The “Meating Demand” Bulls That Sell

For the 6th Annual “Meating the Demand” Sale we have chosen bulls with a wide age range. The sale will begin with 101 19- to 21-month-old bulls and finish with 67 bulls between the ages of 14 and 17 months. In total, the 168 sale bulls are the progeny of 26 different Angus sires. This offering presents bulls with a wide variety of pedigrees and a wide range of ages for our bull buyers.

As usual, the majority of the 168 bulls in the sale are sired by four of our most trusted herd sires: GAR Ashland (35 sons); GAR Quantum (24 sons); SydGen Enhance (21 sons) and GAR Method (15 sons). However, there are some exciting younger sires that have sons in this sale.

Mark has a saying, “Pounds pay the bills and QUALITY POUNDS pay more bills.” These bulls will sire calves with the “quality pounds” Mark talks about. You can find the pounds in the sale bulls that rank in the Top 20% of the Angus breed for yearling weight. You can find the quality in the sale bulls that rank in the top 20% of the breed for marbling. Check out the average EPDs for the entire group of sale bulls in the table below.

We continue to provide index values from Method Genetics (MG). Using MG indexes allows our customers who perform MG genetic evaluations on their own commercial cattle to compare indexes of our sale bulls directly to the index values in their own herds. Hence, this provides our customers with a unique “tie” to the commercial industry that is not offered by the use of AAA genetic predictions. The average MG index values for the entire group of sale bulls is shown in the table below.

The Retained Ownership Index (ROI) is the most complete index we can offer our customers for evaluating bulls. ROI provides a complete production system approach – it incorporates traits from conception through carcass end-points. Unlike other indexes, ROI combines maternal, growth and carcass quality endpoints into one comprehensive index. This makes it the most useful index for selecting bulls to sire replacement females or offspring headed for the feedlot and processing plant.

Sometimes customers will may ask, “how do I use ROI as a selection tool?” The strategies for using ROI vary, but many of our customers use individual EPDs like calving ease (CED), stature (YH) or milk along with the sale bull’s pedigree to reduce the list of 173 bulls down to a smaller group that meets their primary specifications. Then, rather than considering every other EPD individually, the buyers turn to the ROI index because it combines the effects of all the other traits on dollars per calf produced. That strategy allows each buyer to focus on some individual traits that may be “non-starters” for them, but in the end they rely on the most inclusive index value, ROI, to find the best “all-around athlete” within the group that fits their most important specifications. We have found the ROI index to be the highest correlated tool we have for profit.

This group of sale bulls provides a range of choices among bulls based on ages, pedigrees and individual traits. However, with the whole group averaging in the Top 12% for ROI, there are a lot of “all-around athletes” spread throughout the sale. We hope you find bulls that will work for you.