A Cattleman’s Balancing Act
Cattlemen discuss the art of selecting traits for progress in their individual herds.
February 19, 2025
Kara Lee, director of producer engagement at Certified Angus Beef, presents “Marbling, Feed and Fertility,” a discussion surrounding both maternal and carcass traits.
Sometimes being a cattleman feels like walking up to a buffet with endless options. Where do I start? Should I focus on the big picture or the details? How do I focus on just one thing?
Through educational sessions sponsored by the Colorado Angus Association at the 2025 National Western Stock Show, industry experts and boots-on-the-ground cattlemen discussed the value of balancing trait selection to achieve forward progress.
The session kicked off with a presentation by Kara Lee, director of producer engagement at Certified Angus Beef (CAB), followed by a panel discussion. The panel was composed of moderator Kevin Ochsner, host of Cattlemen to Cattlemen on RFD-TV, and industry perspectives including David Brown of Montana Ranch; Darrell Stevenson of Stevenson Angus; Anton Hermes of Hermes Livestock who is also an ABS Global representative; and Oakley Kelly, herd manager of Double RL Ranch.
The American Angus Association offers a suite of 30+ expected progeny differences (EPDs) and dollar value indexes ($Values) to help measure an animal’s performance, but what’s top priority when given such vast information? For Stevenson, the nucleus of the herd is the cow, and every input should focus on her continuous improvement.
“I believe first and foremost, those females have got to look the part, and then we’ve got the advantage, the art and the science and the genomically enhanced EPDs that make things even easier,” Stevenson said. “Today, we can move these cattle further and faster than ever before. We just need to know where to govern that out.”
When asked how producers can use particular EPDs to find optimums and maximums, Kelly encouraged his approach of finding a baseline before setting long-term goals.
Producer panelists discuss what areas they emphasize in the selection process based on the priorities for their herd, and what tools they use to help achieve their goals.
“As somebody that is really focusing on high-quality ribeye, we have to have a baseline,” Kelly said. “You need to figure your baseline, and then figure out how fast and how far you want to proceed and over how many years.”
In addition to EPD indexes, Association programs like Targeting the BrandTM, AngusLinkSM and the Genetic Merit ScorecardSM allow commercial cattlemen to capitalize on the marketing value of their product.
Stevenson said his customer base was drawn to genetic testing and these programs because of their capabilities as selection tools, scoring tools, culling tools and ultimately as profiting tools.
“Customers latch on to the feeder-calf marketing program and for me, the AngusLink program, because it’s provided a tremendous amount of opportunity,” Stevenson said. “Start with genomic testing, whole-herd or replacement-type female selection, and then tie yourself to a marketing program — these guys have seen tremendous results creating margin.”
Darrell Stevenson of Stevenson Angus shares what his ideal female is and how the use of tools like genomically enhanced EPDs can make a cattleman’s job easier.
Striking balance isn’t just for the seedstock producers; commercial cattlemen can tap into it, too.
“They want to get from calving season to weaning time to getting their check. It’s a bad cycle. We’ve got to change that mindset to where everybody is thinking about the future,” Hermes said. "When you want to be sustainable in the cattle industry, whether you’re a seedstock guy or a commercial cow-calf producer, you’ve got to take a balanced approach.”
Rest assured this balance all serves a greater purpose — the consumer. After all, the demand for high-quality beef drives our industry, Kelly said.
“They want taste. They want quality. They want consistency,” he said. “What we learned with our herd was we couldn’t just chase carcass, we had to go back to the female. The female had to make the herd, and I think that’s our emphasis now is building that maternal cow herd, but not sacrificing carcass traits.”
That inclusion of carcass traits leaves room for increased revenue for producers. Lee brought to attention the opportunity for marbling selection to increase profit, analyzing data showing it as largely the No. 1 reason Certified Angus Beef ® brand candidates don’t make it across the finish line.
“That’s why we talk about marbling so much. It’s not because we’re encouraging single-trait selection,” she said. “We talk about marbling because it’s the Number 1 place that we’re leaving money on the table.”
It does not have to be an either-or decision with maternal and carcass traits, Lee said. In particular, she also addressed recent concerns that emphasis on marbling has led to decline in fertility and foot structure. Lee referenced recent disposal code data from the American Angus Association showcasing animals removed for either fertility or foot structure purposes, which spanned a wide range of both high- and low-marbling cattle (see “Marbling, Feet & Fertility” in the January 2025 Angus Beef Bulletin).
With the diversity in the Angus breed, balanced trait selection is possible, she said. It all comes back to the balanced approach, regardless of your industry sector. Balance in your selection criteria, balance in your focus level and balancing the ever-evolving demands of the consumer.
“When we think about our customer first — whether you’re breeding bulls and thinking about your commercial cow-calf customers coming to buy those registered bulls, or you think about the end consumer — you’re thinking about the end in mind,” Lee said.
Editor’s note: Briley Richard is senior account executive at FleishmanHillard-KC. [Photos courtesy of the American Angus Association.]
Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol.17, No.2-B
Topics: Management , Record Keeping , EPDs , Selection
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
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