With recent uncertainty in the cattle market, feedyards and cattle feeders are taking every opportunity to squeeze out a profit on their cattle. For many, this means selling cattle based on a grid with a packer, or marketing the cattle through an alliance program. Cattle that sell for an $26 premium, which is the average for cattle marketed through U.S. Premium Beef this year, bring a glimmer of hope to the fact that some pens of cattle are losing between $50 and $100 per head, when sold on a commodity basis.

Considering the hefty discounts for outliers, feeding cattle to their optimum end weights and yield grades is important to earn those precious premiums. In order to target the specifications of any one grid, more and more feedyards are utilizing individual animal sorting based on a variety of measurements taken at the processing barn.

But electronic sorting systems can be very expensive. Are they worth it? Do cattle fed at locations with such technology fit these grids better than those that are sold when the majority of cattle in the pen are ready?

"Very much so," according to Larry Corah, vice president of Certified Angus Beef (CAB). "By sorting cattle, we see elimination of many yield grade problems," he says. The target yield grade for CAB is 3 or better. "Sorting systems help a larger percentage of cattle become eligible for acceptance in our program."

Brian Bertelsen, director of field operations for U.S. Premium Beef, says decreasing outliers is not the only reason for sorting. "The benefit is selling more pounds of beef."

"You can feed each individual animal longer to produce more pounds without increasing the incidence of discounts for yield grades 4 or 5 when you track the cattle on an individual basis," Bertelsen says. "Sorting allows feedyards to maximize marbling and pounds by feeding some cattle longer, while still meeting yield grade specifications."

Jeb Souple is product manager for SFK Technology, which produces EID readers and a trolley ID system used by some packers. "Feedlots have managed cattle on a 'lot' basis as far as they can. Now they are managing them individually. Alliances are targeting something specific," he says, and it's up to the feedyard to produce cattle for that target. "We already have an end market and cattle. This just fine tunes the two together."

Micro Beef's Joe Young says taking multiple measurements, multiple times provides a "clear picture of an animal's growth curve." Micro Beef's Electronic Cattle Management system (ECM) takes a variety of measurements and weight to sort cattle for their optimum endpoint.

Information on 165,000 ECM cattle from January 1997 through 2000 showed the vast majority of the cattle hit their desired endpoint. Ninety nine percent met hot carcass weight targets, 99.5 percent were Yield Grade 3 or better, 97.5 percent graded Select or better, with 55.7 percent grading Choice or better.

"You can't sell a pen of cattle on any given day and maximize all of the potential of the cattle in the pen," Young says. But individual sorting helps optimize that possibility. "The National Beef Quality Audits (NBQA) in 1995 and 2000 gave us a pretty good picture of the industry. According to NBQA statistics, 23.5 percent of all cattle were classified as outliers," says Young. "However, there's only four percent outliers on ECM cattle."

Coyote Lake Feedyard, a 32,000 head capacity yard near Muleshoe, Texas, recently installed a Phase Three ECM system. "We purchased the system in order to get more money back for our customers," says manager Trent Edleman. "We can improve by eliminating outs, like Yield Grades 4 and 5, light and heavy carcasses. This system will make it to where we shouldn't have any out cattle."

Currently Coyote Lake Feedyard sells some of their cattle on Excel's standard grid. "With this system, every week we can send cattle, and they'll know exactly what they are going to get."

Certified Angus Beef customers appreciate such consistency. "Our restaurants and other markets appreciate anything we can do to create a more uniform product that reduces excess fat," says Larry Corah.

"The sticker shock on these systems scares some people away, but in the long run, they pay," Edleman says. "If we can get $15 to $20 back for our customers, that's what we're here to do. The more money they get back, the happier they'll be, and the more cattle they'll feed." ©