BREEDING PHILOSOPHIES
We found these 3 breeding philosophies quite interesting and felt they were spot on to our own breeding principles. With permission of a 3 nationally known highly respected Angus breeders we thought they were worth sharing. MATING FOR OPTIMAL OUTCOMES, NOT EXTREMES By Ellingson Angus, Chad and Stetson Ellingson, St. Anthony, ND Discovering the ideal percentile range for every trait we measure and understanding how those traits correlate with one another guides us to create the phenotypic makeup desired by our customers. We breed cattle toward ‘the middle’ for most all commercially relevant traits that’s the best method to drive genetic progress on all traits. By continually breeding our cowherd to the middle, we feel our matings can be more about matching kind to kind and less about mating one extreme to the other, thus creating more consistency in The Angus breed’s position as the number one beef breed in the world was built on the back of the Angus cow. She was reliable, productive, predictable, and built for the environment she inhabited. That Angus cow was fertile, functional and possessed a maternal instinct and intelligence that bordered on mythical. In the hills of California, the northern plains of Montana and the Dakotas, the arid Southwest, the corn belt of the Midwest and the hot, humid Southeast, that Angus cow went about her business of keeping countless ranches in the black. The Angus cow began to change with the consolidation of the packing industry and the growth of grid-based marketing taking place over the last twenty five years. During that time span, industry experts began proclaiming that we must add more marbling, more growth and basically more of everything. Genetic trend in the beef cattle business became driven by theory developed in the board rooms of packing houses and in the class rooms of universities. Breeding programs began taking their cues from sale reports, semen companies and marketers intent on creating constant churn. the ascending generations. THE ANGUS COW By David Brown, Montana Angus At first the changes were subtle. Today, it’s painfully obvious that the pursuit of more carcass merit and growth came at the expense of the attributes that made the Angus cow the most efficient factory in the business. Ultimately, those paying the steepest price for this conversation are the ranchers whose livelihoods depend solely on efficiently raising cattle in our nation’s harshest environments. These ranchers have seen their margins lessen and inputs increase with every calf crop. That Angus cow which was their most valuable asset twenty five years ago has become one of their costliest liabilities today. That Angus cow has gotten too big for her environment, failing to breed on time; her calf has more genetic potential for weaning growth that can be realized in most real world ranch environments. That Angus cow is often poor footed, poor uddered and requires supervision at calving time. The maternal instinct and intelligence which was a trademark of that Angus cow has been replaced by an instinct to run for the feed truck when the going gets tough. THE COST OF LIGHT WEIGHT CALVES AT BIRTH I saw this article in Sydenstricker’s catalog, and thought this article was quite interesting, and spot on to what we observe. Breed Associations still believe a lighter calf at birth is better and calculate that in their EPD’s, and dollar Indexes. We feel many of the real small have problems in the cold and at times with their lungs, and definitely they show up small at weaning time. No,
we don’t like the huge born either, but on cows there is more rewards than losses with 90-95 lb calves. Many of us have a predisposed notion that we want calving ease/low BW herd sires. But, in the Angus breed, do we really have that much problem with big calves? It seems like most of the problems at birth are more linked to abnormal presentations than actual calves that are too big for the cow or even heifer. And, it seemed like maybe those smaller calves just were not as thrifty. We decided to see if we could dig into the data, and see what survivability to weaning really looked like. After all, a small calf at birth doesn’t really help the bottom line if he dies prior to weaning anyway! We divided up four years of spring calf crops into three groups: (light) 69 lbs. or less; (medium) 70-89 lbs.; and (heavy) 90 lbs. and up. We edited out any abortions and all twins. In a nutshell, the death loss at birth through weaning was twice as high on the light calves as it was on the medium calves. The death loss on the heavy calves was the least of the three groups, and it was the least in every one of the four years. We did not differentiate according to cause of death, or whether it was right at birth or later on pre-weaning. We’ve all heard someone say the growth rate of a dead calf is distressingly poor, and took that to mean we needed lighter calves at birth so we would get more of them born alive. Every operation is different, but it certainly appears to us that bigger calves at birth are more likely to still be around at weaning. We would never advocate breeding heifers to anything but a true heifer bull, but our cowherds might be much better served by sires that give their calves more of a head start. A study by the University of Illinois on Sim-Angus cattle reported the same conclusions. PARTING THOUGHTS From Bill Begger, Begger’s Diamond V Ranch When I read David’s article it struck a strong note with me the past couple decades, the technical world took over the cattle breeding business. Just like David says AI studs universities, and packing houses started dictating how to breed cattle. I believe using EPDs and all data sources when breeding cattle, but it does concern me when all emphasis is put on extreme EPD’s and numbers with little or no consideration given to physical and mental traits. Many of Americas’ cattleman have lost a lot of ground by doing so. Like David states, bad feet, poor cow efficiency, lack of fertility, and fleshing ability, cows that can’t have a 90 lb calf, mostly due to too much EPD hype and not enough experienced eye. Folks we find it is a true give and take the best way to create uniformity, balance and cattle that work in the real world is from experience day to day observance and blending the best of both worlds. Like Chad and Stetson Ellingsons’ little article states, it is breeding towards the average and understanding that matching kind and not shooting for extremes every time makes for more consistency and will contribute more uniformity and consistency creating less cowherd fall out. The three articles were written by some of the Nation’s well respected Angus breeders. They see the writing on the wall as many astute cattlemen do. We believe our Simmental and Sim- Angus program will help propel your operation down the right road. They will compliment the Angus, Hereford, and baldy cattle very well. They will enhance fleshing ability, udder quality, and maternal traits. We run our cows rough and tough, we know how genetics work and we have the experience to know the difference. “Yes, we do have to eat them, but we also have to breed them and feed them.” Our genetics are designed to put cow efficiency back in your herd, and they still work very well in the feedlots and packing house, qualifying for carcass premiums, and creating an enjoyable eating experience for the consumer.
The decision you make today will influence the next 20 years. Make it a good one. Use Begger’s Diamond V Ranch seedstock.
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