Beef supply is going to get tighter and tighter, and that means there’s more pressure than ever on Angus producers to up their game, says Jonathan Perry, the new treasurer for the American Angus Association.
He served as chair of the Certified Angus Beef board for the past two years and watched the brand’s partners market 1.234 billion pounds of high-quality beef across the nation and the globe during the 2021-22 fiscal year.
“The marketplace has sent a message back to us that what we have is what they want, and that we need to figure out ways to continue to make cattle better, increase marbling scores, make more cattle qualify for the program if possible,” Perry says.
Listen to the Tennessee cattle breeder give a full update in this piece from the recent Angus Convention or read the entire interview below.
Miranda Reiman:
Angus beef is in demand and the most recent fiscal year numbers prove it. Hi, I'm Miranda Reiman, senior associate editor with the Angus Journal, and I recently caught up with Jonathan Perry. The Tennessee cattleman will serve as the treasurer for the American Angus Association Board of Directors for the coming year.
Miranda Reiman:
Miranda Reiman with the Angus Journal team and I am here with Jonathan Perry of Deer Valley Farms, who is recently elected treasurer serving on the executive committee for the American Angus Association Board for the coming year. Thanks for joining us today.
Jonathan Perry:
Thank you Miranda. Glad to be here.
Miranda Reiman:
Now I thought as I think about all the coolittle stuff going on in the Association and something we maybe wanna have you visit with a little bit more about, you just come off two years as the chairman of the Certified Angus Beef Board. So tell me a little bit about the fiscal year that you just had with CAB.
Jonathan Perry:
Miranda, it's been such a pleasure to serve on that Board and be chair for two years with my background with as much as we love Certified Angus Beef and restaurant side of our family, it's been real insightful for me and fun to lead that team. Had a tremendous year at Certified Angus Beef. I mean, bouncing back from COVID in the last few years of turbulent times, I think we saw our second largest year in pounds sold ever in history at 1.234 billion pounds, I think, if I recall correctly. What a tremendous job our team has done at kind of getting boots back on the ground and getting out and working with our customers and our licensees to move product. But more than anything that just shows you the demand in the marketplace for Certified Angus Beef, for high quality, high quality, great tasting, consistent product that only Certified Angus Beef can offer. I think they'll tell you everybody was blown away by the growth we saw this year.
Miranda Reiman:
And sometimes that can feel really distant to Angus producers. That's really neat that brand's doing good stuff. But what does that actually mean to a seed stock producer who might be listening?
Jonathan Perry:
Most of us don't realize the competition that Certified Angus Beef has in the marketplace. And when I say that, there's multiple copycat programs, I'd call 'em as a cattleman, that everybody has seen how successful Certified Angus beef is and every single company out there has tried to copy our product, copy our specs, copy our brand. And so for us to get access to that product in the marketplace is an everyday fight for our team in Wooster. And they do a tremendous job of gathering that product, making sure we have access to it. But for a producer, that means growth in sales from a bull standpoint. That means that rising tide of black Angus genetics in the marketplace, the desire for more of 'em creates more commercial bull sales for us as breeders. Ultimately that is the challenge and the accomplishment of the Certified Angus Beef program is to create registered Angus bull demand.
Miranda Reiman:
Absolutely. And that demand sends the signal back as to the kind of cattle that need created. When I started with the breed in 2006, we're at 14% CAB acceptance rate of all black kited cattle. In this year we ended at 35%. That's sending a message.
Jonathan Perry:
Oh, we've sent a huge message to the marketplace and to the world. Or realistically the marketplace has sent a message back to us that what we have is what they want and that we need to figure out ways to continue to make cattle better, increase marbling scores, make more cattle qualify for the program if possible. We're going into a period of time that supply is going to get tighter and tighter. Cow numbers are down, number of cattle on feed's gonna go down. Days on feed with feed cost, obviously we'll see that shortened up most likely. And I think genetics will be the only thing that overcomes those days on feed. We've got to put more marbling, more quality, more power into these Angus genetics every day to be able to overcome those obstacles.
Miranda Reiman:
Any closing thoughts as we wrap up Convention?
Jonathan Perry:
What a wonderful week here. Great to see our membership come together. Lots of innovation and lots of camaraderie formed here at this event. Love to see our members interact. As a Board member, we get to hear the things that we're doing right, but we also get some advice on what maybe needs to improve. And we try to be very open as Board members to listen to all those members issues and things that they'd love to see done better or done differently at our association. So much like Chuck, I'm gonna implore our membership to please reach out. Our phone numbers are posted, our emails are posted. Please contact us and give us your input. Because at the end of the day, we're here as a representative of our membership and we want make sure we get done what you want.
Miranda Reiman:
I love that kind of open door invitation and thank you for your service and for your time today.
Jonathan Perry:
Thank you so much Miranda.
Miranda Reiman:
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