National Beef Ambassador 2015

Well, to say the least, it's been a very eventful week!  I've had a lot of personal drama, but that was overcome by this last weekend.  I was able to represent Texas at the National Beef Ambassador Competition in Denver, Colorado.  We were able to compete in a variety of events, including Issues Response, Consumer Promotions, Media Interview and Education Outreach.  Each of these events required competitors to promote beef in a variety of ways and combat consumer concerns.

The 30 Junior and Senior Competitors

Waiting at our table in the holding room

The competition lasted from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening.  On Friday, we performed in Issues Response, which required us to read an anti-beef article and respond to it in 250 words.  The next day, Saturday, we were kept in a holding room for 9 hours while we waited for our various competitions!  To say the least, we got pretty close!  I truly enjoyed this time getting to talk to people from various states and learn about their cattle operations.  The competitions that day were consumer promotion, where we were confronted with various types of consumers and had to speak to them about concerns, media interview where we were interviewed about common misconceptions regarding beef and education outreach where we presented our outreach program.

Saturday evening, we had the awards banquet.  After a nail biting dinner and judges comments, they finally announced the winners!  I was able to claim the top competitor title in Media interview and then was named to the 2015 National Team, along with Kalyn McKibben - Oklahoma, Will Pohlman - Arkansas, Rachel Purdy - Wyoming, and Demi Snider - Ohio.  We spent several hours taking pictures, being interviewed and speaking with various people.

Your 2015 National Beef Ambassador Team! L-R, Kalyn McKibben, Rachel Purdy,
Will Pohlman, Alicia Smith, Demi Snider

Awards Dinner

This year, we will have to opportunity to represent U.S. Beef and visit with industry leaders, in addition to making appearance at various national events to promote beef.  This is definitely the opportunity of a life time!

Our first #beefselfie as a team!

10 Facts about Beef!

Did You Know?

1. On every dollar, only 20 cents goes to the farmer!

2.  97% of Farms are Family Owned!

Monty Rey and my Dad
A Family Business

3.  The Average cow herd size in the U.S. is only 40 Cows!

4. The U.S. produces 20% of the world's beef supply with only 7% of the cows!

5. There are half as many ranchers as there were 30 years ago, but they are feeding double the population!

6. The average age of farmers and ranchers is 65!

Lamb Family

7. Ranching and Farming isn't a rich business - 75% of all U.S. Farms make less than $50,000 per year

8.  Beef Production accounts for only 2.8% of greenhouse gas emissions

9. A 3 ounce serving of beef provides 50% of your daily value of protein!

10. The cattle industry is rigorously monitored to make sure your product is the safest in the world!

The Herd enjoying the shade and pasture

Doing the Little Things Right

I would like to break off from my normal beef advocating spiel and move into something that is more personal.  This is a life lesson I have learned from showing cattle.  You need to do the little things right everytime, day in and day out.  That is the definition of success.

Whether you are showing cattle, or practicing to become the next sports legend, or maybe even trying to reach that coveted "A" in a tough class, you need to do the little things right.  

I grew up showing hair steers, and anyone that has shown these knows the dedication it takes to keep them hairy, even in the winter, let alone those hot, Arizona summers.  Keeping hair on my cattle meant that, after chores, they had to be rinsed with water, given an ice bath, combed, then either blown dry or roto-fluffed and partially dried.  I spent hours working my cattle, and to me, there is nothing more relaxing than working hair - it gives you time to think.  I made sure that my their hair was worked at exactly the right angles, and that every part of that cow was worked.  I made sure not to forget, "legs have four sides," "hair starts at the hoof," and to brush down, forward, then up.

Culmination of genetics, and hard work

Working every day in the chute

This is a lesson I learned by putting in a lot of elbow grease, and the reward wasn't instantaneous.  In fact, it was often months away, at the next show, when I was able to go get that purple banner, or blue rosette.  I have carried this through to other areas of my life.  The chemistry lesson you learned last week and will be tested on could mean the difference between you passing and failing a course, and ultimately, this could affect your graduation time.  Everything is intertwined and eventually you will see the results of your actions.

Some people call me a perfectionist, and I proudly own up to this.  I take the time to do the little things right every time, because the show isn't won on showday.

Go BOLD with Beef!

BOLD is an acronym that stands for Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet.  A study done by Penn State University and published in the American Journal for Clinical Nutrition coined the term and have proven that eating beef is heart healthy.  This study found that lean beef actually helped to LOWER cholesterol levels!  In fact, it lowered LDL (bad cholesterol) by 10%!  That's exciting if you ask me!  Here is the link to that study: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2011/12/13/ajcn.111.016261.full.pdf+html

Delicious LEAN Beef!

This means that beef can be part of a healthy diet and can help to combat America's largest epidemic, obesity.  Below is a chart that explains several different diets, and how the BOLD diet stacked up.

	HAD	DASH	BOLD	BOLD-PLUS
Calories	2,097 kCal	2,106 kCal	2,100 kCal	2,104 kCal
Protein (% of total calories)	17%	18%	19%	27%
Carbohydrate (% of total calories)	50%	55%	54%	45%
Fat (% of total calories)	33%	27%	28%	28%
Saturated Fat (% of total calories)	12%	6%	6%	6%
Monounsaturated Fat (%of total calories)	11%	9%	11%	12%
Polyunsaturated Fat (% of total calories)	7%	8%	7%	7%
Lean Beef (oz./day before cooking)	0.7	1.0	4.0	5.4

HAD - Healthy American Diet
Control diet.  More refined grains, full-fat dairy products, oil and butter.  Aimed to reflect current American dietary habits.

DASH - Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension
Considered the "Gold Standard" heart-healthy diet, this eating plan features vegetables, fruits, and low fat dairy and limited red meat and sweets.  Primary protein is white meat and plant protein.

BOLD - Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet
Similar to DASH diet (rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and beans), and protein amount, but used lean beef (4 oz./day) as primary protein source.

BOLD-PLUS - Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet Plus
Similar to BOLD diet, but with higher protein and lean beef intake (5.4 oz./day)

Taken from:http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/CMDocs/BIWFD/Bold/BOLDFactSheet.pdf

What All this Different Fats Mean
If you're like me, all those different fat names sound like a bunch of scientific gibberish and I'm not really sure what they include!  Here is a brief overview of what they mean.

Saturated fat is what is known as the "bad" fat.  This doesn't mean you don't need it, but only in the right amounts!  A typical serving of lean beef only contains up to 4.5 g, which is about 40% of your Daily Value (DV).  Many cuts are less!

Monounsaturated Fat is the same kind of heart healthy fat that you find in olive oil, and lean beef contains about 50% of your DV of this in a 3 oz. serving.

Polyunsaturated fat is essential for cell structure and the production of hormones.  This fat is also found in sunflower and corn oils.  Lean beef makes up about 10% of this type of fat.

Total Fat is the combination of all of these, and all 29 lean cuts have less than 10 g of total fat!

29 Ways to Love Beef
There are 29 lean cuts, as certified by the USDA.  This means, these cuts will have less than 10 g of fat, 4.5 g of saturated fat or less, and less than 95 mg of cholesterol per 3.5 ounce cooked serving!  15 of these 29 are consumer preferred cuts, like Sirloin, T-Bone or Tri-Tip!  A good tip when you are looking for lean beef is to search for the key words "Loin" or "Round" in the name.

LEAN BEEF!  Check out where the Chicken Breast and Thigh Rank!

Nature's Multivitamin
Beef is often referred to as Nature's Multivitamin because it is so high in the nutrients needed to support your body.  Zinc, Iron and Protein are among beef's best attributes.  Beef is actually the #1 Food Source of Zinc, containing 39% of the zinc most people need in just 3 ounces.  Iron is essential to the body, as anemia is the most common nutritional deficiency in the United States.  Beef is a great source of this and ranks number 3 in the highest food sources.  Beef can also help your body to absorb iron from other food sources, such as plants, two- to four-fold!  Finally, protein is something we are all familiar with, and a 3 ounce serving of beef contains 50% of your daily value of Protein.

After learning all this about beef, I hope you are ready to go eat some! Here is a great recipe that can be used as part of the BOLD diet!  If you would like to learn more or find recipes, visit BeefItsWhatsforDinner.com or BeefNutrition.org.

Grilled Beef Steaks with Ancho Chile Rub
Total Recipe Time: 30 minutes

Looks Delicious!  I know what I'm having
for dinner, how about you?

2 beef round (sirloin) tip center steaks, cut 1 in. thick (about 8 oz.)
Salt and pepper as desired

Ancho Chile Rub
1          tablespoon ground Ancho Chile powder
3          cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2    teaspoons dried oregano
1          teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1          teaspoon freshly grated orange peel
1/2       teaspoon ground cinnamon

Steps
1.         Combine rub ingredients and press evenly into beef               steaks.
2.         Place steaks on grill over medium, ash-covered                     coals.  Grill covered, about 11-13 minutes for                         medium rare doneness (160 degrees), turning only                 once.

Pasture to Plate: The Beef Life Cycle

Have you ever wondered how that nice, juicy sirloin or T-Bone gets to your plate?  I know that a lot of consumers have!  It is hard to understand how our beef gets from pasture to plate, and there is a lot of gray area in the middle!  This whole process can take around 3 years from conception of the cow to harvest of the steer.  During this time, the calf will change hands approximately 2-3 times, as the beef industry is not vertically integrated like pork and chicken.  Below is a description of the typical life cycle of a beef cow.

On the Ranch
Momma cows are bred selectively to bulls, either through A.I. (Artificial Insemination) or through Natural Service.  Nine months later, a baby calf is born.  If this baby is a bull and isn't going to be kept for breeding purposes, he will be come a steer.  If this is a heifer, she may be kept as a replacement female or continue along the same pathway as her male counterparts.  These babies are kept with their moms until weaning, which is about 6-8 months of age, and will weigh anywhere between 450-700 pounds.  Ranchers take special care to make sure weaning is as low stress for the calf as possible.  During this time, they eat grass and drink milk.  They are also vaccinated and prepared for the next stage of their life.

Minnie, with her bull calf, Mickey

Backgrounding

After the calf is weaned from it's mother, it is sent to the auction barn where it is bought by a backgrounder, or a stocker.  This person will take the calf and put it on pasture, where the calf will continue to grow before it is ready to be transferred to the feedyard.  This is a very important part of the process.  As the name implies, this helps to "background" these cattle for the feedyard by increasing the amount of protein and fat in their ration so that they are ready for the concentrated diet ahead.  If we did not include this step, it would be similar to when you are used to eating light meals and then all the sudden have a diet that is rich in fats and carbohydrates - it would upset your stomach a bit!

Calves on pasture during the backgrounding phase

To the Feedyard

Cattle again change hands, typically through the auction barn, and start their new life in the feedyard.  Here, they are fed a specially formulated ration that is tailored to meet their dietary needs and have access to this feed whenever they please.  Feedyard nutritionists evaluate the type of cattle, their weights and what their end goal is before formulating this ration.  Did you know, cattle are fed within 10 minutes of the same time everyday!

During this time, cattle have access to water at all times, and have plenty of room to roam about.  In fact, there are guidelines for the size of pens and how many cattle can be placed in them!   These pens may have mounds of dirt, where cattle can play "king of the hill," one of their favorite games.  Cattle will typically spend 4-6 months here.  If you ask me, there isn't much better of a life than this!

Cattle at the Feed bunk.  A ration includes roughages (hay, silage)
and grains (corn, soybean, etc.)

Aerial View of a Feedyard.  Notice the amount of space
the cattle have.

Packing Plant

Cattle arrive at the packing plant weighing about 1,200 to 1,400 pounds.  They are off-loaded carefully so as not to excite or stress the animals.  Packing plants are built with very specific guidelines in regards to building structure, location of areas, and footing.  Cattle are put into holding pens where they have time to rest and have a drink before entering the plant.   USDA inspectors also perform an antemortem inspection at this time to ensure that they cattle are healthy, can move about and are disease free.  After this, the cattle are brought up carefully and calmly, where they enter a series of winding pathways with high, solid walls.  The shape and structure of these chutes keeps the cattle calm and moving forward of their own accord. (A great video that goes into further depth on the workings of a packing plant can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMqYYXswono)

Throughout the entire harvest process, packing plant employees take careful measures to ensure the safety of the product.  After the cattle are hung on the rail and eviscerated (removal of the intestines), another USDA inspector performs a postmortem inspection to again check for signs of disease.  If the cattle are passed, they are stamped with a "U.S. Inspected and Passed" stamp and are free to go on and be further processed.

USDA Inspected and Passed Stamp

Beef Carcasses on the rail

USDA inspector performing the postmortem inspection

Retail Outlet

Beef is shipped all over the world, in addition to restaurants and grocery stores right here in the U.S.  This is where you can pick up your favorite cut and turn it into a tasty meal.  Once you have selected your beef, the rest is up to you!

A large selection of cuts available to you!

Which Beef is the Best? The Labeling Dilemma

As you may have seen in the grocery store, there are several different labels put onto packages of beef you buy at the store.  These may be confusing or can easily be misunderstood; I even have a hard time figuring out exactly what they mean, and I'm a beef producer!  After looking at all the different packages, you may be left confused as to what is good for you and which product you should buy.  I'm here to help clear that up for you.

Natural
Let's start with something simple.  The label natural is one that you see on several different products, but what exactly defines "natural"?  As stated by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), natural beef is defined as, "meat raised for human consumption without additives and minimally processed." This beef cannot contain any artificial flavors or colors, no chemical preservatives and no other artificial or synthetic ingredients.   This means, most beef you buy in the store is all-natural!  So what isn't labeled as natural?  Well, hot dogs or sausage would not be labeled so because they are further processed to add flavors before being packaged.  Another example of beef that cannot be labeled natural is those cuts that have been injected with tenderizers, such as a saline solution.  Just because the item is not labeled "natural" doesn't mean that it is bad for you!

Grass-Fed
Grass-fed indicates that cattle received the majority of their nutrients from grass throughout their life.  The USDA monitors what can be labeled as grass-fed and does not limit the use of antibiotics, pesticides used on the pasture or growth-promoting agents.  Beef can be certified as grass-fed and organic if it meets the standards for both.  Beef from cattle fed grass may look a bit different than conventionally raised beef, in the fact that it is generally leaner and the fat is more of a yellow color due to the grass.  Just because beef is labeled grass-fed does not mean that these cattle cannot be finished on corn!  There is little to no difference in the nutritional profiles of grass-fed and conventionally raised beef, except that grass fed may be slightly leaner.

Certified Angus
Here is another popular label that you often see in stores and in restaurants.  Certified angus beef is beef that is in the upper 2/3 of the Choice grade (Grades are a measure of marbling and give an idea of how positive the eating experience should be). Cattle must also be at least 51% black.  This label just means that you are buying a cut that is going to be tasty and delicious!

Prime
This is a label that is starting to gain popularity.  It is similar to Certified Angus in the fact that it deals with the grade of the cut.  However, this label means that the beef will be in the Prime grade, which is the highest grade of beef with the most amount of intramuscular fat, or marbling.  Only about 1-2% of the cattle harvested are prime, so this meat will be on the more expensive end!

Organic
Here we reach a label that is a bit more confusing.  The USDA governs what can and cannot be labeled organic and there are strict guidelines for this label.  Organic beef must be raised on a certified organic pasture and fed organic grains (pasture and grains cannot be treated with synthetic fertilizer or be genetically engineered), and have unrestricted outdoor access.  Furthermore, these cattle cannot be treated with antibiotics or growth-promoting agents at anytime in their life.  Often, this is thought to be interchangeable with the term natural, but the two are very different.  Raising organic beef is costly, requires more land, and generally yields less per carcass, so beef prices tend to be higher when buying organic.

Conclusion
So, after reading all this information, you may be left wondering, what is the best beef?  Well, I am here to tell you, it is all good!  It is just a matter of preference.  Grass-fed beef is typically leaner so it will require different cooking methods and will have a bit of a taste difference from conventionally raised cattle.  I would also like to note that, with all the hype surrounding organic, it is not necessarily better for you, or for the environment!  In fact, I am a big proponent AGAINST raising beef organically on a large scale.  Here is a link to a great article that talks about why organic isn't what some make it out to be - http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2012/09/24/pesticides-food-fears/.  This doesn't mean that I don't think we should have organic beef, in fact, quite the opposite.  I think we SHOULD have these niche markets to accommodate all consumers, but it should not be applied to the production of all cattle.  There is nothing wrong with conventional beef - it is perfectly safe, and is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to raise cattle.  It certainly has my vote!

My favorite style of beef - Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon.
Doesn't get much better than that!

GMO's - Great for My Overall Health

Today, I had the privilege of again volunteering at my local Sam's Club to help promote beef.  This is my seventh demo day working on selling beef for the Beef Retail Promotions sponsored by American National Cattlewomen and the Beef Checkoff.  I have had a terrific time demoing with my demonstrator Ms. Genie!  During this time, we have gotten some interesting customers and helped to sell lots of beef!

The Silly, and Wonderful Ms. Genie!

Pointing out our signs while serving Steak and Salad

One of the customers I had today enjoyed our sample but had concerns about GMO's.  I informed her that they are not bad for your health, but she was adamant that they were and she had done extensive research that proved that they modified your genetics.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to talk with her further about the research she had found, as I am genuinely interested in what is so bad about GMO's. I would like to give you the facts behind GMO's and my opinion as to their usage.

What is a GMO Anyway?

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism.  We have been modifying plants and animals for millennia.  Desert people have selected stallions to breed with their mares that will be faster and more heat tolerant.  There have been fruits bred without seeds, and corn bred to be larger and have more kernels.  Tea cup or miniature animals are great examples of this.  These processes have been bred through a term called artificial selection, and are limited only to naturally occurring variations.  This is where genetic modification has found it's calling.

Selective Breeding - How we have developed several things
from one plant

Genetic modification and engineering allows us to extract genes from a totally unrelated species and use those to better our crops.  The reason we use these is to improve pesticide resistance, increase nutritional value, drought/frost resistant or make these crops resistant to pesticides.  All of these aspects allow farmers to produce a more economical product with higher yields, which means lower prices for you at the grocery store.

We Need GMO's.

Healthy cotton boll before it blooms to product cotton

With a world population that is rising quickly, the UN has stated we need to produce 50% more food by 2050.  There are several ways we could achieve this.  We could mow down more rainforests to make land for crops or we could invest tens of millions into trying to build infrastructure to effectively use hydroponics on a large scale.  Neither of these sound like economically or environmentally friendly options to me.  On the other hand, we could use GM crops.  My vote goes for the last one because it keeps prices low for consumers and helps to conserve vital areas of importance.  With the use of these modified crops, we are better prepared to handle extreme changes in temperatures, which is happening more frequently, and we can battle the diseases and pests that often damage our crops.

Damaged Cotton Boll

Inside of Cotton boll damaged by Boll weevil

GMO's in Use

Did you know that genetic modification has helped to produce bacteria that make insulin?  This has helped to change the lives of millions of Type 1 Diabetics.  Another great example of GMO's saving the day is a product called Golden Rice.  Around 250 million children are Vitamin A deficient in the world, which can lead to blindness.  Sure, we could put in supplement centers, but these are expensive to build and distribute, let alone you have to convince the people to take them.  Thanks to genetic modification, Golden Rice, a rice with a corn gene that helps to produce beta-carotene (precursor to Vitamin A), has been developed.  Since rice is a staple in many of these people's diets, this is easy and cheap to implement.  One single bowl of Golden Rice provides 60% of a child's daily need for Vitamin A.   And contrary to popular belief, this was developed by  foundation-funded academic researchers, not big companies.  This has helped to save millions of people and improve their way of living.  Other great examples are BT cotton, which is resistant to boll weevils (a pest who severely impacted cotton yields), and RoundUp Ready Crops - these are resistant to the weedkiller RoundUp which allows them to be sprayed with the pesticide and not be harmed while weeds are killed.

People Harvesting Golden Rice

Golden Rice on the left, normal rice on the left

Are GMO's Bad for my Health?

There are many concerns that GMO's may be bad for your health and that altering the genes in these crops may create dire consequences for our genetic profile.  There have been several well designed studies that prove there are NO health risks.   Below is an excerpt from an article about GMO's: 

"A lot of fear was sparked about the safety of GM foods after a scientist named Gilles-Eric Seralini published a study that found rats fed with Monsanto's glyphosphate-resistant corn developed more tumors and died earlier than controls.  After these results, many demanded tighter regulations whereas others called for an outright ban on the corn.  However, numerous problems with the study came to light which led to its retraction from the journal.
First off, Seralini is an outspoken anti-GMO activist.  At the time of initial publication he had conflicting interests - he was releasing a book and a documentary on the research.  For the experiments Seralini used Sprague-Dawley rats that are prone to developing spontaneous tumors.  He only used 10 rats for each group, for a period of two years which is almost a rat's lifespan.  The study was described as a "statistical fishing trip" by reviewers - if you test enough variables for long enough, you'll get a result something.  This is not good science.  The recomendation for carcinogenicity studies is that 65 or more of each sex should be used.  There is a high probability that he results were due to chance."

Shared from:  http://www.iflscience.com/environment/myths-and-controversies-gmos-0

Summary: 
Until there is any study that proves me different, I know that GMO's are safe to eat and safe for our beef to eat.  They do not have any adverse effects, yet they are helping to reduce the amount of land used, amount of pesticide applied, and keeping costs low at the grocery store.  I really can't see anything wrong with these things!  Over 85% of the corn in the U.S. is modified and there have been no serious illnesses or diseases linked to the use of these crops.  I believe GMO's are helping to solve a growing problem and that we need to embrace them and utilize them for everything they are worth.  They are what is going to keep agriculture going strong in the coming years and allow us to feed ourselves, let alone the world.