News Release

GOSHEN — In-person Beef Quality Assurance training will be offered Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the Elkhart County 4-H Fairgrounds, 17746 CR 34, Goshen.

The training will take place via video conference in the fair board meeting room from 6:30-9 p.m. EST

The meeting is free. You only need to attend one meeting. There will be a self-graded exam at the end of the session. If you do not turn in the exam, you will not be certified.

You will be asked for your name, address, phone and email address when you register. If you do not have email, let the person know when you register. If you have a common last name, it will be helpful to include a middle name or initial.

Several years ago, the beef industry created a voluntary training and certification program called Beef Quality Assurance, or BQA. Through the program, producers of beef are taught industry standards for producing good quality beef, are tested and are then issued a certificate of completion. Among topics covered are keeping feeds safe from contaminants, animal nutrition, using drugs in a prescribed and safe manner, how to safely move cattle through barns and feedlots, using herbicides safely on pastures and worker safety.

There are now more than 1,000 Beef Quality Assurance-certified people in Indiana alone. Many of the large-scale buyers of beef adopted the BQA as their own and will not purchase beef from those without the BQA certificate. Most of the beef from the northern Indiana beef and dairy industry flows through packers with that requirement, according to a news release from the Elkhart County Extension Office.

Local beef and dairy producers have said BQA training gets them a $40-$50 premium on the animal they sell, according to the news release.

Locally, if you sell steers or cull cows or any sort of beef or dairy beef through the auctions, you will be required to have the certification because the auctions sell to packers with a BQA requirement. The two ways to become certified include either going online to bqa.org or attending a meeting.

For more information, call the Elkhart County Extension Office at (574) 533-0554.