Al2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 29,1980
Angus Assn, releases bull breeding
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - A
comprehensive report on the
breeding value of 564
registered Angus bulls was
released recently by the
American Angus Association
and is available to the
general public, reports C.K.
Allen, executive vice
president of the American
Angus Association.
The “Field Data Sire
Evaluation Report” is the
first of its kind ever
produced by a long
established beef breed
organized, Allen said.
The 60-page bound report
shows a dramatic variation
m the ability of individual
Angus bulls to sire calves
with superior weaning and
yearling weights. The ex
pected progency differences
for yearling weight range
from a minus 35 pounds to a
plus 60 pounds, according to
Dick Spader, director of
breed improvement for the
American Angus
Association.
“This means,” he said,
“that a breeder who uses the
minus bull could expect the
yearling weights of his
calves to be reduced by as
much as 35 pounds per
animal On the other hand, a
breeder who uses the top
ranking bull would find that
the calves from this sire
would average up to 60
pounds heavier than calves
from other sires in the
report
The potential yearling
weight difference in the
calves from these two bulls
would be 95 pounds. Based
upon $7O per cwt cattle
prices, that would mean a
$66.50 per head difference in
the value of yearling off
spring from the two bulls
“Obviously this report can
have a major economic
impact on the Angus breed
and upon the commercial
P. I RfIHBER t DIM, IHC.
cattlemen who use Angus
bulls in their programs,”
Spader pointed out. “Cat
tlemen who use this report
to help them select breeding
stock to improve specific
economic traits in their
herds should be able to in
crease the productivity of
their cattle.”
The new Field Data Sire
Evaluation Report,
available for $5 from the
Association, is based upon
the more than 1.5 million
birth, weaning, and yearling
weight records on per
manent file in the
Association’s Angus Herd
Improvement Records
program. Breeders have no
choice of whether their bull
is listed in the report. All
Angus bulls with sufficient
qualified progeny are
evaluated and listed.
The report on each in
dividual bull shows the
expected progeny difference
for birth weight, when
available, and for weaning
weight and yearling weight.
These are expressed in plus
or minus pounds to make it
easy to evaluate individual
bulls, and compare different
bulls.
In addition, a maternal
breeding value is also
calculated for each bull. It is
expressed as an estimated
breeding value of how
daughters of a bull will milk.
This ratio is also ac
companied by an accuracy
figure to show cattlemen
how accurate the ratio is. In
general the more of a bull’s
progeny that were used to
compute the ratio, the higher
the accuracy figure
Richard Willham, lowa
State University, who along
with an associate P.J.
Berger analyzed the AHIR
data for the 1980 Field Data
Report, points out that
Angus breeders have made
outstanding progress since
1965 when they first began
keeping" AHIR records in
significant numbers.
“The average Angus sire
bom in 1978 was genetically
34 pounds heavier in
yearling weight than the
average Angus sire bom in
1965,” he said. “The genetic
trend of 2.6 pounds per year
in the Angus breed
represents the response of
Angus breeders to the beef
industry’s desire, first ex
pressed in the middle 1960’5,
to have Angus breeding
stock with more growth
potential. This evaluation of
a genetic trend is the first
reported for a breed of beef
cattle.”
“The genetic trend for the
Angus breed for pre-weanmg
growth (weaning weight) is
plus 11 pounds from 1965 to
1978,” Willhamsaid. “Thisis
an important change,
although not as spectacular
as the yearling weight
change.
Some 214,000 yearling
weights on file in the AHIR
program were analyzed to
produced the yearling
figures, Willham said. The
statistical procedure used
was developed for dairy sire
evaluation at Cornell
University.
The Field Data report
represents a “milestone” in
the use of performance
records for accurate
selection of sires, said
Willham
“Until now only the newly
introduced breeds have had
sire evaluation programs
that used existing per
formance data. This was
possible because the breed
were introduced by using
sires by artificial in
semination.”
The Association report
was made possible by two
factors the open artificial
mp
Seeds
insemination rule adopted
by the Association board of
directors in 1972 combined
with the subsequent
widespread use of A.I.
throughout the breed, and
the dramatic increase in
recent years of the use of the
AHIR program by Angus
breeders.
Another factor that con
tributed to the success of the
field data report were the 250
Angus bulls evaluated in the
designed Sire Evaluation
program started in 1974.
Some of the sires used in the
designed program, and later
used widely in the breed
through artificial in
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value statistics
performance data together
and made it possible to
compare sires in all parts of
the country and under
various management con
ditions. Only Angus bulls
that had sufficient numbers
of AHIR progency tied to
reference sires were in
cluded in the field data
report.
One surprise that came
from the report is that,
despite an increase in
yearling weights, there has
been a slight decrease in
overall average birth
weights in the Angus breed
since 1965. The decrease has
averaged a minus .2 pound
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Several factors could
influence this trend, am.
cording to Willham.Tnit
said that it “...does suggest
that... Angus breeders are
considering calving ease in
their sires.”
The Field Data Sire
Evaluation Report
represents a shift from
purely subjective evaluation
to more objective means of
evaluating the value of a
breeding animal.
“The American Angus
Association has provided its
breeders with the most
current set of performance
programs in the breeding
stock industry,” Willham
concluded
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