GET CERTIFIED. STAY CERTIFIED.

BY LAURA HANDKE

Josh White, Senior Executive Director – Producer Education and Sustainability, National Cattleman’s Beef Association (NCBA), rounded out the Cattleman’s Profit Roundup at the 2022 American Gelbvieh Association National Convention with a message on Beef Quality Assurance (BQA).

“Get certified, stay certified,” White told producers. “That’s my punchline. That’s THE punchline. Encourage your neighbors and your customers to get BQA certified. It’s a small investment with a big impact for everyone.”

BQA centers on connecting the day-today business of production and animal husbandry with the end-product, a win for every link of the value chain.

The program was started in the 1970s for two primary reasons:

1. To address abscesses on the beef carcass

2. Eliminate antibiotic residues

Both major issues in terms of quality and consumer confidence, the industry chose to address the issues internally and the

BQA program was born. And although today BQA has evolved well beyond those two foundational issues, both are still front-and-center for the program.

“BQA is all about walking the walk,” White said. “We cover just about everything on the production side of BQA today. Today, we go way beyond proper injection techniques.”

The BQA program has worked to build partnerships that strengthen the industry by providing education to every person/ sector involved in beef production.

This past year, BQA partnered with the Dairy Farm Program, Veal Quality Assurance and the Dairy Calf Heifer Association to provide education to those working with calves being raised on calf ranches, as well as with other species’ organizations to educate youth on the quality care of animals.

“We’ve really tried over the last five years to button up any holes in the quality assurance program. Any animal that is going to slaughter now has a program that you can get quality assurance certified under. There shouldn’t be any holes these days…we shouldn’t have any kind of residues or object lesions,” he said. “No excuses. Get certified; do the right thing.”

A producer-driven benefit of the BQA program is the additional value the program brings to marketing. White shared that the BQA program has been analyzed against international standards of operation (ISO) that the World Animal Health Organization has instituted.

“BQA matches up to that standard, so when our folks in D.C. that work on policy issues related to trade, or when the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) talks to other countries about buying beef, they leverage BQA heavily. The fact that we meet the welfare standard of the world really says a lot,” he says.

To learn more about BQA and how every employee and family member in your operation can get certified, visit www. bqa.org.