The Size Specs a Feeder Cannot Ignore

You can feed a steer to a beautiful grade and still lose the premium because of a number on the other side of the tape. Ribeye too big, carcass too heavy, fat too thick. The brand's size limits are the quiet reason some good cattle do not make the box. Know them and you can feed to them.

The numbers, with a warning

A Drovers report on the brand's specifications listed a ribeye area of 10 to 16 square inches, fat thickness of 1 inch or less, and a hot carcass weight of 1,050 pounds or less. An older industry article lists the weight at 1,100 pounds. I do not know which is current today, and that is the point. Specs get revised. Go to certifiedangusbeef.com or your packer's buyer before you plan a pen around any figure, including mine.

The same report described the September 2020 update. The fat wording changed from "less than 1 inch" to "1 inch or less," which helps graders measure it. And packers with an extended licensing agreement can box some primals, other than ribs, ribeyes, strip loins and short loins, with ribeyes up to 19 square inches. That is voluntary and plant by plant. Ask your packer if they use it.

Why the limits exist

A restaurant plans a plate around a steak that weighs about what the last one weighed. A package at the grocery store is built for a certain size of cut. Oversized primals make steaks that are too thick to cook right or too big to sell at a price people will pay. The brand puts a ceiling on ribeye size and carcass weight so the product stays in a predictable window. We took a longer look at this in why cut size keeps packers and the brand honest.

Fat cover costs you twice

Outside fat has to be trimmed. You paid to feed it, the packer pays to cut it off, and it does not help the eating. A limit of an inch keeps cattle from getting fat on the outside while the marbling inside stays about the same. If your cattle run over, look at days on feed and energy density. Cattle that finish too long often add outside fat faster than they add anything worth paying for. The USDA grading page at ams.usda.gov shows how fat thickness figures into yield grade.

The appearance list

No dark cutters, no neck hump over two inches, practically free of capillary rupture. Dark cutters come from stress before harvest, and the cure is quiet handling, short hauls and keeping groups together. The Beef Quality Assurance program at bqa.org has the practical handling material. Neck hump is worth a look when you buy bulls. Capillary rupture, the little blood spots in the meat, is about the harvest and handling end, and a feeder has less say.

How to feed to the window

1. Watch frame size. Big-framed cattle run heavy before they finish. Pick a moderate frame for your finishing system.
2. Know your harvest weight. Figure the live weight that matches a hot carcass under the cap with your cattle's dressing percentage, and sort to it.
3. Sort the pen. Pull the heavy, early ones first. Waiting on the last steer drags the front-runners past the limit.
4. Keep the records. Compare ribeye area and weight against the sheet for each group. farm.fm's page on boosting Angus market value goes into the economics of hitting the target.

The trade-offs

Heavier cattle bring more total pounds, and pounds are money. A steer that runs over the cap can still sell, but he may sell without the premium, and you need to know the difference before you hold him another month. Sorting is where you earn it. Moderate-framed cattle that finish at a steady weight tend to be easier to hit the window with, though your own data is the final word.

A sorting habit worth keeping

Walk the pen every couple of weeks in the last stretch and make a list of the ones that look finished. Compare that list to what the scale says. If your best guess is that a group is within a few weeks of the weight limit, call the packer and book the date instead of waiting for a better market. A steer that sits another month can grow past a limit you could have hit on time. Write down what you guessed and what the carcass sheet said, and in a year or two your eye will be sharper than any chart.

What the customer sees

The customer does not read a spec sheet. He sees a steak that looks the same as the last one, cooks about the same and fits the plate. That is what the limits are for. A feeder who understands that keeps the whole chain working, from the sort gate to the grill.

For help finding packers and buyers, check the Agriculture Directory. We are independent and not affiliated with the American Angus Association or Certified Angus Beef. Confirm any spec with the program before you act on it.