EXECUTIVE CORNER

EXECUTIVE CORNER Updated

REGISTRATION PREFIXES

by Darrell Wilkes, Ph.D., International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) executive vice president

The International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) Board of Directors recently approved some changes to the prefixes used to categorize cattle in the IBBA registry. These changes are based on recommendations from the IBBA Breed Improvement Committee and are designed to reduce the proliferation of new prefixes that simply complicate the prefix process while contributing nothing to the genetic progress for Brangus, Ultra, and Certified cattle.

The prefixes that concern most IBBA members are the mainstream prefixes as follows: • R - Black Brangus • RR – Red Brangus • UB – Ultrablack (UB1 and UB2) • UR – Ultrared (UR1 and UR2) • C – Certified (quarter, half, and three-quarter blood Brahman X Angus) • EB, EA, and ER – enrolled Brahman, Angus, and Red Angus, respectively

None of the above prefixes have been changed or redefined. Below is a summary of the prefixes which have been redefined or renamed.

BP: BRANGUS PREMIUM - DISCONTINUED AND REPLACED TO SOME EXTENT WITH THE NEW BB PREFIX (BRANGUS BUILT)

BP animals were defined as a first-generation cross between an R or RR prefix animal and any other bovine. The primary utility of the BP prefix has been to provide recording documentation on such cattle so that they can be shown, mostly by junior members. EPDs are not calculated for BP animals and will not be calculated for BB animals.

The use of the word “premium” may imply that such cattle are superior to “regular” Brangus, which could be misleading considering that no genetic information of any kind is required on the other parent of a BP animal. Therefore, the prefix is being changed to BB (Brangus Built) and is the first-generation cross between a commercial animal and a registered Brangus, Red Brangus, Ultrablack, or Ultrared.

Animals that currently have a BP prefix will retain that prefix moving forward so as not to jeopardize their eligibility to show, which would be a burden on many junior members. The BP prefix will no longer be applied to newly recorded animals. Most will receive a BB prefix.

IBBA will take the steps necessary to inform the various shows of these changes so that our junior members can continue to breed and show cattle without issues.

BO: BRANGUS OPTIMIZER – REDEFINED

The BO prefix has been applied to animals resulting from the mating of a black or red Brangus with a registered animal enrolled from any breed registry other than Angus or Red Angus. The other breed could literally be anything so long as they have a registration paper. Imagine the mix of animals that could be out in the marketplace being called Brangus Optimizer when there is absolutely no restriction on what the other breed can be. A Brangus-Jersey cross would be a Brangus Optimizer. A Brangus-Pinzgaur cross would be a Brangus Optimizer. As the IBBA Breed Improvement Committee was discussing this issue, we could not come up with a single explanation of how this was helping to build the market for Brangus genetics. In fact, the entire BO program was described by one committee member as, “the abyss of BO.” This is a pretty good description of what it has been.

Moving forward, the BO prefix will be used only for animals comprised of Angus (red and black), Brahman and any conceivable mix of Brahman and Angus. For example, the mating of an Ultrablack-1 to a Certified half-blood would produce a BO progeny. This is an animal that is theoretically about 39% Brahman and 61% Angus, which is close to the theoretical Brangus composition of 37.5% Brahman, and 62.5% Angus (3/8 and 5/8). All ancestors in a BO pedigree must be registered. BO animals, mated to other BO animals, will produce BO progeny. BO animals will be included in genetic evaluation and will receive EPDs. BO females will be subject to Total Herd Reporting (THR) assessment.

ENROLLED ANIMALS - OTHER THAN ANGUS, RED ANGUS, AND BRAHMAN WILL ALL BE TREATED AS COMMERCIAL

Few IBBA members may realize that IBBA has a history of enrolling just about any breed of cattle that someone can think of. This is a time-consuming task and the fee that is charged for this doesn’t even cover the staff time of doing it. These are genetically irrelevant animals. Such enrolled animals are not treated as registered animals except in the sense that, under the old rules, they could be mated to a Brangus to produce a Brangus Optimizer.

Moving forward, we will continue to enroll such animals that are registered with another breed association, but we

(continued from page 14) will not enroll their entire pedigree since it is meaningless anyway. We will continue to enroll entire pedigrees for Angus, Red Angus, and Brahman. Such enrolled animals, except for Angus and Brahman, will not receive EPDs. When they are used as a parent, they will be treated as a commercial animal and will thus produce a progeny that is commercial unless they are mated to a Brangus or Ultra (red or black), which would make the progeny a BB – Brangus Built.

ULTRABLACK PENDING (UBP) AND ULTRARED PENDING (URP)

These prefixes were approved earlier by the board, based on the recommendation of the IBBA Breed Improvement Committee. They apply to animals that are less than 50% Brangus. Such animals would be created if a breeder mated Ultra females to an Angus bull, for instance. Such animals can be the parent of Ultrablack or Ultrared progeny if the percent Brangus in the progeny rises above 50%. EPDs will be computed on these animals, and UBP and URP females are subject to THR assessment.

WHY IS THIS SO COMPLICATED, AND WHY ARE THE CHANGES BEING MADE NOW? DON’T WE HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO?

The myriad of prefixes in play at IBBA are complicated and we are attempting to simplify and streamline the process and, importantly, to stop the proliferation of prefixes for genetically irrelevant cattle. The simple fact that Brangus originated as a composite of three breeds (Angus, Red Angus, Brahman) makes the process much more complicated than, for instance, the process at the Angus Association where the only way to get a registered Angus is to have two registered Angus parents. Period.

Bringing the Regstr program up to full speed is the number one priority at IBBA and this is part of that task. The prefix changes detailed above are part of reprogramming the registration process in Regstr. We have reached the point now in the rebuild of Regstr where we are going back to the features that “kinda work” and reengineering them in a modern software platform that will run efficiently and accurately.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 23

8:00 a.m. Begin move-in for Brahman, Beefmaster, and Brangus 5:00-8:00 p.m. Brahman cattle check-in 6:00 p.m. All cattle must be in place

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24

9:00 a.m. Brahman weights and measures 10:00 a.m. Beefmaster cattle check-in 2:00 p.m. Brangus cattle check-in 6:30 p.m. The International Show Opening Ceremonies

THURSDAY, MARCH 25

10:00 a.m. Brahman Annual Meeting 10:00 a.m. Brangus weights and measures 10:00 a.m. Beefmaster Open Show, Extraco Show Pavilion

FRIDAY, MARCH 26

8:00 a.m. Brahman Female Show and Group Classes, Coliseum 10:00 a.m. Brangus Female Show, Extraco Show Pavilion 12:00 p.m. Begin move-in for Braford 8:00 p.m. All Braford cattle must be in place

SATURDAY, MARCH 27

10:00 a.m. Brahman Bull Show, Coliseum 10:00 a.m. Brangus Bull Show, Extraco Show Pavilion 11:00 a.m. Braford cattle check-in 7:00 p.m. Genetic Edge XXVI Sale, Extraco Events Center

SUNDAY, MARCH 28

8:00 a.m. Braford Open Show, Extraco Show Pavilion 8:00 p.m. All cattle must be off grounds