FALL 2020 CATTLE AND CARCASS TRAINING WEBINAR SERIES

NOVEMBER 17 – DECEMBER 15, 2020

Summary Report

OVERVIEW

In September 2019, USDA announced the selection of three locations to serve as USDA Cattle and Carcass Training 

Centers (CCTC): West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas; Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo.; and 

the USDA Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Neb. In collaboration with these partners, AMS seeks to provide 

a variety of educational resources, events, and projects to support the beef industry’s knowledge and understanding of 

the cattle delivery system and the roles that producers, feeders, processors, and USDA play in bringing high quality

American beef to market.

The first CCTC event was held in-person at West Texas A&M in October 2019. Unfortunately, two additional inperson events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adapting to the situation, USDA 

and the three CCTCs agreed to instead collaborate on a virtual industry outreach event.  In this series 

of webinars, expert speakers from these organizations, as well as the CME Group, will cover an exciting array of 

topics to broaden participants’ understanding of how live cattle and carcasses are evaluated for quality and yield, how 

these factors play into CME specifications for live deliveries and carcass deliveries, and the relationship between cattle 

production practices, the grading and acceptance process, and producer prices.

PARTICANT SUMMARY

The first CCTC Webinar series was very well received and attended by industry stakeholder and USDA personal. The 

results exceeded our expectations. The number of registrations received reached 857 individuals. Of the total 

registered, 701 were industry stakeholder, with the remaining 156 having an affiliation with Federal Government. In 

addition, there were 40 registered guests from 18 foreign countries or territories. Of the total number of individuals 

registered for the series, there were 433 individuals that participated in one or more sessions. Over the four-part series,

there were 760 participants.

All four sessions were recorded and made available on the Cattle and Carcass Training 

Center website (https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/beef/cattle-carcass-training-centers) for future reference. 

As of January 4, 2021 the YouTube videos have a combined 732 views. See summary below.

YouTube Views: (As of January 4, 2021): 

Part I: CME Cattle Contracts (November 17, 2020) 242

Part II: The Science Behind the Grade (December 1, 2020) 214

Part III: Live Cattle Evaluation (December 8, 2020) 185

Part IV: Carcass Grading CME Certification (December 15, 2020) 91

Once the series concluded, an email was sent to all registrants with links to these resources, as well as a link to sign up to 

receive notification of future CCTC activities via email through AMS GovDelivery service. Currently, we have received 

175 subscribers signed up to receive future notifications about CCTC events and activities.
PARTICIPANT SURVEY RESULTS

After each session, webinar participants were invited to complete a survey to help L&P evaluate our performance and 

plan for future activities. 108 participants responded to the survey. The following is the average rating of four elements, 

on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent):

How would you 

rate your 

experience overall 

with the CCTC 

webinar series thus 

far?

How would you 

rate the quality 

of information 

presented in this 

session?

How would you 

rate the quality 

of our 

presenter(s) in 

this session?

How would you 

rate the virtual 

platform (Zoom) 

for ease of 

access and 

usability?

Part I: CME Cattle Contracts 

(November 17, 2020)*

2.8 3.6 3.6 3.0

Part II: The Science Behind the 

Grade (December 1, 2020)

4.6 4.9 4.8 4.5

Part III: Live Cattle 

Evaluation (December 8, 2020)

4.5 4.7 4.7 4.4

Part IV: Carcass Grading CME 

Certification (December 15, 2020)

4.6 4.6 4.6 4.5

*Part 1 (November 17, 2020) experienced significant technical difficulties with the live-stream content, explaining the 

lower ratings received in the survey. Typical comments included, “good info - technical difficulties prevented a good 

experience,” and “I only rate this experience as a 2 due to the technical difficulties, all the information was informative” 

and “You all tried very hard to fix the sound issues. The webinar which I saw was well done and informative; I look 

forward to seeing the PowerPoint slides.” As a further testament to the interest in the Part 1 topics, the YouTube 

recording has been the most popular so far, with 242 views since it was posted in December.

Yes or No: Do you intend to participate in future CCTC webinars or other education or training sessions?

Of the 108 responses to this question, 103 indicated they intend to participate in future CCTC activities, while 3 

indicated they did not, and 2 essentially said “maybe.”

Yes or No: If offered, would you consider attending an in-person CCTC event in the future? (CCTC locations: Canyon, 

TX; Fort Collins, CO; Clay Center, NE)

Of the 105 responses to this question, 61 said they would, and 44 said they would not.

Open Ended Question: What other topics related to U.S. cattle and carcass grading and marketing would you like to 

see CCTC events focus on? Answers were filtered or combined to remove repeat suggestions, those already addressed 

in the series, and those not applicable to the CCTC scope. Like items are grouped together:

• Meat handling after harvest, dry and wet aging, tenderizing process, butchery

• Cull cow grading

• Meat classification, Beef standard cuts, carcass cutout

• Carcass monorail weighing process

• Packing plants and the market for individual operations

• Feeding for health, yield, and quality, in-plant or feed yard practical application, best feed is available for 

livestock, pasture/forage/grass/hay

• Class related to smaller producers in the east sending feeders west

• How grading effects price, how grocery and other markets use grades and marketing behind the pricing 

differentials in the grades at retail and wholesale levels

• Grading and prices for different breeds/crossbreed types

• Compare/contrast grading conventionally fed vs naturally fed animals 

• How marketing contracts work, market conditions report, examples of how producers can take advantage of 

CME and the benefits of using alternative marketing
• How to use/read Market Reports, how they come up with prices they report, how the cattle on feed is done

• Other options for camera grading. The US is hamstrings by a single manufacturer. What is USDA doing to fix this.

AMS TOPIC PRIORITIES

AMS goals for 2021 CCTC activities are as follows:

• TWO virtual industry events hosted by AMS in cooperation with two Centers. (Ex. animal handling and the 

effects on Quality; Understanding USDA Cattle market reports and grades)

• ONE in-person training for AMS, LP staff hosted at one CCTC location.