Saturday, September 11 nearly 100 Angus folks gathered for our annual field day at Blue Q Ranch in Troy.  Greeted by farm manager, Mitchell Scheer; he gave us a brief history of the farm.  Owner, Kerry Collins was in Nashville for the start of the 2010 football season, but welcomed everyone.  Kerry played for the Carolina Panthers for several years, but since 2006 has been a member of the Tennessee Titans football team.  Kerry, wife Brooke and daughter Riley divide their time between Nashville and the farm. 
           
When Kerry played for the Panthers, he liked the area and in 2002 he purchased the first part of the farm and named it Blue Q---Q for quarterback and Blue because it was the color of most every team he’s ever played for.  Currently, Blue Q consists of over 1500 acres, about evenly split between managed timber and pasture and hay land.  The first cattle were Red Angus, Balancer and Black Angus.  Black Angus became the primary breed and in 2009 they held their first production sale.  Today there are approximately 400 brood cows and an extensive ET program.  Part of the brood cows are crossbred with Simmental to produce Simi-Angus cross breeds for the commercial breeders in the area. 
           
North Carolina Angus Association President Dean Crocker and John Cassavaugh, field day chairman welcomed everyone and introduced T.W. Wall who was our master of ceremonies.  Jim Scarlett, Vice President also mentioned briefly the Presidential reception for Joe Hampton.  Our theme for this year’s field day was “Producing Better Angus Cattle”
           
Our first speaker was Tracy Neff from King Agri Seed.  His catch phrase “Don’t Guess-Soil Test” was heard several times during his presentation.  He focused on not just using enough fertilizer, but also on not using the right analysis of fertilizer.  Sometimes we may actually be using more of a component than we really need.  Fertilizer is made of three parts:  the first number is the nitrogen amount, the second number is the phosphorus and the third number is the potassium.  Also important is the PH in the soil, the PH has to do with the acidity and should be between 6 and 6.5.  A simple “soil test” can find all of these numbers.  Soil testing is free and when you receive the report it will tell you how much of each component you will need for your specific crop.  Mr. Neff also talked on being careful how closely we graze our pastures in the fall, because overgrazing now can reduce spring grass.  When grass puts out new “shoots” it is also putting out new roots and most of this new growth is in the spring and fall.  If the grass is grazed too close, there isn’t enough leafage to absorb nutrients from the environment to spur growth for the next season. 
           
Next speaker was Jamie Shoope, a USDA Certified Meat Grader Supervisor.  He explained the different grades now being used by USDA—choice, prime, select and standard.  Beef has been inspected for years for wholesomeness and in the 80s quality and yield grades were introduced.  Most grain fed beef should grade choice or select.  The amount of marbling in the beef is the primary determinant in quality grades within a maturity grade.  Increases in marbling will provide juiciness, increased flavor and better protection from over cooking.  Tenderness increases as cattle mature; color, flavor and texture of lean muscle also change as cattle mature.  Carcasses are divided into five classifications for maturity.  Yield grades range from 1-5 and are assigned by:  external fat thickness, carcass weight, rib eye area, and KPH (kidney, pelvic and heart fat).  Carcass weight is measured “hot” and rib eye area is measured at the 14th rib cross section.  Graders may grade 400-450 carcasses an hour. 
           
Finishing out our program was American Angus regional manager, David Gazda who updated us on the new Igenity Enhanced EPDs.  This new tool takes a simple blood sample and identified multiple traits including calving ease, weaning weight and marbling, the purpose of which is to help make better future selections for our herd.  The goal is to more quickly identify the individual animals that have a better potential for the desirable traits we’re looking for.  The Igenity program is still in the developmental stage, but looks to be a powerful tool for the Angus breeders in the future.
           
Unfortunately just as the seminars were finishing up, we received a much needed rain shower.  Mitchell had wagons ready for a hayride farm tour, but we really needed the rain so no one complained.  We continued to visit with vendors, speakers and other Angus folks.