Dr. John Lawrence, Director of the Iowa Beef Center at Iowa State Univ. recently presented an excellent review of emerging trends and issues in the beef industry. Following is a brief summary of some of the points he made.

Now that USDA has prohibited acceptance of “downer cows, producers should rethink management of cattle that may potentially become nonambulatory and market them before they begin to go down hill rather than waiting.

Value-based or grid marketing will continue its growth and will likely evolve to include other attributes. To date, Choice-Select spread has been the major determinant of grid premiums and discounts. However, premiums on Yield Grades 1 and 2 are growing and discounts on YG 3.5 will become more common. The base price may eventually decline into the YG 2 range. Economics are driving the trend to higher yielding cattle as the industry moves to more case-ready beef products.

Information on how calves may be expected to perform in the feedlot has become increasingly important. In the future, performance in the cooler will increase in importance as carcass premiums and discounts increase.

Information on cow herd health practices will become more valuable now that we know calf sickness has a dramatic impact on carcass value as well as feedlot performance.

Special calf sales in which consignors have common management practices and genetics will become increasingly popular.

A national ID system will improve the opportunity to verify and pass information from seller to buyer regardless of how cattle are sold.

In the past, cow herds needed to retain ownership of their calves to capture their full value. With proven performance and traceable data that can be marketed with the calves, feedyards will be willing to pay closer to their full value.