6 minute read
Beef Business
Matt Woolfolk
director of performance programs
Top Ten Rankings
As I was reading through another breed publication, I found an article highlighting the top ten sires for calves registered in that breed in 2021, and how they ranked as a group for an EPD profile. The author used the average of the ten bulls for various EPDs and where that average figure would rank in the breed on a percentile basis. I’m not one to steal a man’s ideas, but I am known to use them to guide my own inspiration. I conducted the same exercise for the top ten Shorthorn sires by number of registrations, but also added information from our friends and competitors in some other British breeds. If we don’t look at those we share a market with, it’s hard to know where we are and where to go.
Below you will find a table that compares the top ten sire for calves registered in the Angus, Hereford, and Shorthorn breeds. You will also find the ranking of each of those ten sires for various EPDs within their breed. Also included are the percentile ranking where the highest and lowest individuals in the breed’s top ten lands on their individual genetic merits. Angus and Hereford both have a maternal index ($Maternal in Angus and Baldy Maternal Index for AHA) and a terminal index ($Beef in Angus, $Certified Hereford Beef for Hereford) that while not mirror images of our $British Maternal or $Feedlot, they are good comparative tools that give an idea of where breeders are placing emphasis in their genetic selection.
What stands out to me in this exercise is that the heavily used Shorthorn bulls do not necessarily stand out from the breed population for their genetic merits. They are ranking lower across the board for their genetic predictors than the other British breeds’ top-used sires. In each of these EPD and index rankings, the average percentile for the Shorthorns ranks third of the breeds being compared. While there are some individuals that do rank near the top of the Shorthorn breed in each category, there are also bulls who rank very poorly in the population that are siring a good number of calves. Outside of CED, the low-ranking Shorthorn for each trait is consistently in the very bottom of the breed population. There are certainly low-ranking Angus and Herefords being used heavily, but they do not seem to have bulls that are in the very bottom of the breed as often as we do.
I believe the EPDs of the top ten sires in each breed show a direction in which breeders are wanting to take their livestock. You realize that the Angus and Hereford cattle are looking for a bit more growth, and the black hided bulls are certainly headed in a more terminal direction (as indicated by their lower ranking for milk and maternal index and top of the chart for terminal index). The Herefords are also pushing for more terminal merit, but don’t appear to be taking it as far or straying away from their maternal roots. When you look at the Shorthorn figures, what trend do you see? Is there a direction that things appear to be going based on these
Percent Ranks for Top Ten Sires by Registrations in British Breeds
CED WW YW Milk REA Marb Mat. Index Term. Index
Shorthorn
Angus
Avg % 25 25 15 40 20 15 40 10
High % 5 2 1 15 5 1 4 1 Low % 75 75 55 65 45 65 95 75
Hereford
figures? Balance and moderation seem to be the trend. Balance without going extreme in a bad direction is admirable, and Shorthorns seem to be on that path. However, it can be difficult to make improvements in our genetic offerings by staying in the middle of the road.
The averages of each of these ten bulls in any of the breeds is only a part of the story. In small samples like this, outliers can move the needle of the entire group in either direction. For each set of bulls and each EPD, I looked at how many of the ten fell below their breed average. In the Angus data, the most bulls they had below breed average for any EPD was two. Four of their top ten do not fall below average for any trait, and the most any bull comes up short on is three. On the Hereford side, three bulls fell below average for Marbling, with all other traits being two bulls or less. Five Hereford bulls are above average for all our studied traits, and the most that any single bull has below breed average is three. For the Shorthorns, at least three bulls fall below average in every category on the chart. For WW, YW, Milk, Marb, and $BMI, at least five of the top ten most-used Shorthorn bulls are below breed average. One Shorthorn bull on the list is above average for all these EPDs, and every other sire is below average for at least two figures. Three of the bulls are below average on six EPDs. The overall average of the ten bulls is certainly nothing to slouch at but seeing this many sires below the average mark leads to believe there are some positive outliers in the group holding the average up to its current level.
Across the breeds, the top ten sires all make up similar percentages of the yearly calf crop in their registry, ranging from 7.0 to 8.7 percent of calves. Shorthorn falls in the middle, with the top ten bulls siring 7.5% of the calf crop, which is just over 1,100 calves in our registry. Where we are at a major disadvantage as a breed is sheer volume, as the other breeds in this exercise have 7 to 20 times the numbers of cows on inventory and calves being registered as we do. If we as Shorthorn enthusiasts want to see our breed’s genetic merits be competitive with the cattle we are directly selling against in the commercial bull market, we will need to shift in the “popular” genetics and what bulls are given the opportunity to sire the large numbers of calves. There are some bulls on this top ten list that can rival Hereford and Angus genetics for traits that matter to the commercial bull buyers, while there are others that just don’t
Top Ten Shorthorn Sires by Progeny, 2020-21 FY reach those marks. We will always need genetic diversity, but we need Sire Reg. # Progeny functional genetics now more than ever if we want FREE K-KIM HOT COMMODITY 4141432 204 to push forward and put a scare into the kings of the FAIR RED, WHITE & ROAN 4202764 172 bull market. We’ve had DJS THE OUTSIDER 4208833 162 sales in this breed this year that have the attention of ASH VALLEY COUNT 5792 ET 4228061 105 seedstock folks outside of ASH VALLEY ANSWER 5720 AR4225554 90 just our Shorthorn circle. As a breed, we must SULL PROPEL 7187E ET 4258409 86 keep building on that FSF PERFECTION 812 4278468 82 momentum and make conscious decisions to CSF EVOLUTION HC 4209903 82 move the breed forward. MURIDALE THERMAL ENERGY 15A 4218103 82 = SULL RED SENSATION 6554D ET 4248212 77
