Beef project members visit Cargill
There aren’t many 4-H members who get to see the end result of their beef projects anymore.
However, a group of Ford County, Kansas 4-H members got to see the results of their hard work and learn about carcass data when they visited the Cargill plant in Dodge City.
Jeremy Burr, assistant vice president/general manager at Cargill Protein welcomed the 4-H group and recognized just how important it is for these young livestock producers to see the data and camera images of their animals.
“As a 4-Her and being active in a livestock project, it’s important to be able to see the end point and to understand the ultimate goal of your project is you’re producing food to feed and nourish somebody,” Burr said.
Being able to see the project to a conclusion is the next step of producing an animal.
“Changing that animal over into meat, and how that’s done safely, and food safety is pretty instrumental for them to learn,” he said. “At the end of the day, the cool thing about it, I think, with 4-H projects, livestock specifically, is it teaches them and gives them a chance to do something and to learn how they can earn a living at this.”
Andrea Burns, Ford County Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources, agreed with Burr about the kids being able to see their finished project, and said learning by doing is one of the mottos of 4-H.
“Being able to see their finished product in the beef project is something that we have been able to accomplish in previous years by having carcass shows with posters for all market animals and allowing older beef project members to travel to Cargill at the end of the county fair,” she said. “Times are changing, and the data and pictures are now digital.”
Seeing the project to completion also helps them when they’re older to see how important record keeping is and to find out if they’re truly profitable or not, she said. Plus, they begin to realize having livestock means they’re responsible for the animal and its care.
“It teaches them the principles of agriculture and teaches them good work ethic, because on day one that animal has to eat and has to have clean fresh water every single day,” Burr said. “So it teaches them responsibility that comes above school, above sports, above all those other things.”
As the animal grows during the project, the youth grows too. They learn the tribulations and trials of raising livestock, he added.
Burns appreciates how fortunate Ford County has been to be able to work with Cargill on collecting the beef carcass data for the past 20 years.
“Anytime you have the opportunity to provide youth with positive feedback and visual learning opportunities it will help them to become more informed about the industry,” she said.
Many 4-Hers have gone on to work in the beef industry as meat inspectors, quality assurance professionals or agriculture educators, she said.
According to Burr, being able to reach the conclusion of the project—the finishing of the animal and evaluating the end product and producing food for a consumer, is important. Even though records aren’t the most enjoyable part of the project, they are a true measure of success.
“I didn’t like it when I was in 4-H but, it’s always interesting to truly see, was this project sustainable or not from a financial perspective and can you or did you make enough money to be able to do it again next year?” he said.
One of the coolest activities for the kids was to be able to experience coming to the plant (minus the tour since they weren’t age 18) and find out their beef was shipped across the globe. Burr said the Ford County 4-Her’s animals were made into steaks, roasts and ground beef and exported to 30 different countries including Korea and Japan.
Burr has been working at Cargill for more than two decades, and when he first got to be involved with the Ford County 4-H group, all those carcasses were graded select.
“It was very easy to pick a champion, because if there was one of them that graded choice, that was probably your winner,” he said. “And if you look at this year, 80% of them graded CAB. And I think they all graded choice except maybe one.”
For him, that’s a pretty good indicator of how the beef industry has changed.
“You can see it with the children, as the more educated they get and the more chance they’ve had to come out the plant and learn about the end process it’s dramatically changed Ford County’s quality of their fair animals from a terminal standpoint,” Burr said.
Burns credits education, better genetics and increased help from the beef industry at the local level for the improvements. Volunteers who have been club or county project leaders have helped the youth to better prepare too.
Many have gained showmanship skills, communication skills and confidence levels because of the beef project through participation in other 4-H activities like skill-a-thons, livestock judging, project talks and career exploration.
“We are definitely raising some good beef and great kids because of their involvement in 4-H,” Burns said.
Kylene Scott can be reached at 620-227-1804 or [email protected].
Counties with carcass shows and/or data
According to data from Kansas State University, there are a number of counties whose 4-H beef project members get data back on their market beef animals. Of Kansas’ 105 counties, 59 counties are in 21 Extension districts; and 46 counties still have their own Extension office.
Kill data from packers: Anderson, Finney, Ford, Pottawatomie, Rice.
Kill data from a locker: Barber, Butler, Chase, Cowley, Ellsworth, Lyon, Morris, Pawnee, Sedgwick, Walnut Creek District, Wildcat District-Labette, Woodson.
Ultrasound data: Cottonwood District – Ellis, Crawford, Greenwood, Hodgeman, Jackson, Phillips, Post Rock District – Jewell, Reno, River Valley District, Rooks.
