The Progressive Beef Program is a quality management system that focuses on providing consumers more information about how their beef is raised and cared for. The program focuses on 3 main pillars: 1) Cattle Care, 2) Food Safety and 3) Sustainability. By focusing on these areas, Progressive Beef helps educate consumers on beef process control, food safety guidelines, animal care considerations, sustainability benchmarks, and responsible antibiotic use.
What makes the Progressive Beef program stand out?
The Progressive Beef Program is a comprehensive quality management system that covers all areas of day to day cattle care. To verify compliance with Progressive Beef program requirements bi-yearly audits are conducted to ensure that our animals receive good care to produce safe and healthy beef. One audit is an internal audit conducted by our quality assurance team, and the other is an audit conducted by a USDA approved auditing company. Each audit is very much like a report card. Upon completion, the feedyard receives a score. The metrics involved play a key role in the Progressive Beef path of continuous improvement.
An advisory group provides input and guidance regarding the Progressive Beef program requirements.
Implementation of the Progressive Beef program is a rigorous step by step process listed below to set-up, train, and verify feed yard compliance and ultimately acquiring their Progressive Beef certification. Certification is renewed annually.
Using Technology to Create A Better Beef Quality Management System
The Progressive Beef Program is focused on accountability and ensuring that it follows through on it's promises. To accomplish this a Mobile App was designed and built to bring efficiency to data collection and verification. The Mobile App is easy to use and customized to each feedyard's operations.
In an effort to ensure that the Progressive Beef standards for animal care, sustainability, and responsible antibiotic use are met daily, the the following are assessed at internal and USDA approved audits:
Cattle handling and daily care
Cattle home pen living conditions
Cattle water tank cleanliness
Cattle feed nutrition, handling and delivery which follows developed HACCP principles for safety
Antibiotic use on the farm (traceability as well as animal withdrawal records)
Employee safety guidelines
Sustainability practices and measurement
Training and knowledge
Record verification
