KDA employee is Kentucky's only certified beef grader

KAN staff report

Bobby LeCompt completed six weeks of training with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to become the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s first USDA-certified beef grader.

“I’m proud to say we have the only USDA grader in the state,” Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “We have worked out a contractual agreement with USDA that allows the KDA to offer this service in Kentucky. Our beef producers and meat processors are extremely fortunate to have a man with Bobby’s skills close by. His certification, along with funding from the Agricultural Development Board, will level the playing field for our beef producers while adding value to their products.”

LeCompt works for the KDA’s Division of Value-Added Animal and Aquaculture Production. He was trained at a busy processing plant in Joslin, Ill., that processed 200 head of beef cattle per hour.

LeCompt travels to USDA-inspected processing plants and grades the beef hanging in their freezers based on the amount of marbling present, which adds flavor; the age of the animal, and the overall quality of the meat. He stamps one of three grades on the carcass: “prime,” the best; “choice,” the intermediate grade; and “select,” a leaner alternative.

Small family producers whose beef is USDA quality graded can market their beef as a grain- or grass-fed, locally raised, high-value product. That enables them to make more money and better compete with high-volume producers. More money to family farms means stronger local economies and more tax revenues to local governments.

Until LeCompt became a USDA-certified grader, small producers in Kentucky had to pay high prices to get graders to come from other states to grade their beef.

All beef products that are offered for sale in the United States are inspected by the USDA for safety. Grading is done to measure the quality of the meat.