Every month has days to observe and celebrate. Obviously, some are more universal and carry a lot of hype like Halloween and New Year’s. But have you ever heard of the lesser-known ones such as National Donut Day or World Chocolate Day?
Now those I could get behind.
It seems like if I peruse the internet long enough, I can find a day dubbed for just about anything and some are, well, a little bizarre. There’s National Lost Sock Memorial Day, Backward Day, Read in the Bathtub Day, World Emoji Day, National Clean Up Your Room Day and National Check Your Wipers Day. (Did we really need a day to remember to clean our rooms?)
Aside from the weird and wacky, the month of May has several observances worth celebrating. There’s Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, Cinco De Mayo and Teacher Appreciation Day, and then there’s the entire month observances such as Mental Health Awareness Month, and of course, to your credit – National Beef Month.
We all know Memorial Day festivities are the official kickoff to summer and a major time for beef to shine. As much of the nation fires up their grills and takes the covers off their Traegers from their winter slumber, I can’t think of a better month to recognize the best tasting protein.
According to an article on CNBC, an estimated 70% of U.S. households now own at least one grill or smoker, according to consumer research from the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association – the highest the industry group has ever seen. Much of this can be credited to the pandemic as restaurants closed and consumers mastered new cooking skills.
With an expanded offering of cuts that restaurants had served but couldn’t due to lockdowns, these households developed a new appetite for quality beef and the joy of eating restaurant-quality cuts at home. As a result, Dave Weaber of Terrain, an offering of American AgCredit, Farm Credit Services of America and Frontier Farm Credit, shared in a recent report that many shoppers have shifted their purchasing patterns to include more branded, upper two-thirds Choice and Prime-graded products.
For those of you producing these products, this isn’t a surprise. You are well aware of the quality eating experience beef can provide. However, as Weaber noted in his report “Rebuilding the Beef Supply Chain After the Drought,” this trend provides significant opportunity for producers to further focus on producing high-quality grading genetics – and get paid for it – as the nation’s cow herd starts to rebuild.
While Memorial Day and the start of grilling season has always been big for beef consumption, these purchasing patterns are exciting and definitely worth considering in your management decisions going forward. So here’s to National Beef Month and whatever celebration in May that encourages consumers to fire up the grills and brings quality beef to their dinner tables.
