Kentucky's CPH-45 program is Kentucky Proud

KAN staff report

Kentucky’s CPH-45 committee joined the Kentucky Proud marketing program this past spring.

“We believe CPH-45 and Kentucky Proud make excellent partners,” Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said. “The mission of both programs is to have an improved economic impact at the farm level.  CPH-45 sales sold more than 30,000 head in the 2007-2008 sale season at an average of $8.34 per hundredweight higher than the state average price. There is real value in selling cattle through the CPH-45 program.”

CPH-45 (Certified Preconditioned for Health) is an elite program designed to expand the marketability of feeder cattle. CPH-45 prepares cattle to perform well once they arrive in the feedlots and gives the feedlots market flexibility. The CPH-45 program has greatly enhanced the reputation of Kentucky feeder cattle. “It is great to be able to travel out West and have the feedlots ask about the CPH-45 program,” said Mike Bach, chairman of the state CPH-45 committee. “That is when we know we are doing something right.”

CPH-45 requires that calves be on a free-choice mineral, vaccinated twice, weaned for 45 days, treated for parasites, eating from a bunk and drinking from a trough. It also guarantees males will be steers and heifers will not be pregnant. Cattle are delivered to some 30 sites throughout the state and graded into groups of like kind with the goal of assembling load lots of 50,000 pounds. Graders eliminate cattle with horns, late castrated stags or any cattle that do not match.

The program has developed source and age verification that accommodates import restrictions of countries such as Japan that require cattle to be 20 months or younger at harvest.  The authentication of this data, known as the Process Verification Program (PVP), is performed by the Kentucky Beef Network. Without source and age verification, most feeder cattle from the Southeast are not eligible for certain export markets.

Kentucky Proud is the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s farm marketing program. It is designed to help Kentucky producers market their food products and help consumers find fresh, great-tasting Kentucky Proud foods. The program has grown from a few dozen members four years ago to more than 1,000 producers, processors, retailers, restaurants and farmers’ markets today.

For more information on Kentucky Proud go to www.kyproud.com.

For more information on the CPH-45 program visit www.cph45.com.