Accuracy Matters...
Not all Carcass EPDs are Created Equal Mushrush Red Angus invests tremendous resources to ensure the EPDs we publish describe our cattle as accurately as possible. Our Commitment to “All the Data, All the Time” goes far beyond collection of typical data points such as birth, weaning and yearling weights to include calving ease scores, cow weights with body condition scores, heifer pregnancy observations, carcass ultrasound scans, stayability observations, udder scores and gain and feed conversion. Still, there are some economically relevant traits for which data collection at a seedstock operation ranges from difficult to impossible specifically, carcass data. That may come as a surprise to many; after all we’ve seen those REA (Rib Eye Area) and IMF (% intramuscular fat) ratios in bull sale catalogs for 20 years. It’s true many seedstock producers – ourselves included, hire ultrasound technicians to measure differences in %IMF, REA and backfat of our yearling seedstock cattle. That data is submitted directly from the ultrasound lab to the breed association, and the within contemporary group variation observed on our ranches influences the Marbling, Ribeye, BackFat and Yield Grade EPDs of our cattle. However, an ultrasound scan on a yearling bull or heifer on a growing or forage ration is a different trait than actual harvest data collected at a slaughter plant on finished steers. Ultrasound data and harvest data are different traits but fairly highly correlated. Still, ultrasound ribeye explains only about 40% of the genetic variation in ribeye area. Thus, as we collect increasing amounts of ultrasound ribeye scans on a bull’s progeny we have a hard time ever moving beyond accuracies in the 40% range. Well if ultrasound won’t get us the reliability we want perhaps we’d be able to feed our cull bulls to harvest and collect their carcass measurements. That makes sense – at Mushrush Red Angus we sell about 200 bulls a year out of nearly 1000 breeding age females – so there must be plenty of extra bulls to feed for carcass data? Not so fast…perhaps someone remembers reading in prior Mushrush Newsletters about the importance of well-formed, equal-opportunity contemporary groups in terms of data accuracy? If we collect carcass data on only the “cull” bulls, then we are subjecting our data to selection bias. It would create the same problem as only reporting birthweights on calves that weighted less than 80 lbs., or weaning weights for the heaviest half of the calf crop. Anytime we don’t report the entire contemporary group we artificially reduce variation by removing a significant portion of that population from the dataset. Bottom line is the only current way to “prove” sires to a high level of accuracy for carcass traits is through the collection of actual carcass measures taken from sire-identified animals at harvest. For several years, we have been working in cooperative efforts with progressive commercial cow herds and feedlots to plan and execute structured progeny tests. In these tests, upcoming (low-accuracy) sires are tested against proven carcass sires in matings that are randomized across breed and age of the commercial cows. This reduces any bias that could occur from one sire being bred to an “unfair” set of cows. Calves are born and remain in their birth and weaning contemporary groups all the way to harvest. Weights and measures are taken within these contemporary groups and the data is submitted to the respective breed associations for inclusion in Red Angus’ National Cattle Evaluation. Whenever you see a sire like Mushrush Lock N Load U213 with a Marbling EPD accuracy over .60 – you can rest assured he earned that accuracy through actual carcass data.
2016 Progeny Test Results:
The matings we made in this structured progeny test in the spring of 2015 were born in 2016 and harvested in 2017. For a herd that focuses on fertility, longevity and calving ease, we were very pleased with the group data our bulls produced for the test herd: • ADG: 3.89 • Feed Conversion: 5.49 • YG = 3.13 with 29% YG 1’s & 2’s • 90% Choice with 48% Premium Products (higher Choice or Prime)
How much variation exists between sires?
Table 1 (below) demonstrates the average and variation by sire group of the 2016 born progeny test calf crop. As you can see total variation ranged from a low of 17% for Hot Carcass Wt. to 57% for USDA Yield Grade. Table 1: HCW (hot carcass wt) REA (in2) USDA Marbling Score USDA Yield Grade (YG) Avg of all Sires
806.5
13.5
519.6
3.13
Best Sire for Trait
829 (3% above Avg.)
16.3 (21% above Avg.)
607 (17% above Avg.)
2.0 (37% above Avg.)
Least Sire for Trait
695 (14% below Avg.)
11.4 (15% below Avg.)
455 (12% below Avg.)
3.8 (20% below Avg.)
Offering half-sibs to our high selling bulls last spring from some of our most prolific dams. These are some of our highest performing, best scanning, elite HerdBuilder females born in 2016!
Mushrush Red Angus
HerdBuilder Heifer Sale
Forage Raised Red Angus Replacements whose average exceeds top 10% HerdBuilder & Top 8% Stayability
D083 - Long, Deep, Thick and Good! This Accent x Cody heifer represents a complete outcross to today's popular sire lines. 96 BW ratio to 123 ADG ratio spread with 109 ratios for both IMF and REA.
D197 - Linebred B571 from a 106 MPPA dam. This 200 HerdBuilder ratioed 97 for BW, 107 WW, 105 YW, 107 IMF and 104 REA. Her 19 CED to 94 YW spread should "mass produce" sons with double digit calving ease with triple digit growth.
• Online Auction • Thursday, Sept. 14th at 8 am through Friday, Sept. 22nd at 5 pm Elite Outcross Spring Calving Registered Bred Heifers
Including many of our top performing females of our most productive cow families
— —offer the Pick of any Mushrush Female at the Online auction starts the morning after we Pedigrees that represent outcrosses to many of today’s popular AI Sires
RAFI fundraiser auction on Wednesday, Sept. 13th (see back of newsletter) during the RAAA Convention in Colorado Springs, CO.
D017 - This P707 x Impressive bred female comes with a 143 IMF ratio to support her top 1% Marbling EPD. But this top 2% HerdBuilder delivers equally impressive fertility traits - best 2% Stay and top 11% HPG and 9 CED to 111 YW spread.
D012 - Deep into the sale order, you'll find heifers like this one loaded with fleshing ability and natural thickness. Out of a 105 MPPA dam, this heifer scanned one of the largest loins in our entire herd.
Call, email, or go to MushrushRedAngus.com for a sortable spreadsheet, e-catalog, and full auction details. Online bidding with "Buy it Now" options available through DV Auction.
Pasture Proven... Profit Driven
MushrushRedAngus.com
Pasture Proven... Profit Driven
2346B N Rd • Strong City, KS 66869 Office (620)273-8581 Joe (620)340-7461 Daniel (620)340-9774 MushrushRedAngus.com
Mushrush Red Angus In this issue:
• Selling Pick of any Mushrush Red Angus Female - Wednesday, Sept 13th! • Structured Progeny Tests ensure Most Reliable carcass EPDs • Online Registered Bred Heifer Sale Begins Thursday, September 14th
Pick of the Herd
Choose from over 1,000 Mushrush Females Mushrush Red Angus has donated the Pick of our Cow-Herd to be auctioned during the upcoming National Red Angus Convention with all proceeds going to the Research and Development Fund of Red Angus Foundation, Inc. (RAFI). The purchaser can choose any heifer calf, bred heifer, or mature cow, including donors from over 1,000 fall and spring-calving females.
The RAFI Pick of the Herd auction will take place at the National Red Angus Convention in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, September 13, 2017, at 7 p.m.
Call for more info:
• Patsy Krause, RAFI 406-599-2852 • Joe 620-340-7461 • Daniel 620-340-9774