STARS
Our exclusive Star Rating System is designed to help summarize all of the data and simplify your selection process. It takes into account all information available, along with some “cowboy common sense” to rate each bull for the 5 most economically relevant traits: Calving Ease, Growth, Carcass, Cow Herd and Efficiency. These ratings are consistent throughout the catalog so that you can compare all bulls across breeds. EPDs and Indexes are the most precise tools for selection within a breed and now can be used to compare Red Angus, Black Red Angus & SimAngus, however, EPDs are not comparable across all breeds yet. Angus are different. The more stars a bull has, the better he is for that trait. Each bull is rated from 0 to 5 stars in each trait. Our Five-Star rating is the same as it has been in the past and designates elite bulls in each category. For Growth, Carcass, Cow Herd & Efficiency, a bull has to be in the top half of the industry to even get 1 star. A Five-Star rating is only given to the cream of the crop, the ultimate example of that trait. Others have tried to emulate our system, but most imitations simply use some stars as a marketing tool to help them sell what they have rather then helping you buy what you need.
Heifer Calving Ease Rating 5 HHHHH Star Ultimate Calving Ease for any breed of heifers & cows 4 HHHH Star Elite Calving Ease for any breed of heifers & cows 3 HHH Star Superior Calving Ease for well developed heifers and all cows 2 HH Star Excellent Calving Ease for heifers with Brahman influence & all cows 1 H Star Good Calving Ease for heifers with 50% or more Brahman & all cows BRX Heavier birthweights, recommended for Brahman cross cows
Growth Rating 5 HHHHH Star Ultimate Growth 4 HHHH Star Elite Growth 3 HHH Star Superior Growth 2 HH Star Excellent Growth 1 H Star Good Growth Complete Rating 5 HHHHH Star Ultimate All Around 4 HHHH Star Elite
Carcass Rating 5 HHHHH Star Ultimate Carcass
4 HHHH Star Elite Carcass 3 HHH Star Superior Carcass 2 HH Star Excellent Carcass 1 H Star Good Carcass CowHerd Rating 5 HHHHH Star Ultimate Replacement Females 4 HHHH Star Elite Replacement Females 3 HHH Star Superior Replacement Females 2 HH Star Excellent Replacement Females 1 H Star Good Replacement Females
3 HHH Star Superior 2 HH Star Excellent 1 H Star Good
combines all other star categories plus all of the selection indexes like $Profit, $Ranch, $Combined, API, TI, GM etc. It could also be called All-Purpose, Comprehensive or Total Merit. Our Cow Herd stars are designed to help you select bulls that will produce better replacement females that are easier keeping, medium to smaller sized and have a medium milk production with better fertility and Stayability. Research and experience tell us that these females are more likely to stay producing calves in your herd for many years and therefore improve your profitability. This Star Rating System is simply a tool to help you quickly find the bulls that fit your needs. Then you can take more time studying the details to find the bulls that best fit your more specific needs.
You may notice that our Calving Ease ratings are much more conservative than what many breeders and breed associations may recommend for use on heifers. We believe it is better to be safe than sorry. This doesn’t mean that you never have to assist one at calving, because sometimes calves are born backwards or have a leg turned back. Even the best and most proven Calving Ease sires in the industry will get a big calf every once in a while. Our goal is to help eliminate calving difficulty to the best of our ability and therefore help you manage risk. COMPLETE Stars is a new category that we implemented this year to help identify the bulls that do the most things right for all economically relevant traits. The more stars in this category means they are the MVP- Most Valuable Producer. We calculate this star category with a formula that
WHAT’S BEHIND THE RATING?
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Use the individual EPDs and their respective percentile ranks to most accurately determine which bulls can help you best meet your specific needs. For example when looking at the Growth Rating, if you sell your calves at weaning time then you should look more specifically at WW EPD. For Carcass, if you need more quality grade then put more emphasis on Marbling EPD.
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