Contact: Burt Rutherford at TCFA
                Mary Lou Bradley at B3R Country Meats, (940) 937-3668
                                                                                               

             Looking beyond the obvious to bring profitability to all sectors of the beef marketing chain coupled with a long history of using technology and common sense to improve cattle and beef production.  These are the values that earned B3R Country Meats of Childress the TCFA Beef Merchandiser Award for 2002.

            The award, presented by the Texas Cattle Feeders Association during its 35th Anniversary Convention in Amarillo, recognizes companies that set the pace in innovative ways to sell beef. 

            "B3R Meats took a leap of faith in 1986 when it opened a USDA inspected packing plant in Childress with two simple missions: provide cattlemen the tools and incentive to produce a consistently tender, flavorful and profitable product and provide consumers a product they could trust and would want to include as an important part of their families' diet," said TCFA Chairman Paul Engler in making the award presentation. 

            "Today, B3R is a company that is both growing and developing new ways to accomplish its missions.  They have found ways to lower the overall cost of production while increasing the returns paid to cow-calf producers on their cattle.  They have developed production methods that result in products that are both high in consumer acceptance and in cutability and have done so in a spirit of partnership that creates new ideas for all segments of beef production and consumption," Engler said.

Since beginning in 1986 with an idea but not much of a market, Mary Lou Bradley and her mother, Minnie Lou, have developed branded beef products that are sold nationwide.  B3R Country Meats was one of the first all-branded beef products to be marketed across the country and to reward ranchers with a value-based marketing system.  Today, ranchers from 18 states market their calves through the B3R program and consumers from New York to California enjoy eating B3R beef. 

            "B3R achieved its success by being committed to listening to consumer desires and developing animal husbandry practices that will guarantee consumers a consistent, good-tasting product," Engler said.  "In partnership with retailers, B3R conducts extensive training for meat department personnel and works to make the B3R product line a top performer in the retail meat case.  They support their retailers with attractive case liners, ceiling danglers, product information and other eye-catching material that entices consumers to buy their beef."

            Innovative thinking is not new to the Bradley family.  They began weighing all their calves in 1956 and continue to improve their cattle today.  DNA markers have been obtained on every breeding bull they've sold since 1994, allowing ranchers to pinpoint a calf's sire in a multi-sire herd.  Before ultrasound data became accepted, the Bradley 3 Ranch housed an ultrasound machine that Texas Tech University and Clarendon College used for teaching.  Ribeye and backfat data on the ranch's cattle, followed up with actual carcass data, has been collected since 1986.