Executive Summary

Greetings ABHA Members and Friends,

Happy New Year! I hope that you and your families had a blessed holiday season. We now have 2022 behind us. Even as we continue to face uncertain times in our country and more importantly in agriculture, the future within the American Black Hereford breed is bright.

Ernie Dominguez ABHA Executive Director

This is an interesting time for agriculture with input prices on the climb and drought and labor shortages, this is tough for even the most efficient operations. Thankfully, we are seeing the reciprocal of this in cattle and commodity prices. Some say that 2023 could be a record-breaking year for cattle prices and we will be hoping that it is. Particularly in the cattle business, when we see demand and prices increase, the selection pressure and quality control decreases. The level of Black Hereford cattle currently available are gaining attention across the cattle industry and we are seeing more seedstock producers from other breeds sample and look into what we have to offer. Our genetic predictors continue to improve with accuracy as we have seen an increase in the use of genomic testing by our members and more raw data being submitted. All these things are vital to Black Hereford gaining market share and we must keep striving for more if we want to see our breed continue to grow.

We recently completed our move to International Genetic Solutions (IGS) as our EPD service provider. IGS is a multi-breed genetic evaluation in which 20 progressive breed association partners collaborate to enhance commercial profitability. The collaboration has yielded the world’s largest genetic evaluation of beef cattle with more than 20 million animals and greater than 350,000 genotypes. IGS is leveraging the data across all breed association partners and using that information to increase the accuracy of prediction of our EPDs. The move to IGS also puts the ABHA on a weekly evaluation for our EPDs and a regular update cycle for any externals meeting minimum threshold criteria on accuracies.

So, I say to you as breeders, great work and please stay the course, we are on the correct path. The use of progressive genetics, leveraging science and genomics, and ramping up your local marketing are the ingredients needed to reach our destination.

Your American Black Hereford Association closed out another great year in calendar year 2022. The ABHA is growing in every metric such as membership, registrations, and DNA. The success of this association is due to the hard work and dedication by our members to improve genetics and make the necessary changes that the beef industry has demanded. Our membership is working hard to keep Black Hereford cattle at the forefront of the industry and is willing to make difficult decisions in order to continue growth and success. We must continue to make advancements in our genetics to improve our position in the industry, and I know we are up to the challenge.

I want to thank our Board of Directors, our committees, and the entire membership for helping make 2022 a tremendous year for our association. The American Black Hereford breed is on fire! Let’s not even think about getting complacent, because we are just getting started. I want each one of you to pull your hat down tight and kick it in overdrive. Continue to make your cattle better and help push our breed to the next level. Let’s continue the ride.

Please reach out if you have any questions or ideas for how we can continue to make a positive impact for the breed and this industry. We are all in this together, we will continue to work together to keep the ABHA strong, and American Black Hereford proud. We truly have some of the most dedicated, selfless people in the cattle business that support Black Hereford and its members. Let’s continue to show the industry what the American Black Hereford has to offer.

Have a blessed start to the New Year!

ABHA