Functional Longevity
The cow is the foundation of your herd. Her ability to produce and raise a calf year over year creates consistency in our operations and in turn increased value.
Measuring Longevity
The functional longevity (FL) research EPD was released on October 25, 2023.
What is the purpose?
The Functional Longevity (FL) research EPD predicts the number of calves a sire’s daughter is expected to produce by 6 years of age compared to other sires in the population.
How is the trait expressed?
The unit of the trait is the number of calves produced by 6 years of age, with a higher EPD meaning that on average sires’ daughters are predicted to produce more calves by 6 years of age, compared to a lower EPD.
Despite being a little counterintuitive to have the number of calves expressed with decimals, breeders should focus on differences among sires and the directional change of selection.
Get the FLrEPD for Your Herd
Breeders can access the FLrEPD by participating in Angus Herd Improvement Records (AHIR®) Inventory Reporting program.
The EPD is available on active enrolled females.
Find A.I. Sires with FLrEPD
All members have access to a list of A.I. sires with the FLrEPD.
Understanding Functional Longevity
FLrEPD FAQs
A research EPD is a prelude to a production EPD. Expected progeny differences (EPDs) delivered to members every Friday are production EPDs. These EPDs are fully functioning in weekly evaluations, are printed on registration certificates, and can be included in custom reports built through AAA Login.
A research EPD is a single analysis delivered to the membership enabling the Association to get feedback as a trait is under development prior to going to “production”. A research EPD does not get updated weekly but can be updated periodically as more data flows into the database. Once more data is collected, the evaluation will become even more robust, and the research EPD can be moved to production.
Data within the whole herd reporting program, Inventory Reporting, laid the foundation for this trait. Calving and culling records since 1990 outside of the Inventory Reporting program are also being used in the evaluation. In the genetic evaluation, data from females between 2 and 10 years of age is utilized; females must calve around two years of age to enter the evaluation. Also included are phenotypes from the Canadian Angus Association.
Breeders are encouraged to record and submit breeding, calving and culling records on all cows for as long as they stay in their herd, as this data is valuable for management and studying maternal characteristics.
Participation in Inventory Reporting is the best way to contribute calving and culling records for the FL trait. Ideally, in the future the functional longevity model will be able to leverage only records and data from herds inside of Inventory Reporting, which will continue to add accuracy to this new evaluation.
Primarily spring calving herds should enroll in Inventory Reporting November 1 – January 15. Primarily fall calving herds should enroll May 1 – July 15.
The heritability estimate of FL is 0.09.
Herds enrolled in Inventory Reporting will have access to the FL research EPD on eligible females enrolled in the program as of October 25, 2023. In addition, a list of AI sires born after 2010 with an accuracy of 0.50 or greater will be available on Angus.org.
Herds that enroll in Inventory Reporting prior to the release of the production EPD will also have access to the research EPD.
As a research EPD, functional longevity will not be incorporated into the maternal weaned calf value ($M). Current research is ongoing to uncover the appropriate economic weighting this new EPD could potentially have in $M when FL moves to a production EPD in the future.
