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History of Micro Beef Technologies

Although the history of Micro Beef Technologies itself begins in 1971, its roots are much longer and deeper than that and stretch back over 130 years. Those roots begin with my family and their involvement in the history and evolution of the beef industry. They have seen it progress from the Trail Driving Days, to the establishment of the Great Ranches throughout the West, to the Rise of the Cattle Feeding Industry on the Great Plains, down to today with the beginnings of what I call the New Beef Quality Era. But more importantly, they didn't just see the industry progress through these eras, they were and still are part of that evolution as active participants.

Since its founding by my parents, Bill and Linda Pratt, in 1971 in Amarillo, Texas, this family-owned beef technology manufacturer has continually combined new innovations with a comprehensive, integrated systems approach that provides an expansive future profitability growth path unparalleled in the beef industry.

Micro's technology vision began with the feedyard segment of the beef industry. And the feedyard's profit center and most critical area of operation is the feedmill, so we began there. We began by innovating a system that delivers the minute micro feed ingredients used in cattle feeding rations. We also sold these micro ingredients and delivered a service program as well. So a new philosophy was born in the cattle feeding industry -- supplying innovative technologies, comprehensive service programs, and consumable products all from one source. That had not been done before and we are still leading the field with this approach.

As the company grew throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's, we expanded our scope of operations by developing additional feed management technologies for the cattle feeding industry, most of which were the first systems of their type in the industry. Soon, we developed health management technology and began supplying animal health products to the industry. And as we developed so many technologies, we recognized the need in the mid and late 1980's for total integration of these technologies into one information system. And in 1990, we introduced the first relational database information system to the industry. Then, we continued to identify other industry needs. An overriding issue in the beef industry was how to increase the value of finished cattle. So we entered the marketing management field. One major need was the ability to objectively manage animals on an individual basis to a specific marketing target rather than managing groups by averages with subjective methods to average sale dates. We also began working on a way to deliver downstream beef industry segments such as processors and retailers a more uniform and higher quality beef product. We also began working on a way to practically and accurately deliver individual animal live and carcass performance data back upstream to ranchers. Needless to say, this was a huge undertaking which took years and millions of dollars to pursue resulting in our ACCU-TRAC® Electronic Cattle Management System. During this time, we have continually upgraded all our systems with new versions coming out regularly as well as have introduced other new systems to the industry whether by innovation, acquisition, or partnership. No other company in the beef industry has introduced the number and quality of computerized management systems that Micro Beef Technologies has.

Today, Micro Beef remains a service-oriented, innovation-based, technology-driven company with the highest ethical standards and a total commitment to quality in an ever-changing beef industry. And the staff of beef industry professionals here at Micro Beef is working hard to build long-term relationships with other members of the beef industry by developing and servicing these innovative, computerized management systems that result in a competitive advantage and increased profits for our customers. But everyone at Micro Beef also fully understands that ultimately we are in the food business and not just the technology business. This understanding manifests itself in everything we do to help ensure that the beef consuming public receives a high quality, consistent, and wholesome beef product and satisfying beef eating experiences every time.

With 130 year old roots in the cattle business, our family knows the value of both tradition and innovation in changing times. And over the last 35 years, we've continued to mix tradition and innovation in our family-owned beef technology company founded in Amarillo in 1971. Since then, the beef industry has come to know and appreciate Micro Beef's values and creativity. Together, we are building partnerships to face tomorrow's challenges as we are Making Beef Better™.