62—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. June 14. 1975
Angus Breeders Begin
Sire Evaluation Tests
A new program of genetic
•valuation chart has been
started by the American
Angus Association. Under
the program, Angus bulls
will be evaluated and ranked
nationwide on the per
formance of their offspring.
According to Lloyd D.
Miller, the association’s
executive secretary, the new
and somewhat controversial
program is called the
National Angus Sire
Evaluation.
To date, some 45 bulls have
been tested and ranked
nationally on the per
formance of their calves
from weaning through the
feedlot and on the rail. More
important, another 200
Angus bulls are in various
stages of the program.
“Some will do exceptionally
well, and some will do very
badly,” Miller said, “but all
the results will be published.
Their owners are willing to
take the risk of having one of
their bulls do badly and have
it published nationwide, in
order to find out more about
the cattle they are breeding.
“The purpose of National
Angus Sire Evaluation is not
to find a super bull,” says
Miller. “It is to identify a
large number of bulls with
the genetic power to improve
their Offspring in specific
traits. This will give Angus
breeders a choice of sires
they can use in well-planned
breeding programs. It
should take some of the
guesswork out of their
selections,” Miller em
phasized.
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The lifting of 39 bulla,
which includes some 25 bulls
that have Just completed the
program, is now available
from the American Angus
Association. The results
show only one bull in the top
10 of all four traits measured
• weaning weight, yearling
weight, carcass cutability
and carcass quality. Several
other bulls ranked high on
two or three of the four traits
tested for. On the bottom of
the scale, a few bulls, which
breeders considered to be
excellent herd bull
prospects, fell down in all of
the traits tested for and
others ranked extremely low
in one, two or three traits.
Regardless of how a bull
does he must be included in
the national ranking after
completing the test. A
breeder has the option,
however, of taking the bull
our of the national listing
after the first time.
The closest thing to a
“super bull” on the new
listing is an animal that
ranked first on weaning
weight, second on yearling
weight, third on carcass
cutability and ninth on
carcass grade. But he may
not be the best bull for every
herd, Association
representatives pointed out.
For example, if the breeder
has good milking cows and a
reasonable amount of
growth rate in his calves, but
needs to improve the
cutability and carcass grade
of his calves, then he might
skip over this outstanding
bull in favor of another in the
STATE
teat that ranked right at the
top for carcau cutability
and carcaas quality.
Record* show that the sire
which ranked firat and
second in the two carcass
traits should improve the
yield grade in his offspring
by .76 percent over the
average of all bulls tested
compared to .46 percent
improvement for the more
“superior" bull. The second
bull’s records show that he
should increase the quality
grade of his offspring by Just
under one-half of a 1-3 of a
USDA quality grade,
compared to less than .2 of a
1-3-grade unit for the high
ranking bull.
On the other two traits the
top “carcass" sire ranked
11th on yearling weight with
the capability of adding an
average of 7 pounds to the
yearling weight of the calves
he sires. His only real
problem is a 19th position
ranking on 205-day weight.
In this area he could be
expected to cut 1.2 pounds off
the average weaning weight
of his progeny. So if a
breeder is willing to take a
smaller increase in yearling
weight and a slight reduction
in weaning weight, he should
be able to improve the
carcass yield and quality of
his herd. It should be pointed
out, however, that there was
far less difference between
the bulls on carcass traits
than on weight gains.
Assuming on the other
hand that you are a cattle
breeder who needs as much
growth rate in your calves as
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■possible, and art not worrltd
about improving your
carcass grade and
cutablllty, then maybe you
would be Interested in yet
another sire from the teat.
This thiitt bull has an ex
pected progeny difference
(EPD) in yearling weight of
31.2 pounds. This means that
he mould add more than 31
pounds to the average
yearling weight of your
calves. This was good
enough to rank him number
one on yearling weight. At
today’s fat cattle prices, this
amounts to a considerable
increase in income.
This same bull ranked
second in weaning weight
with a 12.2 expected progeny
difference. This 12.2 EPD
means that be should be able
to increase weaning weights
of his calves by an average
of over 12 pounds.
On the minus side, the bull
ranked 16th in carcass
cutablllty with the an
ticipated ability to add only
.1 percent increase in yield
grade over the average of all
bulls tested. The bull’s worst
showing was in carcass
quality. The results from his
progeny ranked him 30th
over all and his expected
progeny difference shows
that he can be expected to
reduce USDA carcass grade
of Ids offspring by .1 of a 1-3
grade unit.
For a herd that has good
bred-in carcass cutability
and quality these last two
figures would be relatively
insignificant, particularly
when compared with the
major improvement the bull
could generate in weight
gains.
By the same token the
National Angus Sire
Evaluation program has
singled out bulls that are
near the bottom in all traits.
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In waning weight, yearling •nd Jlth, respectively,
weight, cutablllty and 56th,
quality, for example, one 37th, 28th, and Mth. ThU wee
bull ranked 30th, 25th, 30th [Continued on Page 63)
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