Four in Ten: Reading the CAB Pass Rate

Roughly four in ten. That is about where the Certified Angus Beef pass rate sits. Trade coverage of the brand's latest fiscal year put the annual average at 37.6 percent, with a dozen weeks at 40 percent or better, per Oklahoma Farm Report. Certified carcasses came in at 5.77 million head, which was down 2.9 percent from the year before.

If you sell cattle on a grid, that number is more than a headline. It is a benchmark for your own operation. Here is how to use it, and how not to. Check current figures with the brand before you plan around them, and know that this site has no connection to the brand or the Angus Association. For haulers, vets and suppliers near you, try agriculture.directory.

What the number is

It is the share of eligible cattle that pass all ten carcass specs. Eligible means black-hided, with no color behind the shoulder, above the flank or breaking the midline. The Angus Journal says over 70 percent of fed cattle fit that description, and that of roughly 16 million fed cattle eligible each year, about 5.8 million qualify for the brand (source). So most black cattle do not make it. It is a pass rate, and it is meant to be tough.

Where the misses come from

Marbling, mostly. Trade reporting on carcasses that missed the brand says that not reaching a 500 marbling score accounts for the large majority of them. Beyond that, you run into the size limits: ribeye area, hot carcass weight and fat thickness. A Drovers review reported that ribeyes outside the target range made up a bit under a quarter of the misses in the year it covered and that backfat over an inch made up around 7.5 percent. Those are one year's numbers, so treat them as a rough picture of the mix.

The rest are appearance items. No dark cutters. Practically free of capillary rupture. No big neck hump. Those happen at the plant or just before it, and you control them only through handling.

How to compare your cattle

Your closeout sheet tells you who made it and who did not, if you ask for it. Pull it and do these things:

• Count the head that qualified and divide by the head sold. That is your rate.
• Note why the misses missed. Marbling is a breeding and feeding problem. Weight and ribeye are a sorting and timing problem.
• Match it to sires. If one bull's calves ran well above the average and another's ran well below, you have your answer on who to keep.

If your rate is above the national average, you are doing something right, and it may be worth telling buyers. If it is well below, do not panic. A lot of herds are in that spot and a few years of sire selection can move it.

A sorting problem you can fix

Plenty of misses are not about genetics at all. They are about the cattle that went in the wrong pen. A steer that is carrying too much fat and too much weight gets sold in a group that is fine on average and costs you on the outliers. If you feed your own cattle or have a say with the feeder, sorting by frame, condition and days on feed gives each group its best chance at the check. A set that is all pointed at the same finish date tends to hit more of the specs than a set that is all over the board.

Handling at shipping matters too. Dark cutters trace to long-term stress before slaughter, and capillary rupture is tied to the stunning process at the plant, according to University of Florida extension material on beef quality and certified programs. You cannot fix what happens at the plant, but you can keep cattle calm, fed and watered, and avoid long, hot, rough hauls. The Beef Quality Assurance program at bqa.org has training on low-stress handling that is worth an afternoon.

The trap

Do not breed for the pass rate alone. Cows have to breed back, calve without help, and raise a calf on the feed you have. A bull that raises marbling and ruins calving ease is not a bargain. Neither is a heavy-milking cow in a short-grass country. Pick for the whole job. The brand's checklist is a target for the finished animal, and the ranch has other targets that pay the bills before the calf ever gets to the feedlot.

Farm.fm has a page on marketing your Angus beef that covers the selling end, and our own piece on when and how to sell calves goes through timing and options.

What the rate does not say

It does not say your market will pay a premium. It does not say the premium will stay the same. It does not say cattle that miss are bad cattle, since a Choice steer that misses on ribeye size still eats fine. It is one scorecard, built for one program.

Bottom line

Four in ten is a hard standard being met by a growing share of cattle. Use it as a yardstick, get your own data, and make decisions off your own herd. For the brand's current specs go to certifiedangusbeef.com, and for grade definitions see USDA's beef page.