March 2022 Brangus Journal

The Elevator Speech

by Darrell Wilkes, Ph.D., International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) EVP

Have you ever heard about the “elevator speech”? It is a term used to describe a 30-second encounter with a potential customer. It’s the amount of time you would normally be in an elevator together. You have 30-seconds to get somebody’s attention. Thirty seconds to summarize how your product can improve the customer’s business.

You may have heard of the same concept, but it was called the “business card test”. This simply means that you should be able to summarize the advantages and benefits of your product on the back of a business card.

As Brangus breeders, if challenged with the elevator speech or the business card test, what are we going to say? If you ask me, these are our bullet points:

• Brangus cows thrive in harsh environments – they produce longer and deliver more calf payweight.

• Brangus deliver heterosis without a complex crossbreeding program.

• Beef from Brangus meets the high quality expectations of the modern beef industry.

This list will be complete when we can add just one more bullet point: “Brangus feeder cattle bring premium prices.” When we can truthfully state that and back it up with data, then your elevator speech will be complete and demand for Brangus bulls will be off the charts.

I firmly believe that the only thing holding us back as Brangus breeders is ACCOUNTING. I am confident that we can show any producer in harsh environments that a Brangus cow will out-produce a straightbred British cow by at least $100 per year – and more like $2,500 in the life of a cow. Instead of producing 7-8 calves, they’ll produce 10, thereby reducing the second largest cost in a cow-calf operation -- cow depreciation cost. When it turns hot, a Brangus cow and her calf will graze and the calf will grow while other cattle are standing in the shade or the pond – and not grazing or growing. Because both the bulls and cows can handle the harsh environment through their inherent thermotolerance, they are less stressed and will deliver higher rates of reproduction – fewer open cows, fewer late calvers, more calves weaned, more pounds to sell.

While none of this is rocket science, it takes a rather sophisticated recordkeeping system and significant number crunching to validate the extra $100 per cow per year that a Brangus cow will deliver to your bottom line vs. a British cow, especially a straightbred British cow. The $100 per cow per year is absolutely there, it’s just hard to “see”.

Contrast this to the easy math that a producer can do in their head when they see their good Brangus calves bring a few cents per pound less than an Angus or SimAngus calf at the local auction barn. It is very easy to multiply 600-lbs times 5-cents per pound. That’s a $30/HD discount. Because this number is obvious, it tends to overshadow the less obvious (but real) $100 per cow annual advantage of a Brangus cow. In very plain English, there are thousands of producers in harsh environments who are trading $100 per cow in lost production for $30 of calf revenue. Obviously, that’s not a good trade.

The solution to this problem is to eliminate the “eared discount” that Brangus feeder calves tend to get – along with all other eared feeder cattle. There are two components to this solution: 1) differentiate genuine Brangus calves from the mix of “black with a touch of ear” calves that are often referred to as Brangus in the marketplace, and 2) continuously gather data from feedlots and packers comparing the feeding performance and carcass value of genuine Brangus to other cattle in the pipeline or the industry averages.

IBBA is pursuing this solution, and you play the key role. The first part of the solution is to make the Brangus Vigor feeder calf program grow and grow and grow. We’re just getting started with this, and it is going to take effort by many Brangus breeders to actually make it happen. A group of Brangus breeders in Arkansas recently put together about one hundred Brangus Vigor calves that were sold on the same day at the North Arkansas Livestock Auction. The USDA Market News reporter said that the Brangus Vigor calves came within a few cents per pound of the top Angus calves to sell that day. That’s pretty good, but not good enough. We believe they are worth every penny of what a good Angus calf is worth. My theory is that if they would have had 500-hd, or 1,000-hd instead of 100, more buyers would have been at the sale and they would have bid the Brangus Vigor calves up to the top of the market. The breeders who put this together, Mr. Giffin, Dr. Dickey, Mr. Singleton and Mr. Jackson stuck their necks out a bit to pull this off. Now, having experienced it firsthand, they will come up with a list of things to do better and can begin planning the next Brangus Vigor calf sale with a much higher headcount in mind. This is how programs like Brangus Vigor become big deals – people make it happen at the local level!

Is your local auction market progressive? Do they host value-added or “special” feeder calf sales? If so, you will likely find a very open attitude on their part to put together a Brangus Vigor sale. Call them. Ask for a meeting. You and your fellow breeders will need to recruit consignors (your bull customers) and you’ll need to put in some extra effort, but it will be worth it. Commercial producers who may be contemplating a Brangus bull (or should be contemplating a Brangus bull) will be attracted to the energy, enthusiasm, and confidence that you display in Brangus genetics.

The second part of the solution is to continue gathering feedlot and carcass data on Brangus cattle. There is no substitute for real data. There are some IBBA members who are retaining cattle through the feeding and packing phase and then publishing their data – right in their sale catalog! That is a clear show of confidence in their genetics. We need to compile this information and get it in front of feedlots and packers. When we explain the Science of Brangus to them, and show them how Brangus are totally different from a typical Angus X Indicus cross, then we will have their attention.

IBBA’s Long Term Planning Committee envisioned a strategy of boosting demand for genuine Brangus feeder cattle. The IBBA Commercial Marketing Committee took the concept and turned it into a program. Now, what is needed is for Brangus breeders to step to the plate and make something happen in your area. Go Brangus!