Behind the Beef – Angus Verified & its success

Cheyne Twist, Communications Officer

The Behind the Beef podcast recently showcased the Angus Verified program and its successes in the months after the launch of the program in early 2021.

Joined by special guests Liz Pearson, Angus Australia Commercial Supply Chain Manager, Jamie Grosser, Boambee Angus and Barry Shearman, R & B Livestock, the episode covered off what producers wanted to know most about the program and some firsthand experiences from producers who are part of the program and have sold Angus Verified cattle to great success. Firstly, Liz Pearson joined the podcast to discuss the questions the society received most regarding the Angus Verified program.

For anybody who isn’t familiar with the program, what is Angus Verified?

Angus Verified is our latest integrity program that we’ve launched for commercial producers. It verifies the producers claim that an animal is Angus, and we do this through the validation of sires used via the NLIS database and the use of purebred commercial Angus females.

What are the benefits of Angus Verified?

There are plenty of benefits. The key benefits are centred around building integrity, confidence and trust and that’s really for the marketplace integrity for your business. What it allows you to do as a producer is really leverage a competitive advantage against those who aren’t in the program, and hopefully then securing some market premiums, which is what we’ve seen so far. It rewards that use of Angus and registered Angus sires and adding reputation and credibility to your business which really links up to integrity. It’s really about making sure that everyone is getting what they’re paying for, and that confidence and trust is there. There is also a couple of other benefits in the program in terms of how you market your cattle, as you can utilise Angus Verified tags and the logo when you’re selling. We’ve also managed to integrate Angus Verified into the AuctionsPlus selling platform, so any animals listed on there will carry an Angus Verified identifier and people will be able to filter out Angus Verified animals on AuctionsPlus.

How do producers join Angus verified?

It’s pretty easy to join! You just get in touch with Angus Australia if you are already a member. It’s literally just an email including your member ID asking us to join. If you are not an Angus Australia member you can join up using the joining form on the Angus Australia website in the Angus Verified section or by contacting the society. Once you become a member, you then subscribe to Angus Verified and from there you’ll move on to be able to put information in the system through an app and web portal which is run by our collaborating partner Aglive.

Can you check if animals you have purchased are Angus Verified?

Yes, you can. The key is being able to know that what you have purchased is what you thought you were buying and that’s where the trust comes in. You can actually upload the RFIDs or NLIS tags of any animals you bought if you think they are Angus Verified into the angus.tech database through a simple CSV file. Doing this can tell you whether they are Angus Verified, with the verification of each animal staying with them for life. And there’s obviously the benefit for you as a purchaser further down the chain if you’re breeding from those animals or if you’re intending on selling them yourselves.

How much does Angus Verified cost?

If they are becoming an member of Angus Australia there is a $110 annual membership fee. Once you are a member there is the Angus Verified subscription fee which is an annual fee of $110. The other fee for the program is a dollar per animal that you verify, which is just the animal, you don’t need to verify the mothers or the bulls.

What physical guidelines must cattle meet to comply with Angus Verified?

There is a set of physical guidelines of these animals have to comply with to be able to be verified, outside of the fact they must be by a registered Angus sire and purebred commercial Angus female. They need to be straight black and represent the Angus phenotype. They can have a small amount of white on their underlines which we define as no white visible from the front of the animal. For example, you might see some white in between the brisket and the front legs, so those animals wouldn’t comply. The rest is pretty standard with no white legs or feet and no horns. Scurs are acceptable, but you cannot have any bos indicus or dairy characteristics.

Angus Verified on AuctionsPlus

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Angus Verified has been integrated in the AuctionsPlus selling platform. This will enable agents and AuctionsPlus accredited assessors to identify their clients’ cattle as Angus Verified in the AuctionsPlus sale catalogue, assisting producers and agents in securing Angus Verified premiums.

If a producer breeds their own or buys bulls that are unregistered, can they be used in Angus Verified?

Unfortunately, no, any bull that is used has to be registered as that allows us to validate the fact that they are an Angus animal and have a pedigree that we’re confident is Angus. Do you have to know which animals are by which bulls?

Obviously, it’s not practical for all commercial producers to know exactly which animals are by which bulls so when making Angus Verified we wanted to make it as commercially applicable or practical as we possibly could. You can group the bulls, so when for example you might have 100 steers you could say well these 100 steers are by one of these three bulls. So as long as it’s grouped, that’s fine.

Moving on to market premiums, are there restrictions on using the Angus Verified and associated logos on someone’s own marketing material?

There are a couple of guidelines to follow. The main constraint is that if you’re going to advertise a lot as Angus Verified every animal in that lot must be Angus Verified. You can’t have mixed lots where not all are Angus Verified and use the Angus Verified logo. In the instance of a mixed lot, you’d be able to identify the particular animals that are in the system as Angus Verified. The logo usage only applies to those where the whole lot is verified.

Can agents assume that if cattle have an Angus Verified tag in their ear that they are safe to market them as Angus Verified or do they need to scan and check them? And furthermore, does that responsibility fall back on the agent or the breeder?

We want to make sure that if people are calling animals Angus Verified that they certainly are and same goes for the agent, therefore obviously the relationship between the agent and the producer has a fair bit to do with it. If there were some cattle that come and they were going to be put into the sale the next day, however you are unsure if they are Angus Verified, those RFIDs can be uploaded to the Angus Australia database, angus.tech, and you can validate if all the animals are in the system or not. If they’re not, then you know that you might need to draft out that lot before you sell them. In the case of whose responsibility it is to ensure this, if the agent is listing those animals it is likely the agents responsibility, however it probably falls on both producer and the agent.

This is the Angus Verified identifier that will be visible on individual lots in an AuctionsPlus online sale catalogue. It’s important to confirm that the agent or assessor lists Angus Verified cattle with their RFIDs and ticks the Angus Verified check box to ensure these animals have been validated against the Angus Australia database and are identified as Angus Verified in AuctionsPlus. If agents assess cattle for AuctionsPlus and they don’t look like Angus x Angus but the vendor says that they are Angus Verified, what do we do?

That is really the same instance as the previous question. The small difference with the AuctionsPlus platform is that whenever you list animals as Angus Verified the RFIDs of those animals will be checked in the Angus Australia database by AuctionsPlus before they’re actually uploaded so in that instance, the animals that aren’t in the system would fall out. This also means that if you had a lot of animals that you listed as Angus Verified and one wasn’t in the system, then the entire lot would lose the Angus Verified classification. If an agent assesses cattle for AuctionsPlus and some of the animals in the lot are Angus Verified and some are not, do they just make a note for that lot in the agents’ comments or do they separate these cattle into different lots?

The advice is to separate those cattle into separate lots. The agents’ comments won’t allow you to identify them as Angus Verified. You certainly are best to separate them into individual lots or into lots that are Angus Verified and nonAngus Verified.

Will the sires of these cattle be displayed?

Not currently however this is something that we’re looking at doing next year. We have that information but the system is just not lined up to do that yet. There will come a time when Angus Verified animals are listed and you’ll certainly be able to see which sire or a group of sires have sired those animals in a lot. This will really add quite a bit of value to the seller and the purchaser in terms of being able to validate who the bulls are and what the bloodlines are of those animals.

Listen to the full Behind the Beef episode

You sure can. We would expect people to typically use them in a live selling centre, live auctions, potentially AuctionsPlus or with females that they intend to keep as breeders. There is probably not a great deal of value to use them if you were selling direct to the feedlot or to the processors because they’re going to pull those tags out. However just to let our listeners know that they’re not mandatory, so you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to. What happens if one of the animals already verified loses its NLIS tag before it gets sold?

So, there’s a couple of things you can do in this space. If you know the tag that’s lost, you can replace it on the NLIS database as you would normally and that will be picked up by our database as we’ll see that change. If you are not sure which one it is, or you have had a couple of animals lose tags, you can just replace the tag as you would normally and upload that new tag into the Angus Verified section in the app or the web portal so it’s still in the system. Can you verify steers or heifers after you have purchased them?

No, Angus Verified is for the breeder of animals. Obviously, you need to be able to do validate and sign a declaration of who these animals are in terms of the sires and the mothers, so really, it’s only the breeder that can do that. We are looking at potentially utilizing some of our other technical services at Angus Australia that validate Angus breed content, so there may be the opportunity in the future to do that with those services.

What if you have used a bull but it was never transferred to your PIC?

It’s a necessity that bulls must be transferred to you and are on the correct PIC to be able to validate that they are the sire of Angus Verified animals. Because the validation of the sire is done via the NLIS database we rely on the information you give us. We’re looking to see that based on when the calves were born and the PIC that the mother was on when she was joined, that we can determine the joining period and know when the bull should have been with the cows. Therefore, we’re going to be looking at the NLIS database to make sure that the bull was with those cows at that time on the same PIC. If the bull was never transferred to your PIC you’re not going to be able to verify animals that are by him because as far as the integrity hoop that we expect people to jump through there has to be proof that the bull is there. In the instance where you still own the bull and he hasn’t been transferred, I know that you’re able to go back into the NLIS database and make that transfer and that will be fine, however you will have some challenges if for example the bull’s already been sent to someone else, sold to a processor and been slaughtered.

Success for Angus Verified

In the months since the launch of the Angus Verified Program, there have been a number of success stories coming out saleyards around Australia for producers selling Angus Verified cattle. The Behind the Beef Podcast was also joined by some of the producers who have sold Angus Verified cattle to some outstanding results in recent months.

Jamie Grosser, Farm Manager of Boambee Angus

We were joined firstly by Jamie Grosser, Farm Manager of Boambee Angus.

Can you please provide a little bit of background into your operation?

We are Boambee Angus, and we are located in the lower Hunter Valley at East Seaham. We’re on roughly 3000 acres and are a stud and commercial operation running about 500 breeders in total. Either side of that we breed plenty of replacement heifers for ourselves and our clients. We also breed plenty of bulls that we sell in the local area and around the state. What we are all about is breeding cattle that suit our climate and conditions for here and also for our clients.

What compelled you guys to become part of the Angus Verified program?

When it came out it was a new marketing opportunity for Angus cattle and as people know there’s a lot of cattle that get sold around the country that are black but they’re not Angus. Also, a fair few of our clients pushed us in this direction because they were looking at getting involved with Angus Verified too and we thought even though we’re a stud herd, with our commercial cattle it was the best way to go forward and be a part of it at the start.

What results have you had on cattle sold with the Angus Verified assurance?

A couple of months ago when we first got it involved, we sold two-year-old PTIC heifers for $3000 - $3500 off farm, and then a couple of weeks ago we sent some cattle into the Maitland Spring Female Sale where our Angus heifers and calves made $4900. We also sent some 14-monthold yearling heifers in that made $3000. Both of those lots were above everything else in their category and topped the market, and even broke records that Maitland and the Hunter Valley hadn’t seen before.