April 11, 2023

 

US cattle association expands Hereford Feedout Program

 

 

The American Hereford Association (AHA) is expanding its popular Hereford Feedout Program to provide Hereford breeders and commercial users of Hereford genetics in the United States more opportunities to discover the feedlot and carcass performance of their genetics.

 

"Growing interest led us to expand from one feedout each year to two, beginning with the first fall programme in 2023," said Trey Befort, AHA director of commercial programmes. "The added feeding period enables us to accommodate producers' whose calving and weaning seasons prevented them from participating as much as they wanted with a single feeding period."

 

The Hereford Feedout Program offers producers an opportunity to send a few head or entire pens to HRC Feed Yards in Scott City, Kansas, where the cattle are fed.

 

Participants receive ongoing updates about how their cattle are performing while on feed and then receive a collective summary of all cattle enrolled in the programme to see how their cattle performed relative to the entire group.

 

Currently, 94 participants from 22 US states are feeding more than 1,400 head of Hereford and Hereford-influenced feeder cattle at HRC Feed Yards. The numbers encompass the Hereford Feedout Program and the National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) Fed Steer Shootout.

 

"Every year, we see increased interest in these programmes from our members and their customers because of the value they find in benchmarking feedlot and carcass performance in their programmes and then tracking subsequent performance relative to their benchmark," Befort said.

 

All participants can attend an annual educational field day at HRC Feed Yards, which delves into various aspects of the cattle markets, cattle feeding and beef packing.

 

"These programmes provide value to those who have never fed their cattle before and those who do so on a routine basis," said Bill Goehring, AHA's president. "These programmes are a convenient, cost-effective way for Hereford seedstock producers and their commercial customers to identify how their genetics perform in the feedlot and in the packinghouse. The data also adds increasing accuracy to the breed's genetic evaluation."

 

Cattle from the Hereford Feedout Program are harvested by National Beef Packing Company, which is the licensed beef processor for Certified Hereford Beef^® (CHB). Cattle in the programme are candidates for CHB and are marketed on the US Premium Beef^® Grid, ultimately providing producers access to industry-leading marketing options.

 

"Everyone involved in the beef industry has a role in feeding the world," said Lee Mayo, HRC Feed Yards' general manager. "If we can teach breeders and have them take ownership and responsibility for the end product, I am really excited to see the progress of the Hereford breed over the next 50 years."

 

- Drovers