The Beef Quality Assurance program is a measurable, effective, actionable solution for those involved somewhere along the value chain of cattle and beef production to demonstrate their commitment to consumers and peers. One of the veterinarians who helped develop the program, Dee Griffin, DVM, called it a “process of figuring out what could go wrong, planning to avoid it – then validating and documenting what you have done.”

The modern-day BQA program began in the 1970s and was primarily used to educate producers about the proper use of pharmaceutical products and the importance of honoring withdrawal times. The labels on products used to treat and prevent various diseases and injuries all detail the dosage, the proper method of administration – commonly intramuscular or subcutaneous injection, though there are others – and the time that must elapse between treatment and slaughter. This withdrawal time ensures meat is free of residues and it is verified by inspectors at processing plants. This also means, to reiterate my annoyance with unnecessary and fear-based food labels, all meat purchased is antibiotic free.

In the 1990s, the BQA program began being funded by the state Beef Checkoffs, which is to say it was funded by producers. The Check Off collects $1 from every head sold, whether it’s a calf, bull, steer, or cow. If you’ve ever heard Sam Elliott say, “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner,” then you’re familiar with the efforts of the checkoff. If you heard in your head the “duh duh duh” that followed it on air, you and I could be friends.

Here in Colorado, the Colorado Beef Council works to increase beef demand and consumer confidence while also engaging and informing stakeholders. The Colorado Beef Board was formed by state statute in 1965 and was renamed the Colorado Beef Council in 1985. It was the 1985 Farm Bill that established the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order, authorizing the CBC to become a qualified state beef council and begin collecting checkoff assessments – that $1 per head – for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.

Members of the Colorado Beef Council are appointed by the governor for two-year terms. Robbie LaValley, a rancher in Western Colorado, recently completed the maximum two terms and two new members were appointed. LaValley is a multigenerational rancher in Delta County and her ranch owns a portion of a local USDA-inspected processing facility. This inspection status allows ranchers to sell individual cuts or bundles of beef directly to consumers and to food service. It’s an undertaking to be in the processing business at all, but to have direct experience in a USDA-inspected facility makes LaValley a wealth of knowledge on both sides of the industry.

Kris Musgrave and Joanie Shoemaker were both appointed to two-year terms on the Colorado Beef Council, and they will be tasked with directing state Beef Checkoff investments in research, promotion and education programs to increase demand for beef.

Musgrave joins the board as a marketing representative, is a rancher, and has developed local processing in northeastern Colorado as the owner of Stagecoach Meat Company, LLC in Wiggins.

Joanie Shoemaker is beginning her second term on the board of directors as a marketing representative. She also serves CBC as secretary/treasurer. Along with her family, Shoemaker is a cattle producer and owns Bunk House Burgers in Canon City. She also serves in leadership roles with the Colorado Cattle Women’s Association.

With experience on, if you will, both sides of the plate, Musgrave and Shoemaker are both hailed by the major agriculture trade organizations – and their neighbors – as good choices by Gov. Polis.

The BQA program quickly gained steam when it was paired with the Checkoff. In 1991, the first Beef Quality Audit was completed, followed by the first National Market Cow and Bull Beef Quality Audit. At the time, consumers were watching reports of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease overseas in the UK. BSE is typically found in older cattle, which is why no cattle over the age of 30 months were accepted as exports into Japan for years. That limit has since been lifted, but it’s a solid example of the reaction to BSE worldwide. Only six cases of BSE were detected in North America, the most recently in 2018 in a cow in Florida that never entered the food supply. Conversely, at its peak, the UK was confirming 1,000 cases weekly in 1993.

Since then, BQA has produced a manual for people involved in the transportation of livestock, people working in feed yards, those in the dairy industry, a cattle care and handling guide, an antibiotic stewardship for Beef Producers program, and seen BQA requirements among packers, transporters, and employers. It is nimble and responsive to producers and consumers in an industry that carries the weight of efficient quality protein production and processing on its shoulders, and it’s one of the ways producers can demonstrate the care they put into their animals and the products they produce.