// FERTILITY, CALVING EASE, AND PROFITS //
Cheifline Calving Ease 100 percent accuracy. “No predictions” Chiefline Red Angus have more than 100 years of intense selection for ease of calving and our customers testify to the fact that our bulls give them a feeling of security and confidence. Many of our customers have large ranches and require heifers and cows to calve without help or assistance. Chiefline cattle calves with ease because of the high level of heterosis as a result of being linebred they grow rapidly and wean a high pay weight for maximum dollars per cow. Because of our bulls have been linebred, all of them are perfect for calving ease and growth. All of the progeny from our bulls will have the maximum genetic expression for calving ease. So rest easy in the selection of your bull as they all will produce easy calving results for your herd.
One of the most important drivers of profitability in the cattle business is also the simplest: every cow must bring home a live calf each year. Nothing else—whether it be weaning weight, carcass merit, or quality grade—can compensate for the loss of a calf. Profit begins with fertility and calving, and Chiefline Red Angus has been built on this principle for more than half a century. Chiefline females are distinguished by their ability to calve with ease, deliver vigorous calves that get up and nurse quickly, and survive immediately after parturition. These traits are not accidents but the result of decades of disciplined breeding and selection. George Chiga, one of the breed’s founders and the man behind Red Plains Cattle Company, put fifty years of pressure on calving ease. He never retained a sire from a cow that experienced calving problems, and over time this produced a herd where assistance at birth was unnecessary. In the fifty years of Chiefline breeding that have followed, we have never pulled a calf and never had a breech birth. The traits are highly heritable, so predictable that they are no longer even points of discussion.
This raises an important question about expected progeny differences (EPDs). EPDs are valuable tools when a herd has not yet hit a target. But once a herd has reached the target, further chasing the number adds little value. In the case of Chiefline Red Angus, calving ease is a settled fact. The genetic expression is proven in the pasture: cows calve easily, rapidly, and calves survive. For us, the calving ease box is simply checked. One of the most fascinating insights into calving ease came from George Chiga himself, who argued that cows regulate calf size. This idea ran contrary to what I had been taught in college, so I tested it. I placed ten full-sib embryos into Charolais cows and ten into Brahman-cross cows. The average birth weight out of the Brahman cows was 58 pounds, while the Charolais averaged 107. The genetics were identical—the only difference was the recipient cow. That experiment confirmed Chiga’s theory, and scientific research later backed it up. Dr. Julie Schellenmacher of the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center demonstrated that placental blood flow and nutrient transfer vary among cows, explaining
why some produce consistently smaller, easier-calving calves.
Through disciplined linebreeding and inbreeding, Chiefline Red Angus has concentrated these calving ease traits
alongside fertility, calf vigor, and moderate birth weights. The result is what we call “convenience cattle.” From the onset of labor, delivery should take no more than twenty minutes, and within ten minutes the calf should be on its feet nursing. This combination of rapid delivery and immediate vigor reduces risk, labor, and cost, while maximizing survival. Ultimately, convenience cattle are profit cattle. They calve unassisted, breed back quickly, raise calves that survive and thrive, and require little intervention from the rancher. Chiefline Red Angus has reached the target for calving ease, and that target translates directly into rancher profitability.
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