Heifer Calving Ease Rating 5 HHHHH Stars: Ultimate Calving Ease for any breed of heifers & cows 4 HHHH Stars: Elite Calving Ease for any breed of heifers & cows 3 HHH Stars:
Superior Calving Ease for well developed heifers and all cows Excellent Calving Ease for heifers with Brahman influence & all cows Good Calving Ease for heifers with 50% or more Brahman & all cows
2 HH Stars: 1 H Star:
BRX
Recommended for Brahman cross cows
Feeder Calf Value Rating 5 HHHHH Stars: Ultimate Growth and Carcass Value 4 HHHH Stars: Elite Growth and Carcass Value 3 HHH Stars: Superior Growth and Carcass Value 2 HH Stars: Excellent Growth and Carcass Value 1 H Stars: Good Growth and Carcass Value 0 H Stars: Cow Herd Rating 5 HHHHH Stars: Ultimate Replacement Females 4 HHHH Stars: Elite Replacement Females 3 HHH Stars: Superior Replacement Females 2 HH Stars: Excellent Replacement Females 1 H Stars: Good Replacement Females 0 H Stars: Below Average Female Maker Complete Rating 5 HHHHH Stars: Ultimate All Purpose 4 HHHH Stars: Elite All Purpose 3 HHH Stars: Superior All Purpose 2 HH Stars: Excellent All Purpose 1 H Stars: Good All Purpose 0 H Stars: Below Average All Purpose
STARS
Below Average Growth and Carcass Value
UNDERSTANDING OUR STAR RATING SYSTEM
Our exclusive Star Rating System was developed to help summarize large amounts of data and simplify the bull- selection process—so you can more confidently choose the cattle that best fit your needs. The system combines all available performance information with a healthy dose of cowboy common sense to evaluate each bull in four key areas: •Heifer Calving Ease – risk management at calving •Feeder Calf Value – growth and together These ratings are applied consistently throughout the catalog, allowing you to compare bulls across Red Angus, Black Red Angus, and SimAngus . While EPDs and indexes remain the most precise tools for selection within a breed, you cannot use them to compare across all the different breeds we have. carcass value combined •Cow Herd – all things maternal •Complete – all traits considered
Our Cow Herd Stars are designed to help you select bulls that will produce superior replacement females. These ratings emphasize: •High fertility COW HERD STARS: BUILDING BETTER FEMALES
You may notice that our Calving Ease ratings are more conservative than what some breeders or breed associations recommend for heifer use. This is intentional. We believe it is better to be safe than sorry. Even the most proven calving-ease sires in the industry will occasionally sire a larger calf, and factors such as backwards calves or malpresentations can still require assistance. Our goal is not to promise zero intervention, but to reduce calving risk as much as possible and help you manage your labor and time during calving season to get the most live calves possible out of your heifers. Calving ease is not a concern for cows so a bull with 0 Calving Ease Stars can be used on cows without any calving difficulty. We occasionally have a bull that is only recommended for Brahman cross cows and those will be designated as BrX NEW THIS YEAR: FEEDER CALF VALUE STARS This year, we are introducing a new category: Feeder Calf Value . This rating combines growth and carcass traits into a single score because while calves are sold by the pound, their price is determined by how profitably buyers expect them to grow and grade . Through the Rancher’s Sustainable Angus Alliance , our goal is to buy your weaned calves and return added value to you when they perform well in the yard on the grid. A CONSERVATIVE APPROACH TO CALVING EASE
•Longevity and Stayability •Moderate, functional milk
production
•Feed efficiency with
adequate appetite The more Cow Herd Stars a bull earns, the more reproductively efficient, fertile, and productive his daughters should be over a long, useful lifetime.
HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM
The Star Rating System is meant to be a starting point . It helps you quickly narrow the field to bulls that fit your goals. From there, we encourage you to study: •Individual EPDs system , found at the beginning of each breed section, which highlights our ideal target ranges • The sortable spreadsheets on our website, where you can see how stars align with each EPD Used together, these tools allow you to move from simple comparison to precise selection , helping you invest • Percentile rankings •Our EPD color-coding in genetics that will work for your environment, your market, and your long-term goals.
HOW THE STARS WORK
Each bull is rated from 0 to 5 stars in each category. Simply put, more stars mean the better they are in that category. •One Star indicates a bull ranks in the top half of the industry for Feeder Calf Value, Cow Herd, and Complete. Below average bulls don’t earn any stars. •Five Stars are reserved for the elite—the true standouts and the very best in each category. Our Five-Star designation is unchanged from past years and continues to represent the cream of the crop . While other programs may use stars as a marketing tool to help sell what they have, our system was built for one purpose: to help you buy what you need.
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