A John Deere Publication

Color, marbling, and other attributes of this ribeye can earn it an optional USDA quality grade—a process that can now be done remotely

Agriculture, Livestock/Poultry January 01, 2025

Remote Grading

USDA pilot program can boost small slaughterhouses.

by Steve Werblow

LimitBid Packing has created a vibrant, USDA-inspected alternative to big beef packers for about 100 cattle producers within a few hours' drive of the small slaughterhouse's location near Odessa, Washington. But for the past year, a pilot project by USDA has taken the small plant to the next level—offering carcass grading without the expense of an official USDA grader on-site.

Beef headed to commercial channels must be inspected by a USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) official, who checks indicators of the health of the animal and wholesomeness of the meat. Optional grading falls under USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), using carcass traits to assess quality.

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service took a bold approach in January 2024: training staff at small slaughterhouses like LimitBid to photograph carcasses and upload the images to USDA graders, who assess the photos as if they were in the cooler themselves. Within 24 hours, the grader emails the processor with a grade and authorizes the staffer to stamp the carcass.

For Peyton Curtis, who sells 10% to 20% of her family's beef direct to consumers under a label called The Herd, a USDA Prime stamp boosts the retail price of a strip loin steak from $21 to $27. That's a 30% premium, adding $300 to $400 in value per carcass.

Covid effect. The Covid pandemic plays strongly into both the USDA Remote Grading Pilot Project and its impact on LimitBid customers like The Herd.

Early in the pandemic, meat cases were stripped clean by anxious shoppers and slowdowns at big packers. USDA dedicated $1 billion in 2021 to diversify the beef and poultry supply chains and strengthen local meat processing, which has shrunk dramatically in recent decades.

Meanwhile, notes Curtis, shoppers sought comfort in cooking. They also amped up their interest in premium ingredients—like USDA Prime beef, for instance.

"They're being able to take this steakhouse kind of experience and bring it into their own home," she says. "People are so much more family oriented after the Covid era, and they're more willing to grill at home and experiment. So we're giving customers the opportunity to do something that is special to them."

But a few years ago, the cost of grading was prohibitive for a small processor like LimitBid, which slaughters and custom cuts about 50 head per week.

"We had been entertaining the idea of bringing a grader up from Pasco, which if you get into travel fees and everything else, would have cost us close to $800 just to get them here for a half hour's work," says Ritzville, Washington, rancher Miles Curtis, Peyton's father. He is also the owner of LimitBid Packing. Even with about 35% of the Curtis family's Angus carcasses grading Prime, the cost of getting a grader to the plant would not have paid off under the traditional system.

Above. Entrepreneur and veterinary student Peyton Curtis uses social media and farmers' markets to retail 10% to 20% of her family's beef. A USDA Prime stamp added 30% to the value of this steak. Winston Wade, manager of LimitBid Packing, mounts his smartphone on a special, lighted hood provided by USDA to photograph carcasses for remote grading. He says the process works smoothly and expands the service LimitBid can offer customers. Miles Curtis is a rancher and owner of LimitBid Packing.

Simple technology. The Remote Grading Pilot Program bills slaughterhouses $123 per hour to cover USDA's costs. Graders can issue 15 to 20 grades per hour through the remote system, which can bring grading costs well within reach of small outfits.

That's why when Miles Curtis and LimitBid plant manager Winston Wade heard about the USDA pilot project, they volunteered to participate.

"I said, 'tell me more,' and kudos to USDA, it was just a couple of conversations and they jumped right on it," Curtis says.

Wade has long experience in meat plant operations, so learning to saw the carcass in the right place was no problem. Neither was mounting his smartphone in a special, lighted hood that allows graders to see uniformly composed, uniformly lit photos.

Wade shoots a photo of the ribeye with the carcass tag in the frame, then takes a shot of the spine with the same tag. He uploads the photos to USDA's cloud-based "vault" and notifies a grader via email. When notification of the grade arrives via email, Wade stamps the carcass, photographs the stamp and files monthly reports of the weight of all of LimitBid's graded meat.

The highly experienced remote graders are "the best of the best," according to one USDA official.

Adding value. A year in, USDA is bullish on remote grading. It's eyeing new technology to streamline the process and rule changes that will support remote grading beyond the pilot stage.

At its launch, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said remote grading "opens the door for additional packers and processors to receive grading and certification services allowing them to access new, better, and more diverse marketing opportunities."

The Curtises and Wade can attest to that and more. Miles Curtis adds that remote grading can help LimitBid customers improve their genetic choices, too.

"For a lot of our customers, these are the only beef they have that they finish themselves," he notes. "These are the only cattle they'll ever get any data on, which I think is fantastic." ‡