Contemporary Crash Course

by Kaitlyn Fulmer, REDSPro and Registry Specialist

You might wonder – why are contemporary groups important for your operation?

Contemporary groups allow for you to take environmental factors out of the equation for an animal’s difference. For example, is an animal’s weaning weight lower because of its genetics, or is it because it was a bottle calf? The contemporary grouping process allows for a bottle calf, for example, to be separated from the rest of the calves born during this time so that its weights do not rank against the others. Having all data submitted is important to see the full picture of the herd along with phenotypic metrics.

Contemporary groups are an important characteristic of data management. Knowing how to use contemporary groups can be a powerful tool for producers especially during sale season and when making management decisions.

A contemporary group is a group of animals that have had equal opportunity for growth and development. REDSPro will automatically split ani

DNA Policy Update

As of March 1, all SNPs brought into the Red Angus database for parentage verification will incur a $5 fee. This fee is only applied to SNP markers coming from third-party sources such as Neogen, Zoetis, etc. SNP markers being brought in from other breed associations are not considered third-party and will not have a fee associated.

SNPs released from RAAA to other entities will not have a fee for that service.

Genotype sharing (ex. Sending genomics from RAAA to Zoetis for $Profit) will continue to have a $1/genotype fee associated with that type of release. However, there are several other steps that RAAA members should do to make sure that the groupings are accurate. One of those would be to utilize the birth, weaning and yearling group fields. These fields allow animals to be split into different contemporary groups to show that they have been raised in separate pastures where environment and management is significantly different, identify animals that have gotten sick, or even animals that have been separated from the herd because they are being shown.

Another factor that is specific to data submission is submitting all of your calves in one job into REDSPro. If an animal must be registered separately and it should be grouped with the crop to ensure they get the opportunity to ratio and rank against each other. In the instances where animals are owned by separate accounts but are managed together, you will also need to reach out to the Registration Department for regrouping options.

Contemporary grouping can be confusing and if assurance is needed for accuracy, reach out to Member Services regarding those animals or with any specific questions at data@redangus.org or 940-387-3502 Ext 1.

Lindsay Upperman, Ph.D., director of breed improvement, is also available