During the 2023 Cattlemen’s Congress, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, caught up with the President of the International Brangus Breeders Association, Jeremy Jackson, talking about today’s Brangus breed.
“The International Brangus Breeders Association mainly registers cattle in the United States and also other countries around the world,” Jackson said.
Like other breed associations, Jackson said the primary responsibility of the IBBA is the registration of Brangus cattle and overseeing the functionality of the organization.
Although Brangus is a mix of the Angus and Brahman influence, Jackson said, through stabilization of those genetics throughout the years, Brangus has become a “stand-alone breed.”
“We do go back and dip into the well with Ultrablacks and Ultrareds by crossing either to a Red Angus or a Black Angus animal,” Jackson said. “Those Ultrablacks and Ultrareds have become extremely popular within our breed. A significant amount of our growth at this time is within those two portions of the population because they are more readily acceptable north of the Mason-Dixon line, and they have done very, very well for our association.”
Today, Jackson said Brangus cattle are completely black or red hided, and very maternal. The breed has always been known for being maternal, Jackson said, so the biggest change over the years has been the improvement of carcass value.
“On the carcass side of this thing, we look significantly different than what we did a long time ago,” Jackson said. “Over 90 percent of the cattle that we are doing research with and what we are seeing our customers bring in are grading Choice or better.”
The main goal, Jackson said, is to continue breeding exceptional maternal traits along with traits that will yield value on the rail.
Jackson also talked about the Ultrared and Ultrablack breeds and what they bring to the table.
“It cleans up that sheath design underneath a little bit and has helped our carcass quality, obviously, moving forward, and we use that Ultrablack program and Ultrared as a breed up program,” Jackson said.
The first cross between an Angus and a Brangus is an Ultrablack I or Ultrared I, Jackson said, then, if you cross back to Brangus again, it is an Ultrablack II or an Ultrared II. A third cross, he added, goes back to a stabilized Brangus genetic.
“So, we have used that as a way to incorporate some of these Angus and Red Angus animals back into our herd book, and some of these higher quality marbling genetics, carcass genetics, and that is how we have taken some of those steps forward,” Jackson said.
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