by Sarah Kocher, American Angus Association

The right tool for the job makes all the difference. When farmers and ranchers select registered Angus sires to be part of their bull battery, this adage rings true, and the array of available tools grows larger and applies Angus-specific data.

Sorting through options and harnessing these tools — especially those that can work double duty — in a way that makes financial and practical sense is what can be the most challenging.

Selecting a tool

Larry Bush, a seasoned veterinarian of Kingman, Kan., calves 150 cows. As the cattle industry rebuilds, he says, he believes it is important to focus on breeding modern cattle and utilizing tools and programs that enhance a herd’s value.

“You have to be able to tell your potential customers everything you can about your cattle,” Bush says. “You need to be able to tell them what you really have, and you have to tell them sire names. You need to tell them where they came from. If you have carcass results, you have to let people know that.”

Bush has used AngusLink^SM programs and health claims like VAC 34+ to give more information to his potential buyers. His recent Genetic Merit Scorecard^SM (GMS) has been particularly attractive, with his cattle enrolled in 2023 earning a Beef Score of 156, a Feedlot Score of 139 and a Grid Score of 157. This earned the set of calves the Targeting the Brand^TM logo.

His numbers and the premiums that have followed give evidence his strategies work, and, he says, he enjoys working with clients of his veterinary practice to help them shorten their calving window or consider tools that can help them make genetic progress.

“The more things that we can do to upgrade the value of our cattle — and even in a small herd — makes a difference,” Bush says.

Put to the test

Jimmy Taylor of the Taylor Ranch, Cheyenne, Okla., says he also believes in the power of information. In contrast to Bush, the Taylor Ranch primarily retains ownership of its calves and has a larger herd size.

“When I first got started, I had to buy outside heifers to bring in, but I’ll end up with less than half those making the cut here over a longer period of time,” Taylor says. “I have a lot better luck with the ones I raise, since they go through this process of being tested with GeneMax^® Advantage™ and using those numbers to move forward with my cow herd. They come a lot closer to matching what I need in a cow.”

For more than a decade, Bush and Taylor have both used GeneMax genomic tests as a key fixture in their breeding strategies. The current product, GeneMax Advantage, includes individual trait reporting for specific maternal, feedlot and carcass traits. The product is for use in commercial Angus replacement females (75% Angus or greater), and results include economic indexes, which can help inform culling and breeding decisions.

Bush also uses it as a marketing strategy to get the most out of his investment and to help give buyers more information about his cattle’s genetic merit.

“I started with GeneMax back when I started wanting to sell on Superior [Livestock Auction] with 60 steers to put a basis on what my steers were,” he says. “I thought I had pretty good cattle; but, when you’re going on Superior in July, when they’re selling 300,000 and you have 60, you have to do something to set them apart. So that’s what started me with the GeneMax, doing the DNA testing.”

Crunching the numbers

Whether using GeneMax Advantage or another benchmarking product, a producer must decide how they want to put their herd’s results to use. Even when tools offer industry averages, producers still need to make herd-based decisions, too.

A simple, but important, application might be parentage, Bush suggests.

“All of the cows in my herd right now, except the one, have been GeneMax-tested,” he says. “Since I AI (artificially inseminate) everything and dump bulls in a day later, it’s nice to make sure that I’m really identifying [the correct] sires, too.”

Despite operating two different-sized herds, they’ve both used GeneMax Advantage as a benchmarking tool.

“I use it as a breeding tool, where I’m hearing others may use it as a culling tool,” Taylor says. “The further you get into it, I think people will realize that it is more of a breeding tool, because as each calf crop comes along, you’ve kind of taken care of some of those areas that you used to cull on, and they’re maybe not right where you want them, but they’re close enough that you can cure that with the right bull.”

Taylor has established a set of in-house parameters with targets for individual traits. He started with his heifers born in 2012, and has continued to test since then.

Comparing the averages for his females born in 2012 with females born in 2018, he has improved his marbling score by 24% and increased ribeye area by 22% on the test’s scale. At the same time, he has decreased the average score for the fat thickness trait across his cow herd.

“We retain ownership through the feedlot and sell on a grid, so number of Primes are very important to us because we get bonuses,” Taylor said. “We’re also keeping replacement heifers, so we’ve got to check all the boxes going across [maternal and terminal traits]. If we were just concerned about Primes, it would be a lot easier.”

Dave Seibert, retired area livestock specialist with the University of Illinois Extension, has a similar trait-by-trait approach to analyzing genetic merit information. After 42 years with Extension, he transitioned to advising several farms in his home state. One has tested 348 head with GeneMax Advantage since 2020.

“As we rebuild the U.S. cow herd, this provides data for marketing replacement females with known genetic value,” Seibert says. “Very few commercial heifers are sold with this type of information. With the current price (if buying) and value (if raising) of replacement heifers, one must have the best information available, because it is a big investment that must stay in the herd for several years.”

The premiums a producer might earn could pay for the testing costs for all of a herd’s heifers, he adds.

As an advisor, Seibert uses GeneMax Advantage test data, expected progeny difference (EPD) data when available and any other objective measures he can get his hands on to evaluate breeding selections. He calls the process “precision mating.”

“[GeneMax Advantage] identifies the strengths and weaknesses of traits in one’s herd,” Seibert says. “I feel it’s equally as important to study the individual traits to see where selection pressure should be applied.”

Return on investment

Seibert sees this investment of time to be worthwhile whether a producer is purchasing herd bulls or primarily using AI.

“I definitely have to see a video of that bull,” Seibert says of his sire evaluation and selection process. “I want to see him walk, and he has to at least kind of fulfill certain requirements there. But then from there, hey, it’s 90%-95% data-driven if he meets my requirements physically, or phenotypically.”

Seibert says the data also help him compare the herds he works with to the U.S. national herd.

“If you need help in certain traits as compared to the U.S. herd, without this type of information, type of evaluation, you have no idea where your herd stands as compared to others,” Seibert says. “It’s a baseline.”

Taylor and Seibert, both self-proclaimed spreadsheet gurus, agree that higher numbers are not always better as they look across traits. For traits like maternal milk and fat thickness, they identify a range they want individuals to fall within. Seibert says he establishes a range for yearling height and mature weight, as well.