Twelve Tyrone Area High School Agricultural Animal Science students received their Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Certification in April.

The students are Guy Williams, Jada Turiano, Breckin Peale, Haylee Blowers, Logan Johnston, Paige Kephart, and Angela Miller, Allison Miller, David Conard, Marlyna Borman, and Zach Neff and Kassy Kustenbauder.

In order to receive their certification, the students completed a post-test and reached a 90% or higher and had to demonstrate how to correctly administer an intermuscular injection.

BQA does more than just help beef producers capture more value from their market cattle: BQA also reflects a positive public image and instills consumer confidence in the beef industry. BQA is valuable to all beef and dairy producers because it:

• Demonstrates commitment to food safety and quality.
• Safeguards the public image of the dairy industry.
• Upholds consumer confidence in valuable beef products.
• Protects the beef industry from additional and burdensome government regulation.
• Improves sale value of marketed beef cattle.
• Enhances herd profitability through better management.

Beef Checkoff supported BQA programs bring it all together.

“Because the beef industry is so diversified, we wanted to allow states the opportunity to provide what is best for their producers.  The BQA [Manual is the] overarching [protocol], providing some consistency across the state programs.  They are good production practices to guarantee the quality of beef products,” said Dr. Dee Griffin, DVM, University of Nebraska’s Great Plains Veterinary Education Center.