By Tracey Koester, ARA Editorial Coordinator
Each week, the mailman delivers fresh reading material to cattlemen and eBlasts fill up inboxes with links to online catalogs, videos and sale reminders. Facebook and other social media outlets resonate with individual lot information and pre-sale activities. The influx of communication and data during bull sale season can be overwhelming to bull shoppers.
Photos, performance numbers, pedigrees, EPDs, breed rankings and Top Dollar Angus logos cover catalog pages providing buyers with the necessary tools to find the perfect Red Angus genetics for their herds. Then of course, buyers must evaluate the live animal for conformation, structure, disposition and price; and consider the seedstock supplier for proximity, customer service, quality of offering and reputation.
So how does a customer make heads or tails of the surplus of information surrounding a bull sale? Where does a buyer start to sort through the data? What is the priority?
Selection Starting Point
According to Dr. Scott Speidel, Colorado State University animal science assistant professor, bull-buying criteria depends on an operation’s production and marketing systems, and cattle producers’ needs to evaluate their own situation and goals.
“Bull buyers need to identify what economically relevant traits enhance their profitability in their unique production and marketing environment,” Speidel explained. “Seedstock producers strive to provide enough information in their bull sale catalogs so each of their customers can find the bulls that fit their needs, but not all data is relevant to each buyer.”
While it might be tempting to seek out bulls that rank in the top percentile of each trait, it’s not a realistic expectation. Cattlemen and women who understand their cowherd’s attributes, environmental limitations and marketing goals will be able to identify the traits that will further improve their operation, yielding larger returns on sale day and well into the future, and this might not be through the use of a top-percentile bull.
Speidel endorsed the science and reliability of EPDs as the most accurate tool bull shoppers can use when selecting their next generation of genetics. “EPDs will always be a better indicator of the value of that animal as a future parent,” he said. “They are more trustworthy than using just phenotype numbers such as weights and in-herd ratios. In the calculation of EPDs, the effect of non-genetic influences on phenotype, such as environment, are minimized while simultaneously accounting for pedigree influences.”
That said, he emphasized collecting phenotypic data, such as weights and ultrasound scans, is more important than ever. “It’s all about improving the predictions (i.e. EPDs) and predictions are driven off of data. The goal is to have the most accurate ranking of individuals. Phenotypic data drives the accuracy and prediction qualities of EPDs – the data needs to be there for the predictions to be of value.”
Picking the Priority
Prioritizing bull selection criteria – calving ease, weaning weight, maternal strength, carcass merit – sounds easy enough, but in order to successfully impact their operation, producers must find a balance in all areas to maximize their return on investment.
Speidel said ranchers should have knowledge of the average performance of their herd, then identify areas that need improvement in their production and marketing program. “Ranchers need to have an idea of the traits that will add value to the animals they are producing. Their bull-buying priority depends on which area will have the most influence on their profitability, and where that need for improvement is the greatest,” he said. “Then they can place priority on the traits that will advance their herd and most improve their profitability.”
He commented on selecting for extreme numbers. “Animals with traits ranking in the top 10 percent of the breed can improve a trait area more rapidly. If producers don’t need to move a group quickly, they can use animals with more balanced genetic merit such as those with rankings in the top one-third of the breed. Selecting for extremes may bring with it undesired change in other traits. For instance, selecting for extreme yearling weight will likely bring with it increases in costs associated with feeding larger cows – a correlated response, important if you are retaining females by these extreme sires.”
Dan Rorvig, a commercial cow-calf rancher and bred heifer developer near McVille, North Dakota, appreciates EPDs when he’s seeking new sires for his operation. “I think EPDs are super beneficial as a selection tool, especially if we can stack certain traits over three generations and see advancements through financial gains on marketing day,” he said.
“We put emphasis on the HerdBuilder Index at our ranch. For our bred heifer program we need trustworthy bulls that will sire calves that are born easily, but we also want bulls with additional merits. We don’t just need a calving ease bull but one that will produce good offspring down the road.
“As a commercial cow-calf operation we sometimes get straight-up overload on information. We don’t always get to buy those top-numbered bulls because it’s hard to justify the price. Likewise, some of the EPDs aren’t relevant to our operation. That’s where the indexes are very helpful to consolidate the numbers.”
The HerdBuilder Index, provided by the Red Angus Association of America in its EPD suite, delivers a comprehensive number to identify individuals that will contribute to the cowherd traits. EPDs carry varying weights of importance and include Stayability, Average Daily Gain, Calving Ease Direct, Feed Intake, Calving Ease Maternal, Weaning Weight, Heifer Pregnancy, Marbling, Yield Grade, Mature Weight and Milk.
Speidel agreed. “For commercial producers, the indexes, in general, are the best indicators of overall profitability potential if the traits that make up the index conform to their production needs. In using indexes, they can select from one piece of information rather than considering multiple sources, making indexes a simple selection tool.”
He added that individual EPDs can help bull buyers fine tune their decisions if two bulls carry similar values in an index but vary in their respective prediction numbers.
In the Bull Pen
After bull buyers make their pre-sale short list based on data, pedigree, photos and videos, they rely on visual appraisal for their final culling. Visual appraisal helps buyers determine the conformation, structure and disposition of their sale prospects. Feet and legs should be evaluated because every bull needs to travel well to do his job, as do his daughters in production.
Rorvig said that despite the data, deciding whose sale to attend also makes a difference. “My relationship with my seedstock supplier is as important as anything. It is step 1.”
Bull buyers should be able to trust that sellers are accurately representing their cattle and offering the cream of the crop. Accurate data, stringent culling criteria prior to the sale, and top-notch customer service all factor into buying decisions.
“When I walk into the bull pen, I like to see bulls with good muscle expression and a really thick rear end,” said Rorvig. “I also pay attention to a bull’s foot structure, but I don’t necessarily think it’s my job as a customer to watch the quality of feet. I shouldn’t have to worry about it at that point – the seedstock supplier should have already done due diligence to cull out problem animals.”
Speidel recommends a balance of data and conformation when selecting bulls. “Everyone likes cattle that look good, but do they make you more money? If less desirable traits aren’t influencing profitability, then buyers shouldn’t focus on them. The more things we consider in a selection decision, whether it’s EPDs or phenotypic traits, the slower we will realize genetic progress in any particular trait that we are trying to improve.”
The same holds true for pedigree consideration. “Sometimes there’s particular value in knowing a pedigree, for example, to enhance hybrid vigor or to avoid inbreeding. But EPDs already factor in the pedigree’s contribution to an animal’s expected performance.”
He pointed out that with each generation, an ancestor’s genetic contribution diminishes and, past the third generation, impacts an animal’s characteristics relatively little.
Added Perks
Beyond EPDs and phenotype, other factors can contribute to solidifying bull buyers’ decisions.
Animals that have been DNA profiled will display EPDs with increased accuracy values. The genomic-enhanced EPDs will be as reliable as a bull whose first calf crop has been reported or similar to that of a cow with a lifetime of progeny. DNA testing also confirms parentage of the sale animal and may also verify that it is free of specific genetic defects.
Some bull sale catalogs display the breed rankings below each EPD so buyers can quickly determine where the animal ranks.
“It’s important to know each breed’s average EPDs,” said Rorvig, who uses Red Angus in a planned crossbreeding program. “Having the rankings with each EPD is a quick reference when sorting through the bulls.” Rorvig strives to purchase bulls that fall within a range of trait perimeters he’s identified to work for his operation – all of which are above average and ideally in the top 30 percent.
Rorvig also reads the footnotes. “In the old days only the top bulls had comments. Now many catalogs have footnotes on all the bulls and I like that. It gives me insight into the cow family, her production record and other traits that might not be measurable, such as disposition.”
Third-party verification companies, like Top Dollar Angus, can also identify sale animals that are superior. Top Dollar Angus designates cattle that rank in the top 25 percent of the breed for growth and carcass traits, qualities that add profit on shipping day when calf buyers are confident the calves will perform well in the feedlot.
In addition to the latest state-of-the-art EPDs and genomics, RAAA data is backed by over two decades of Total Herd Reporting which further solidifies the reliability of the association’s prediction tools.
“Price is still a driving factor,” concluded Rorvig, “but indexes, breed rankings and a good relationship with our seedstock supplier help us sort out the bulls that will work for us and drive our program forward.”
Speidel’s final advice to bull buyers reflects on knowing the strengths and weaknesses of their cowherd. “Focus on those things that influence your profitability the most, with the realization that the more traits you select for, the slower you’ll make progress in any one area.”
Source: Red Angus Association of America
