Participants from various segments of the Texas beef industry will be welcomed back to the Texas A&M University campus Aug. 9-11 for two sessions of the long-running Beef 706 educational program.
“The goal of Beef 706 is to teach cattle producers about the food side of their cattle business and how to utilize best management practices to improve beef quality and enhance profitability,” said Dan Hale, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service associate director and meat specialist, Bryan-College Station.
Created in 1993, the AgriLife Extension Aggie Beef 706 program invites ranchers, educators and allied business people to register for one of two sessions at https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/Beef.
This Department of Animal Science educational programming is offered in conjunction with the Texas Beef Council. The council pays for the majority of the course; therefore, registration is only $50 per person.
Individuals can only sign up for one session, and a maximum of 30 registrants per session will be permitted. The deadline to register is Aug. 2, and there is no walk-in registration.
Session 1 will be Aug. 9-10, and Session 2 will be Aug. 10-11. Each session will be from 1-8 p.m. the first day and 7 a.m.-4 p.m. the second day. The workshops will be held at the Texas A&M Rosenthal Meat Center, 488 Olsen Blvd., Bryan-College Station.
“This program has been conducted for the last 28 years through the generosity of the Texas Beef Council,” Hale said. “They see this as a way to work with ranchers to maximize the consumer satisfaction of beef.”
Learning the value within the beef chain
Participants learn about the importance of producing a more consistent and high-quality beef product through a series of hands-on lessons presented by various meat science faculty, staff and graduate students.
“We allow our participants to select live cattle and follow those cattle through grading and a hands-on cutting session, which allows each person a chance to experience first-hand the differences encountered in carcass composition and meat quality and profitability,” Hale said.
This information allows them to evaluate the value differences calculated between animals, actually seeing cattle value from market steer to fabricated boxed beef, Hale said.
Topics and speakers, all from the Department of Animal Science, will be the same at each session. They will be:
– Beef Carcass Grading, Hale.
– Market Cattle Evaluation, Jason Cleere, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist.
– Hands-on Live Cattle Evaluation, Cleere.
– Genetic Selection Tools, Andy Herring, Ph.D., John K. Riggs Beef Cattle Professor.
– Feeder Calf Beef Quality Management, Cleere.
– Packing Plant Tour.
– Dress-out for Grading and Fabrication/Hands-on Beef Grading, Hale.
– Introduction to Meat Cutting in Cutting Room, Davey Griffin, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension meat specialist.
– Hands-on Carcass Fabrication, Griffin.
– Eating Appeal of Beef, Rhonda Miller, Ph.D., meat science professor.
– Finished Steer to Carcass on the Grid, Hale.
– Finished Steer to Boxed Beef Value, Griffin.
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