BQA Survey Results

The industry’s Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program was created in 1987 to assist beef producers in raising, feeding and harvesting high quality beef. Iowa’s BQA certification program, which began in 1999, is funded through the Iowa Beef Industry Council and the $1 per head beef checkoff. The Iowa BQA program has certified nearly 4,200 producers to date.

The ultimate goal of the BQA program is to maximize consumer confidence in beef. The BQA program combined with cattle producer’s efforts to develop and promote new beef products, and provide consumers with beef nutritional information has helped spur demand. As a matter of fact, America’s demand for beef has increased nearly 20 percent since 1998.

The incidence of injection site lesions, antibiotic residues, bruising and horn damage have all been declining since the BQA program began. There is no doubt that beef producers have taken seriously their commitment to meeting and exceeding consumer expectations.

So the real question is how many BQA certified producers are following BQA guidelines? To help us determine the answer we conducted a survey during August 2006 to determine various BQA production practices being used by Iowa BQA certified beef producers. The surveys were mailed to 478 cow-calf producers (133 surveys were returned or 28%) and 352 feedlot operators (87 surveys were returned or 25%).

Some stats that jumped out were 98 percent of feedlots and more than 99 percent of cow-calf producers were following BQA guidelines. The usual location for routine injections and vaccinations was the neck with 99 percent of feedlots and 100 percent of cow-calf producers listing it as the injection site they use. This speaks very highly of Iowa beef producers. In 1991 more than 25 percent of fed cattle had an injection site lesion. Today the number of injection site lesions being found on fed cattle is under .05 percent.

In summary, producers that have been BQA certified seem to be adopting many of the BQA guidelines that are presented in the certification program. If you are not BQA certified and would like to be, please contact the Iowa Beef Industry Council at 515-296-2305 to find out about having a BQA certification meeting in your county.