The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (OQBN) is a joint effort of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association (OCA). OQBN is a network of beef producers, educators, veterinarians, and industry professionals committed to increasing producers' access to value added marketing opportunities and improving the quality of cattle produced in Oklahoma by increasing communication between all segments of the beef industry.
Gant Mourer, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Value Enhancement Specialist, runs the OQBN program. He said value-added programs like this one are very important to the end-user, as consumers get assurances on how beef is being produced. OSU Food and Agricultural Economist Dr. Jayson Lusk has studied consumer behavior and he has found consumers are looking for a high-quality safe and healthy product.
“If we do a good job on the ranch we can maintain that safety,” Mourer said. “We can maintain the health of those animals, then really sort ‘em to any of these other programs once we do that. That’s what the consumer wants is a safe product. Then we can ship those animals into really any value-added program that we want to.”
OQBN provides producers, and others in the beef industry, with education and tools to enhance access to value-added programs. With less ten percent of the state’s beef producers enrolled in OQBN there is a need to grow the program. Mourer said that’s makes for a challenge in getting data to identify pre-conditioned calves. There are a lot of pre-conditioned calves selling each week at sale barns across the state. Mourer said reputation is also key in getting buyers to purchase cattle from the same ranch year after year.
Click here to see more...