Denton, Texas – The Grid Master Award, presented by the Red Angus Association of America, recognizes excellence in commercial cattle and the cattle feeding industry. Those firms – who have successfully combined superior Red Angus genetics, feeding management skills and precise marketing to achieve success with the harvest of a superior beef carcass –earn the award. During the National Red Angus Convention, Harold Bertz, RAAA commercial marketing programs coordinator, announced the recipients of the 2016 Grid Master Awards.
“This year we are pleased to have 1,365 head of Red Angus cattle in 18 loads that qualified as Grid Master Award winners,” Bertz said. “These are the kind of cattle that exemplify the quality and performance that Red Angus cattle offer every day in the marketplace.”
To be named a Grid Master, the entry must be Red Angus-sired or Red Angus-influenced cattle enrolled in the RAAA’s Feeder Calf Certification Program (FCCP) and must achieve a specified level of carcass excellence. Both conventionally and naturally fed cattle are eligible.
Conventionally fed Red Angus cattle must be marketed in lots of at least 30 head, reach a minimum of 85 percent Choice and Prime, not exceed 5 percent Yield Grade 4s and a mark a minimum Grid Score of 100.
Naturally fed Red Angus cattle must also be marketed in lots of at least 30 head, achieve 90 percent Choice and Prime, not exceed 10 percent Yield Grade 4s and reach a minimum Grid Score of 100. Of the total head qualifying, 950 head were in an all-natural program.
Firms receiving Grid Master honors include the following:
Conventionally Fed Division
- Anderson Land and Cattle, Oberlin, Kansas, home fed.
- Kniebel Cattle Co., White City, Kansas, home fed.
- Schuler-Olsen Ranches, Inc., Bridgeport, Nebraska, home fed.
- Meyer Family Farms, Brunswick, Missouri, fed at Tiffany Cattle Co., Herington, Kansas.
- Prairie Dog Creek Cattle, Dresden, Kansas, earned Grid Master honors on two loads, home fed.
Naturally Fed Division
- John and Mary Ann McDowell, Greenfield, Missouri, qualified three loads of Grid Master calves, fed at Farleigh Feedyard at Scott City, Kansas.
- Christensen Brothers, Weldona, Colorado, qualified three loads of Grid Masters, home fed.
- Roberts L7 Ranch, LLC, Ingomar, Montana, earned Grid Master distinction on two loads of calves fed at Timmerman Feeding Co, Yuma, Colorado.
- Otley Brothers, Inc., Diamond Oregon, fed at Beef Northwest/Lorenzen Ranch, Boardman, Oregon.
- Rossi Ranches, Paulina, Oregon, fed at Beef Northwest/Lorenzen Ranch, Boardman, Oregon.
- Harris Ranch, Drewsey, Oregon, and fed at Lorenzen Ranch, Madras, Oregon.
- Spreutels Red Angus, Koshkonong, Missouri, home fed.
For those who would like additional information on the Grid Master Award program, or learn about the Red Angus-specific marketing grids and the FCCP program, please contact Harold Bertz at harold@redangus.org or call (816) 661-2289.
The Red Angus Association of America serves the beef industry by enhancing and promoting the competitive advantages of Red Angus and Red Angus-influenced cattle. RAAA provides commercial producers with the most objectively described cattle in the industry by seeking and implementing new innovative technologies based on sound scientific principles that measure traits of economic importance. For more information, visit redangus.org.