What does chicken do for you?

There's something I love about agriculture. Obviously. But often I have trouble describing it. I was once asked to give a presentation on 'What makes me tick?'. I like giving presentations. Those that know me, will understand me when I say that I can and will talk. But this one had me stumped. How do I expand 'well, agriculture, of course' and put it into a 15 minute presentation? Well I managed to put pen to paper and thought of all the times that something excited me about the industry and made me buzz. It was almost strange...I mean there's the obvious things, the lifestyle, the fresh air, the satisfaction and rewards from raising animals, but as I learnt, it's the small things that really make me tick. Here's one of them.

Today, I attended my beef systems class at KSU where we had a guest speaker, Hal Sankey, Vice President of Cargill Meat Solutions Beef Corporation. Mr Sankey gave us an insight into the company background as well as his own- he sat in the same seats as what my classmates and I were sitting in today. He went on to talk about how his parents were cattle producers and how they operated as a business. Then, we looked at the next stage of the production line and we did some calculations and went through some figures to find out just how limited the boundaries can be for cattle buyers buying cattle for slaughter. Based on some current figures, we found the importance of the carcass by-products, namely hides, to the packing plants.

Mr Hal Sankey, Vice President of Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation came to KSU to talk about beef pricing in our Beef Systems class. 

I guess what really made me excited was seeing the challenge that Mr Sankey has when buying cattle and selling beef. There is a fine line between making a profit or running at a loss. There was some great discussion about supply and demand as well as the option for packers to sell by-products. There were examples where packers could be breaking even on the beef but making dollars on the sales of by-products such as hides. Today, the value of hides have increased as countries become more affluent and purchase luxury items, such as cars with leather seats. We learnt that this has mainly been driven by China. Here's something though that I had never given a thought and I am pleased that I have learnt this: For every animal slaughtered, they can vary in size, weight, retail yield etc when talking about pounds of beef, but for every animal slaughtered, there is only one hide. Yes, the size and quality can vary, however, if there are 200,000 animals killed for example, there is going to be 200,000 hides. So this influences the supply and demand for these hides and hence the value that they are worth. Lower supply or higher demand for these hides, then make the beef processing all the more worth the while. Then think about how that can influence the price of cattle at the sale yards. Quite interesting really.

Anyway, so after some more discussion about these by-products, we moved on to the topic of other proteins. An interesting, but very thought provoking question was raised: What does chicken do for your family? At first I couldn't think of anything too much (other than the obvious that it provides nutrients for our bodies). Does poultry, for example, provide you with leather car seats and shoes for your children? It was this that really hit home to me for some reason. Suddenly I became excited and pleased that I am in the beef industry. It really is something to think about. Perhaps you'll think about it the next time you are dining out!

For me, this discussion really made me tick and made me think 'Yes. I am so proud to be in the beef industry and involved in agriculture.' Feel free to share what it is about agriculture, especially the beef industry, that makes you tick!!