Keeping a Competitive Edge: The Time-Tested Tifton Bull Test Program

By Shelby Kirton

Sixty-five years. This is the number of years that the University of Georgia Tifton Bull Test has been establishing itself as a vital program making a profound impact on the cattle industry and Georgia producers themselves. Every decade brings new changes, challenges, opportunities and triumphs for the program.

From the kickoff of the UGA Tifton Bull Testing Station in 1958, Bryon L. Southwell and W.C. McCormick both saw this as the stepping-stone to their ultimate goal in creating this program: allowing purebred producers from across the state to raise high-quality bulls all under one “roof.”

As more producers wanted to submit bulls to the program, stalling at the UGA Tifton Campus feeding facility became limited. In the 1980s, the committee initiated a rule allowing each consigner to submit only two bulls. The program was a hot topic, bringing in nearly 200 bulls and 100 consigners. About 20 years later, the Tifton Bull Test and sale relocated to a new site near Irwinville, Ga., where the testing facility remans today.

Over the course of the 84-day evaluation (this evaluation period was set in 2021), several bulls from each breed are all produced under the same management and diets. Throughout the prescribed time, the bulls are evaluated, and data is collected – including data age, pedigrees, weights, gain performance, frame scores, final weights, and Expected Progeny Differences (EPD). All data recorded is then presented in the Sale Catalog for potential buyers to see.

Rodney Hilley began consigning in the UGA Tifton Bull Test with a dual purpose in mind: to evaluate how his herd was performing in comparison with other breeders across the state, and for a way to market the genetics that he was producing on his own operation. Several years after joining, Hilley not only had the top-indexing bull over all breeds, but also had the top-indexing bull with a record 5.54 Average Daily Gain and 4.10 Weight per Day of Age. Over the last 30 years, no bull has outperformed Hilley’s bull, which still holds the Highest Indexing Overall to this day.

Dr. Gary M. Hill, the owner of Hill Angus Farms and past chair of the UGA and Georgia Cattlemen’s Association Bull Test Committee, has been a part of the program since the late 1980s. Throughout his years of contribution, Dr. Hill has been able to experience the ins and outs of the program. “I was a member of the UGAGCA Bull Test Committee for several years, serving as chairman for about five years,” he explains. “This gave me insight into the costs and program goals, as well as contending with problems that occurred with the tests.”

During the initial phase of the program, the bull breeds involved have fluctuated. At the start, Herefords were the stars of the show; then Angus bulls moved into the limelight. Black-hided bulls have become prominent in the industry, bringing a variety of breeds to the program. These breeds have included: Simmental; SimAngus; Gelbveigh; Balancers; Limousin; and, most recently, Black Herefords.

“So, the casual observer may need a scorecard to tell the bull they are looking at,” Dr. Hill notes.

Since the 1990s, Bob Neligan of Stonegate Farm has been consigning bulls from his registered Polled Hereford operation into the UGA Tifton Bull Test program. He has high standards. This involves being rigorously selective each year on whether to place a bull in the program –to ensure putting his best genetics forward for other producers. “There were years when I felt my bull calf crop didn’t meet the measure. Genetics in all breeds have vastly improved, and as consignors we’re committed to only consigning our best,” Neligan emphasizes.

Cattle producers in Georgia, on average, have only 20 cows in their herd. The creation of this program has enabled cattlemen with small operations to select high-performing, affordable genetics to put back in their herd. After he has won several top honors and produced high-performing bulls, Rodney Hilley’s reasoning for participating in the program has evolved. “My main purpose is producing and testing bulls that will produce the right kind of calves for the producers that use them,” he says.

Dr. Hill makes a key point about the performance test’s success: It is so competitive in regard to quality that during the 2019 Bull Test, his own bull missed winning Top Indexing Angus Bull by the razor-thin margin of 0.01 index point. Talk about a close set of high-performing bulls. After multiple years of submitting bulls to the program, 2022 was Dr. Hill’s year to capture the prize of not only Top-Indexing Angus Bull, but also the lofty honor of High Indexing Overall out of all the breeds. “Tifton Bull Sale – part of the American Dream where anyone can compete,” Dr. Hill affirms, with a can-do confidence that should inspire any producer with a small operation himself.

The genetics of cattle have changed, improving the industry as a whole and evolving the management practices of the program over the decades to keep it successful and beneficial for all producers – whatever the size of their operation.

We can safely assume that the University of Georgia Tifton Bull Test program will keep this dynamic process going.

Bob Neligan sums up this ongoing purpose, consistent with the program’s founding vision: “You have to recognize and appreciate that over half a century ago, the University of Georgia had the beef cattle industry in Georgia as a top priority. They created the Tifton Bull Test as a facilitator, data collector, and liaison in bringing the best registered bulls in the state to the commercial cattlemen in our state. It’s been a great success since the start.”

Over the course of the nearly seven decades that the UGA Tifton Bull Test has been in existence, the original goal has stayed the same: identifying superior bulls based off their performance at competitive prices for Georgia cattlemen.

And the program should get top honors for that.