ABOUT THE SALE CATTLE
ULTRASOUND (continued) decreased rib eye size considerably while the spring bulls were more typically measured at 11 months of age with a small adjustment up to 1 year of age. If you’ve followed our program you’ll realize in the past 5 to 7 years we have greatly increased our selection pressure on marbling both from an EPD sire selection standpoint as well as actual measurements. You’ll find many bulls with top 10 to 25% marbling genetics with the data to back it up without sacrificing our 30 plus year goal of “Where calving ease, performance and eye appeal come together!” SALE COWS As in the past, our sale group of females includes all our sound six year olds and approximately 10 two year old heifers, most with calves as side. This year’s sale group is really strong and includes more top-end cows and is from top to bottom our strongest, most consistent group to date. In addition, there are more cows that every ranch needs more of. Cows that get bred every year, bring in a calf in the top half of their contemporary group and have high quality udders and the added look and eye appeal we demand. The two year old sale heifers are selected as a cross-section of our two year olds. Any cow that has at least two daughters in the herd that has an additional daughter is available as a sale heifer as well as any heifer that we have a large number of from their cow family and sire group. These two year olds are handled exactly like the heifers we retained and haven’t received any additional supplementation to fatten them up for the sale. We feed no grain to our heifers after weaning - only ammoni- ated wheat straw, sorghum silage, wet distillers, and grinding quality alfalfa hay. All females bred or exposed greater than 100 days have been pregnancy checked and expected to calve consistent with their respective breeding dates or pasture exposure listed in the catalog. The fall calving cows selling with a calf at side have been pasture exposed since calving but sell only as exposed but not guaranteed safe in calf.
FALL BULLS The fall bulls were weaned May 15, 2025 after being raised on their dams on milo stocks or native pasture with sorghum silage, DDG, and ammoniated wheat straw and received no creep feed. After weaning, the bulls were raised on a rotational grazing system on sedan grass and were hand fed 8 pounds of growing ration per day. Late September, they were switched to a ration of silage, wet distillers, 1 lb. of corn per 100 lbs. of body weight, ammoniated wheat straw, and grinding-quality alfalfa hay. SPRING BULLS Spring bulls were raised on their dams on native pasture and received no creep. They were weaned September 2, 2025 and placed on a gain test for 100 days on a ration of sorghum silage, wet distillers, 1 lb. of corn per 100 lbs. of body weight, ammoniated wheat straw, grinding quality alfalfa hay, and a vitamin mineral pack on a ration designed for 3.25 pounds of gain per day. ULTRASOUND All bulls selling were ultrasound-measured on January 15, 2026. The spring bulls were ratio’d in as large of contemporary groups as possible for the purebred and balancer groups. However, bulls from time to time were not in a contemporary group and therefore don’t have a ratio - only an actual measurement. This data was collected by a CUP certified technician, and all data was submitted to the AGA. The fall bulls were too old for data submission, and all data is actual measurements collected by the same certified technician but was a chute side reading only. The fall purebred and Balancer group were ratio’d against each other. This would include ET bulls and all bulls from all cooperators as they have all been handled the same for over 6 months. As with all raw data, comparisons must be made only within and not between contemporary groups. As an example: compare only spring Balancers to spring Balancers and spring purebreds to spring purebreds. You’ll notice a large difference between the fall bulls data and the spring bull data even though many of the same sires are represented in both groups. This was due to the way the bulls were developed and the timing of the ultrasound measure- ments. Most of the fall bulls were over 365 days old and were adjusted back with
DEFINITIONS FOR DATA IN SALE BOOK INFORMATION ABOUT THE BULLS Our catalog contains a great deal of information, weights and measurement. To clarify the information, please remember that all Scrotal Measurements are actual measurements. Birth Weights are actual weights taken at birth. Weaning and Yearling weights are adjust to 205 days and 365 days, respectively. BW = Actual Birth Weight WW = Adjusted Weaning Weight YW = Adjusted Yearling Weight REA = Ultrasound Rib Eye Area, adjusted or actual as noted IMF = Ultrasound Intramuscular Fat, adjusted or actual as noted FAT = Ultrasound Rib Fat, adjusted or actual as noted EPDs IN THE SALE BOOK CED = EPD for Calving Ease Direct CEM = EPD for Calving Ease Maternal BW = EPD for Birth Weight YG = EPD for Yield Grade WW = EPD for Weaning Weight CW = EPD for Carcass Weight YW = EPD for Yearling Weight REA = EPD for Rib Eye Area MK = EPD for Milk MB = EPD for Marbling TM = EPD for Total Maternal FPI = Feeder Profit Index Genomic EPDs: All bulls selling have been DNA tested with Genomic EPDs listed in the book. Maternal Profit Index (MPI): In this production scenario, Gelbvieh bulls are mated to Angus-based cows with surplus calves marketed at weaning, with replacement heif- ers retained from the calf crop. EPDs weighted in this index are Calving Ease Direct (CED) and Maternal (CEM), Weaning Weight (WW), Milk (MILK), Mature Weight (MWT), Dry Matter Intake (DMI), Stayability (STAY), and Heifer Pregnancy (HP). Mature weight is the primary driver and represents the significant cost of maintenance energy requirement in the cow-calf sector. Weaning Weight and Milk (expressed in pounds of calf weaning weight) represent the principal revenue stream. Stayability helps account for differences in replacement costs in the system and the effect of heifer retention on revenue streams. This index should be used by commercial cattlemen whose production scenario includes the traditional marketing of calves at weaning and replacement retention from the herd. Feeder Profit Index (FPI): An economic selection index designed to aid producers in selecting sires whose progeny will perform in the feedlot and are sold on grade and yield. Well ranking sires for FPI have higher marbling and carcass weight than their contemporaries. As a terminal index, little emphasis is put on maternal traits such as stayability and calving ease. Total Profit Index (TPI): Combining replacement female retention from the herd with carcass endpoint for marketed surplus heifers and all steers, TPI balances both maternal and terminal selection criteria. Because of the challenges faced by commercial cattlemen by the antagonisms in selection for this production scenario, TPI includes the largest and most diverse set of EPDs in the model, including carcass traits as the primary revenue drivers with cow Mature Weight (MWT), Stayability (STAY) and Dry Matter Intake (DMI) as cost drivers. Page 3
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