48):
From 12 plants.

John Stika (00:29:48):
Yeah, 12 plants. And so it is very significant, very meaningful. I would say the biggest thing that continues to amaze me is when you look at the population of cattle, the quality that is out there, it's one thing to hear about 83% or 84% Choice and Prime is where we're at today as an industry. But when you look at the data that we are capturing on those 2 million, if I remember correctly the number, it was in excess of the modest degree of marbling that these Angus cattle are averaging. We've put a tremendous amount of quality in these cattle. We're running about a 14 and a half average ribeye area as a whole, which again is very acceptable. But I know when we started that you think about how far we moved, there was a time when we were averaging a 12 and a half ribeye area. So when you look over a 20 year period, we've really moved the consist quite a bit. I think we average around 65 hundredeths of fat is where we sit, which we know is about ideal in all honesty to maximize a Certified Angus Beef acceptance rates. When

Miranda Reiman (00:30:52):
I first started, I was writing articles trying to convince cattle feeders that they should move their target from 0.4. I mean that was like the industry gold standard at the time.

John Stika (00:31:01):
Yeah, that was kind of the industry gold standard, but now the industry gold standard is quality

(00:31:06):
As opposed to specific fat spec and we know that we need to get 'em a little bit more cover on 'em to optimize the return profitability wise that quality's paying today. And it's really been exciting to see. And Daniel Clark, our meat scientist, coordinates that effort for us and does a phenomenal job ever since we've been doing the consist study though, part of the reason we do it is then to look at where is the industry evolving. That needs to be something that as a board Certified Angus Beef takes into account to make sure the brand stays relevant, not only with consumers, which is why the specs are in place to begin with, is to make sure that the specs assure quality and consistency and a premium product in the eyes of the consumer. But then how do they need to evolve to then allow us to make sure we're staying relevant with the producer and production segment of the business?

(00:32:02):
That in all honesty, is reacting to economic signals that are much bigger than just Certified Angus Beef premiums. And I think that's part of it that really requires us to stay in tune with. And if you go back in time, the reason we moved away back in 2006 from a yield grade equation or yield grade specification to ribeye back fat and hot carcass weight was because we figured out then that from a brand perspective, yield grade wasn't relevant to the brand. What was relevant to developing and providing that consistent quality of product? Was it a consistent product? Was it a quality product? And what did it look like when it hit the box and then ultimately hit that distributor and that restaurateur? And that same philosophy now has been applied over a couple different changes that we've had from a spec standpoint, mainly being carcass weight. We've increased carcass. We had a couple different times since 2006 when we first put that spec in place here. More recently, a few years back we went to from a 1050 hot carcass weight spec to now we're at 1100 pounds or less hot carcass weight spec and all that has been driven by staying relevant with an industry that that's falling big industry, big picture economics that today is indicated we need to make cattle bigger.

Mark McCully (00:33:23):
Well, the value of that consist study, we keep calling it consist study, but all that carcass data is you can model what and know exactly what the impact of these specs are having you hear, and Paul Dykstra recently wrote a column or an article that's been talked about three units of marbling, 30 points of marbling and the impact that has on that knowledge and being able to model that comes from the consist study. So we look at the impact of some of these specs, man, that data is so valuable and always appreciative that our packing partners just freely share that for the betterment of the brand and the industry

John Stika (00:33:59):
They do because it benefits the entire supply chain and it allows us to keep the brand relevant to communicate messages that ultimately help everybody. To your point Mark about that 30 degrees of marbling, there's 10% of all Angus influenced cattle that are only 30 degrees of marbling away from being Certified Angus Beef. The flip side of that, as we talk about an industry that's evolving around us, whether that be the use of growth promoting technologies such as exterior that are definitely going to help improve efficiency in the marketplace, we've got to balance those with declines in marbling because 17% of CAB supply sits within 30 degrees of marbling to not be in CAB anymore. And so these knives cut both ways and that's why having that information is so important. I think it's interesting that first because I was in the plant collecting ribeye areas, measuring ribeye areas and so forth, when we did that consist study back in 2005, we made a decision to move away from yield grade at that time based on a consist of 24,000 carcasses.

(00:35:06):
Today, when we look at evaluating specifications, we're talking about 2 million carcasses that we can look at across this industry that are Angus influenced cattle that are coming out of licensed plants. That gives us so much more perspective on being able to predict what the overall income or impact might be of any evolution in the specs. Which really takes us to one of the topics that we discussed here at this board meeting, and that was the potential of increasing our ribeye area specification from an upper limit of 16.0 inches to 17.0. Something that we've been talking about for honestly over a year. You could actually go back, I think gentlemen and say, we've been talking about this since COVID when we saw huge increases in carcass weights, we saw huge increases in fat cover and so forth because of the cattle being pushed back. And then along with that big increases in ribeye area at the time and trying to better understand what's the right path to stay relevant to everybody from the end user to the producer from a muscle standpoint on ribeye area.

Miranda Reiman (00:36:11):
I will say from watching that discussion happen in the boardroom, I think there were just a lot of heads nodding right there. I would imagine that maybe the first time that the specifications were changed back in '06, there was maybe a lot more consternation or a lot more discussion around it, but I guess you guys felt pretty comfortable with that.

Johnathan Perry (00:36:30):
Oh, I mean, we've looked at it like John said, I mean it's been one of our major topics in our CAB meetings for the last three or four years. And as we watched the industry go up weight wise and carcass weight go up and we questioned him time and time again, at what point are we going to have to follow? At what point are we going to have to stay with it? So it wasn't a decision we just looked at this week and said, why not? It's been an ongoing conversation for at least three, four years

Roger Wann (00:36:59):
And a lot of data has been looked at. What impact does that have on the supply? How many carcasses does it add? There was some discussion of keeping the six inch window and moving the bottom from 10 up to 11, but those are very valuable, well sought after carcasses with those smaller ribeyes and there's no reason to take those away from our customers and through our chain, but we still are able to think, keep a good grip on consistency and keep our product quality where we need it to be.

John Stika (00:37:33):
Yeah. Roger, you bring up a great point and maybe for the membership, I know everybody's got the 10 specifications for Certified Angus Beef on the dash of their pickup truck right next to the calving book and so forth, but maybe for those that don't, OK, maybe it'd be good to just give some insight. Clear back in 2006, we put a specification for ribeye area in place that was nothing below a 10.0 inch ribeye and nothing above a 16.0 inch ribeye. And I think that's important to keep in mind that this upper limit on ribeye area has been in place for 18 years. Okay. I would've thought that when we put that in, I was in the room when we put that in place back then. And I think collectively we would've thought if we could buy 10 years

(00:38:20):
And have a specification in place that for ribeye area that didn't have to change for 10 years for that spec, that would be a success. We were hoping for that with carcass weight, but carcass weight's increased so quickly that we've adjusted that now a couple times since then. But this 10 to 16 window has really maintained a lifetime that is far beyond maybe what we would've thought. And we've been able to do that because we've also seen producers increase marbling and increase the quality of the cattle that continued to keep an ample supply product in the mix today is we evaluated, we have some packing plants that we work with that their steer populations will average a 16. And that's just the reality of what we're seeing today where when you've got plants that their steers are averaging your upper limit, you then are putting really high quality product in an environment where cattle have all gotten bigger.

(00:39:19):
Where a 16 inch ribeye is not near an extreme like it was in 2006. It is more of the norm. And JP, you would see this from a restaurant standpoint, that it does give you reason. When you evaluate the consist study, evaluate the perspective of the customers we deal with and look at what's best for producers who are breeding for more muscle, more ribeye area as well. How do we make sure the brand remains positioned to be additive to the restaurateur, the packer, the producer and everybody that is looking to again, capitalize on the demand that's there. Keep in mind that we're going into a period of time where we're going to see the smallest supplies that I know I've seen in my career. What we also begin to hear from our customers is, Hey, we love the brand and we would rather have big ribeyes than no ribeyes at all.

(00:40:08):
And that's the other reality that comes into this because it's not just looking at data for the last year. Yeah, Miranda, we've been talking to every segment of our licensed partners, starting with the restaurateur, starting with our retail partners who are going to experience potentially some products that come in a Certified Angus Beef box, a ribeye or a strip that they may have to cut it slightly thinner than what they had in the past, but they're doing that today as well. And so it's just an evolution. So ultimately what the decision was was that the motion was put forth to increase the upper limit on our ribeye range to a 17.0 to increase that by an inch. To your point, Roger, there was discussion over the course of this evaluation of should we move the bottom as well? And the reality is, is those cattle are still, they were premium yesterday and they're premium today, and if

Miranda Reiman (00:41:05):
If you're raising 'em, you're still going to get your premium.

John Stika (00:41:07):
You're still going to get your premium. And so we did believe that it made sense to keep the lower limit at 10, move the upper limit to 17, and the expectations are if you apply that across 2024 supply, we could see an increase that would've been an increase in Certified Angus Beef, upper two thirds Choice supply of about five to 6%. It'll increase the CAB Prime supply by about three to 4%, and that's against last year's numbers. What we believe moving forward, it's probably going to allow us to stay steady in terms of overall CAB carcasses as overall fed harvest begins to drop and so forth. And so this is something that allows us to stay relevant to the end user that needs to have the product relevant to the packer that then needs to push that premium back into the producer pocket. That again, is continuing to focus on quality and meeting the demand targets.

Johnathan Perry (00:42:07):
And John, back to that consistency thing in the box, while those 10 inch ribeyes are still a premium, as that average size has creeped up to 14 five, you open a box, there aren't very many of them tens in there anymore. So we've already seen ribeye size in a box increase quite a bit. We're bumping that high average every case instead of that low average. So I don't think we'll see very, very little impact on consistency in a box.

John Stika (00:42:37):
I think you're right, JP. I think the consistency, we're already fairly large as an industry in terms of average ribeye size we've been pushing up against, our average is pushing up against that 16 inch limit more than it ever has. And so adding these few additional cattle that are in that 17.0 range, we anticipate in our conversations with our partners that they're really not going to see a significant or noticeable difference in any of the consistency in terms of ribs and strips. And let me be very clear, this is really only a specification around ribs and strips, right?

Miranda Reiman (00:43:12):
It doesn't matter to the briskets.

John Stika (00:43:12):
Yeah, everything else, everything else the data would definitely suggest Daniel Clark, our meat scientists who we talked about earlier with the consist study, when you look at the size and the impact on other cuts, those are really hot carcass weight related. Okay, you increase hot carcass weight, you increase the size of an inside round or a chuck roll or a brisket. Or a tenderloin. But when you start talking about this specific specification of ribeye area, it's really about the rib and the strip. And I think to help breeders and membership feel comfortable with this change, keep in mind that for a couple of years now, we've had a couple plants that have been operating under what we call our G1A specification where we would allow them to certify carcasses that had up to a 19 inch high. They just couldn't put the rib and the strip and any short loin products into the brand. And so those end meats, those thin meats, all those other items, we've had those products flowing into the brand in another form. We're just at a point now where we, industry dynamics really says, Hey, we're not going to go clear to 19, but a one inch jump to 17 inches makes a lot of sense. That's where the industry is and we expect the industry will migrate there as they had before.

Roger Wann (00:44:33):
You make, I think a great point on the rest of the carcass, and we've sat here and talked about rib, because of moving that spec. We've talked a lot about ribs, but having now been to the culinary center a couple of times of attending a couple of CAB annual conferences, and the work your staff does to increase value of the entire CAB carcass and the training of the foodservice industry as to how to present that, how to market that, and it is just been a phenomenal thing for me to get closer to and understand better. So I would hope our members all could get a grasp around that too, is that every piece of that carcass is benefiting and adding value all the way back through to our registered Angus bulls again,

Johnathan Perry (00:45:19):
Tongue to tail

Mark McCully (00:45:20):
I always say is where premiums come from. It is the whole carcass and the value of across that whole carcass.

Miranda Reiman (00:45:25):
Another thing that we talked about in the CAB board meeting that I don't want to gloss over, but I will instruct people to also listen to another podcast we have coming out would just be CAB's leadership and specifically John's leadership in the whole topic surrounding red meat yield. And you mentioned back in '06 CAB realized that that yield grade equation wasn't working to predict what we needed it to. I think the industry is there and working on some exciting solutions. And John, we got to have you and Dr. Blake Foraker on the podcast, and so be listening in. That will be one that'll come up probably in the next couple of weeks as well. So I guess as we try to make sure that JP makes his flight today, because I think he is needed at home, we'll kind of probably breeze through the other entities fairly quickly, I guess Angus Media, we talked a lot about new products that we have and updates on other products, how we are improving our editorial delivery. I guess one thing that might be of note during this sales season to anyone who's out there searching the worldwide web for your bulls, if you want to go on Pasture to Publish and you're looking across all sale books and you've got really specific type of animal that you are looking for, you're able to search all sale books for those kind of inputs that you want on EPDs and rankings and things like that.

Mark McCully (00:46:43):
That's been a neat feature to add to Pasture to Publish

Roger Wann (00:46:46):
It allows to go across all books produced by Angus Media that are searchable and find that unique animal instead of turning a lot of pages.

Miranda Reiman (00:46:59):
And it really makes that search go quicker. We talked about new things we have coming out, we're now producing reels if people want to send in content as either a pre-event to drive people to their sales or a post-event thank you. I guess just really talked about our growth in our marketing efforts and how we're reaching producers and continue to hopefully serve you guys

Mark McCully (00:47:20):
And the innovation you guys continue to churn out in Angus Media. I think for our breeders to keep up in this day and age of marketing, right, it's

Roger Wann (00:47:27):
More and more digital options,

Mark McCully (00:47:29):
Some great print options that we continue to

Roger Wann (00:47:33):
We don't discount the value of those at all. But there's a lot of other things available.

Miranda Reiman (00:47:38):
And I guess the big follow us on Snapchat, if you are on Snapchat, Angus Media is now there as well.

Johnathan Perry (00:47:44):
Yeah, the toolbox that Angus Media just continues to add to and create for members and breeders advantages are, it's amazing. I mean, there's a lot of fast track technology things that us simple cowboys may not know a lot about, but man, they've figured out a way to take your product, take your cattle in your sales into every avenue of somebody's life and give 'em a chance. Give 'em a call and let 'em discuss the options because it'll blow your mind how visionary they become and the options they have for you that are exclusive to us right here in this house. And that's what our membership has. Quite an advantage when you look at marketing and getting out in front of people. The advantage they create right here in this office through Angus Media is amazing.

Miranda Reiman (00:48:32):
That's a great sales pitch. We would love the opportunity to help you reach the Angus audience for sure.

Johnathan Perry (00:48:37):
And Miranda loves to talk. She'll definitely give you every option.

Miranda Reiman (00:48:42):
Yeah, give me a call. Very good. And then of course Angus Foundation. That's always a fun one to get to talk about.

Mark McCully (00:48:46):
We kind of the end where we started the week really, we started with Angus Foundation and may wait, January was such a great month of fundraising down at Cattleman's Congress, the Foundation

Miranda Reiman (00:48:57):
Thanks to the generosity of our members both for donations and for

Johnathan Perry (00:49:01):
Man, what an outpouring of support from donations to purchases. I mean, we raised a lot of unrestricted funds in January for our Foundation. They can do a lot of things like the Beef Academy creation. That's a topic that we listened to at the last few meetings and something that very few members probably are aware of today. But through the Foundation, we've created an online learning platform called the Beef Academy. And it's relevant for every age. I mean, it has different levels. Mark, you can probably speak to it better than I can, but has different levels of learning that you progress through from youth, just getting into the business, showing livestock, learning what the industry's about to young adults, getting into our industry, coming back or coming home and getting in learning, I mean, practical things about what we do in this business and promoting Angus and agriculture in general. I mean, it's a product that was created here for our membership, but it would be so useful for 4-H and FFA groups. Give us a little more on it. Mark, you can get a little deeper.

Mark McCully (00:50:10):
You nailed it. Kudos to Ingram Angus, stepped up to help us get that thing funded

Roger Wann (00:50:16):
The development of it, right?

Mark McCully (00:50:17):
I think probably one of the most exciting things. We've always had a vision of part of this as a strategy to reach youth outside. I think we do fantastic with our, and we're going to continue to pour in and invest in those kids, but what about the kids that maybe aren't involved or as they were as actively involved in showing and how can we maybe get into some high school ag classrooms? And that's always been the vision and the what if. And the teams working on a pilot project to build this Beef Academy as a curriculum that an ag teacher could then go plug into their classroom. And I think as what we're taking as a pretty nice sign of the interest in the value was they teased this out on social media looking for a handful of ag teachers that might want to help us with a pilot project. And I don't know, don't define

Miranda Reiman (00:51:07):
It was the most shared social post of at least Holly Martin's career. But we think maybe the Association's

Mark McCully (00:51:13):
Incredible amount of response to it. So

Miranda Reiman (00:51:16):
Hey, teachers were saying, yeah, we want to be part of that.

Mark McCully (00:51:18):
Teachers, sign me up. Let me be a part of this. So it really, I think, speaks to the need that's out there and really kind of maybe opened our eyes of what else could we do in that regard. So that's been fantastic.

Roger Wann (00:51:29):
Beef Academy has really been the focus of our communications committee for probably the last three or four committee meetings and doing the website.

Miranda Reiman (00:51:37):
Once we got the website done

Roger Wann (00:51:38):
Once the website was completed, that was the next project to tackle and it has moved along well. Absolutely.

Mark McCully (00:51:45):
And the one thing real quick on Foundation, I wanted to point, I thought that Jimmy Stickley and Jaclyn, they reported on the Talon Scholarship growth there, and I think Cam Cooper would be quite proud of the generous donation she made years ago and how that program's continued to grow. I think we have 12 intern host sites this summer

Miranda Reiman (00:52:04):
12 locations

Mark McCully (00:52:06):
And a record number of applicants

Johnathan Perry (00:52:07):
One side of the country to the other, I mean, it's a real good representation of different areas, different types of breeders, so mean it's very beneficial.

Miranda Reiman (00:52:17):
Absolutely. And it's easy to talk about the work that the Foundation does in supporting the youth, but also as we talked about some of those projects back to the heart health and all of those, the AGI, white paper, et cetera, those were also funded with dollars from there. So it's definitely doing, its part in the,

Johnathan Perry (00:52:34):
We discussed that in our long range conversation earlier today, and the relevance of our association is driven a lot by the Foundation and the fact that we are able to utilize that foundation to give back to our membership, not just in scholarships, not just in youth programs, but in research projects and things that a lot of people, lot of organizations would love to be a part of. They can't afford it. They don't have the funding because of the generosity of our membership, because of the forethought from the guys that started that back in the day. We have resources at our fingertips to go and be a part of major, relevant things that come along in our industry before they happen. And that's a big deal. That's a big deal.

Miranda Reiman (00:53:19):
As I look at our list of things we wanted to cover, one kind of last thing that I think would be important for our National Junior Angus Association members would be to talk about a few changes to the show that are coming up this summer.

Johnathan Perry (00:53:31):
Yeah, Mark, I'll take this one if you'll let me.

Mark McCully (00:53:33):
You're the chairman. I've got to let you do

Johnathan Perry (00:53:34):
Obviously the junior program is really near and dear to my heart. I have a young lady that's pretty important to me in our household that happens to be on that National Junior Board. And I get a lot of pride just realizing how this scenario happened this summer. But we kind of went back to our junior board and tasked them with evaluating our national junior show and activities that those kids participate in and how can we make it more popular? How can we make it more relevant to today's times? What events and activities do we have in it that maybe aren't as well supported as they once were not as relevant? And what are some things we need to add to it to make it more relevant, to make it more, state of the art, make it more participation friendly?

(00:54:22):
And that 12 young adults went to task and they put a lot of heart and time into evaluating that whole structure and how it works and how it can be better and what they can do. And they added some things. They added an addition to our showmanship contest, which the showmanship contest at National Junior Angus Show is one of a kind. And any youth show in the world will tell you that it is the pinnacle and those kids wait their whole life for their chance to participate in that event and it be their one chance at glory. And so it's exclusive and it's neat. And we didn't want to touch that. They didn't want to touch that, they wanted to leave that

Miranda Reiman (00:55:04):
Keep it special

Johnathan Perry (00:55:05):
Exclusive as it always has been. But they see the need and the want from exhibitors, young exhibitors to give them another showmanship contest that they can participate and hone their skills and get better every year at and have a chance to participate at a younger age. So they added a showmanship division that everybody can participate in from first year exhibitor all the way to, I think 16. And it is totally separate from our original showmanship contest. But those kids have a reason to come and get excited about showing in showmanship. They did evaluate.

Miranda Reiman (00:55:41):
They get in the ring another time,

Johnathan Perry (00:55:42):
They can get in the ring another time and they can be a part of, they drive all the way to Tulsa, Oklahoma this summer. And it gives 'em one more opportunity to go into ring and show that animal and put their hard work to test and see how

Mark McCully (00:55:55):
Candidly, maybe families that aren't as competitive or maybe don't have the budgets to run right at that top end of the owned heifer show those kids can,. absolutely, go be competitive in that showmanship world

Johnathan Perry (00:56:08):
And I applaud 'em. I mean it was a topic that was very, very near and dear to some exhibitors and families. And it was also a topic that was pretty controversial to others that we messed with a long time tradition. And so they found a way to balance that and honor the time tradition and add new traditions to our event. They evaluated several of the other contests and they decided that maybe it is time to try a few different things and maybe we pull some contests out for a year or two and see what the reaction is, see what the participation is.

Mark McCully (00:56:43):
Some things we've seen low participation in

Johnathan Perry (00:56:48):
Across the ages. We didn't have a lot of participation at any age division. And so there were a few things changed in that schedule. And while we've added to a very full action packed week, I think we've added some things that will make some families happy and make 'em enjoy their event all week long.

Miranda Reiman (00:57:08):
Well good. Well, I think this has been a really good wrap up of our time here spent in St. Joseph. I guess I would like to end on a question that came up during our long range planning today, and that was, I dunno if it was from you, Mark, or maybe it was from one of the board members. They asked, is the Angus breed more relevant to the beef industry today than it was say a decade ago? What do you guys think?

Johnathan Perry (00:57:29):
Absolutely more relevant.

Roger Wann (00:57:30):
And growing in relevance and dominance just by every metric you can measure the position of the breed within the US beef cattle industry. It's exciting to be sitting where we're sitting.

Johnathan Perry (00:57:43):
Well, we were as a board commenting on the fact that from a staff standpoint, we have some real rock stars in this building. And

Miranda Reiman (00:57:53):
This is why I asked the question

Johnathan Perry (00:57:54):
From a staff standpoint, whether it's CAB, whether it's AGI, whether it's API, whether it's Foundation, breed improvement. I mean, we've got some true leaders in this industry, in this building, in this organization, and I think it's amazing to see how they have grown in relevance and how they have grown in expertise and become true leaders. I mean, you go, we spent a week at the NCBA convention last week and you look on the program and when they need an expert, we're one of the first places they come. Whether it's John at Certified Angus Beef, Kelli at a GI, right on down the list. I mean, it is pretty gratifying to me as a long-term board member that they're probably ready to get rid of. But I mean, I've seen a lot of these individuals truly grow in the last nine years and I've seen additions to the staff over the last nine years that just keep adding more relevance, adding more power to our repertoire. And it's pretty cool to know that we've got experts in this building that are molding and shaping our industry as we go forward every day.

Roger Wann (00:59:02):
It's hard to go to any beef cattle conference anywhere, state level, national level that doesn't have somebody from Angus on a panel keynote speaking. It's just a great position for us to be in.

Miranda Reiman (00:59:17):
And I think one of the most important parts about this week is that we want to keep that position and grow that position.

Johnathan Perry (00:59:23):
I think our task is to continue to not just add staff, but continue to add brainpower to be forward thinking and identify those things that not only keep us relevant as a breed, but keep our industry relevant as we go forward and keep us in the right place. So I think relevance is very much key, but I do want to finish this off by recognizing the fact that as chairman, I don't do a whole lot anymore. So I come in and most of the things are done when I get here, but I want people to understand that this board meeting isn't in a two or three day event. This staff and these board members donate a ton of time to lead up to this meeting. I mean, we spend a week in committee meetings trying to go through multiple things and iron out some ideas, pave the way for board meeting when we get here

(01:00:14):
And it takes a lot of staff and we're asking them to dig up information and present us with facts on the fly all week, and then we come back in a week later for a board meeting and the efficiency for somebody that's been here for eight to nine years, the efficiency of these board meetings today compared to what they were at one time is amazing to me because we walk in, we have a lot of the minutiae out of the way, we have a lot of the mundane things out of the way, and we sit there as a board and we tackle relevant topics, we tackle things that need to be done and we forge forward all week in a real efficient way thanks to the staff and thanks to the rest of the board members for that.

Mark McCully (01:00:56):
I wish I had a nickel for every time relevance got used here in this podcast or throughout the week. And I think that's what our members expect to this association. I think our heritage has always been about being relevant, being innovative, and I know that's the spirit of the board. No complacency in that boardroom. I'd like to say our staff, there's not much complacency either. We want to reflect what we know is expected to continue to play on our strengths and grow those. And so we just thank you guys. I echo, Jonathan, your comment. You guys give up a ton of time. I hope our membership knows, and I say this a lot, but it really respects and appreciates the amount of time you guys put into this. There's a lot going on. We are a bigger organization with a lot of complexity and serve a big membership of diverse interests. And so you guys wrestle with that and put in a ton of time and energy and effort and sacrifice from things that are going on at home. You got Paul Bennett sitting there, he doesn't have power at home. You've got guys who are dealing with calving, you're dealing with, Charles got a bull sale coming up this weekend and they're here a week dedicated to this association and getting sacrificing back home. So we appreciate you guys. Yeah.

Johnathan Perry (01:02:08):
But just like the staff, we want to make sure that we address every need of every member in this association no matter what their reason for being a member is. We try to touch every one of 'em.

Roger Wann (01:02:21):
I think the committee structure does that well.

Johnathan Perry (01:02:23):
Yes, very much.

Roger Wann (01:02:24):
There's a committee to serve everybody's needs.

Miranda Reiman (01:02:28):
Well, thank you guys so much for taking the time to be here and for spending a little extra time to be on the podcast today. For anybody that's listening, a lot of these topics that we had on, whether it was anything from CAB to the Imagine Forum, we'll link a lot of stuff in the show notes. There's a lot of related coverage in the Angus Journal, and you can always watch for that on the AJ Daily or in your upcoming editions.

Mark McCully (01:02:51):
And then also, of course, we have meeting highlights that come out, that go in the board, highlights that go in the Angus Journal, that go into some of these topics even in more detail. So super transparent with the discussions and the actions that this board has undertaken and always welcome feedback.