Association Commentary Quantified Cattle: The Future of the Beef Business (Part II)

by Tom Brink, RAAA Chief Executive Officer

In the April issue of Red Angus Magazine, this space was dedicated to an initial discussion of quantified cattle and why they are the future of the beef business. Here is a simple definition of quantified cattle: cattle that have been tested, measured or evaluated for one or more important performance attribute(s).

When cattle are quantified, the guesswork about what characteristics they possess, and how they will perform, is reduced. More is known about them – a lot more, in many cases. Those knowns usually come in the form of objective data or other concise information relaying how and what the cattle were tested for and the results.

Take for example, a Red Angus bull with genomically enhanced EPDs for Calving Ease Direct and Birth Weight. If you are breeding a group of heifers, using a bull that has been quantified for calving ease is important. Red Angus is a calving-ease breed, however, not every Red Angus bull is suitable for heifers, which is why seedstock and commercial breeders alike trust bulls that are genetically quantified for calving ease. They want to avoid a calving wreck or the need to provide a lot of assistance when calving a group of heifers. Perhaps a bull with a CED of 14 and a BW of -3.0 will be chosen for the task. Trust increases that calving will go well, since the bull selected is quantified and found suitable via his EPDs.

Here is related example on the female side. A group of Red Angus bred heifers is offered for sale. They have been put through the paces and are enrolled in RAAA’s Red Choice program and any heifer with a pre-breeding pelvic area less than 150 square centimeters has been eliminated. In other words, these heifers were objectively quantified for minimum pelvic size and potential problem calvers were culled before being bred. The result? Buyer confidence increases when considering these heifers for purchase, and he or she may pay more because they are buying heifers that are quantified for an attribute that matters.

Commercial Marketing Team and Value-Added Programs staff is on page 10