Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is visiting with the Chief Executive Officer of the Red Angus Association, Tom Brink, about the value of the Red Angus breed alone, and when it comes to crossbreeding.
Red Angus showed up and showed out at the 2023 Cattlemen’s Congress, as the breed won Supreme Bull, shown by Pembrook Cattle Company of Fairview, Oklahoma.
The center of the Red Angus breed’s success, Brink said, is the Red Angus Association’s tagline, “Ranch Tested. Rancher Trusted.”
Red Angus has a tremendous reputation on the female side, Brink said, and there is quite a bit of data from Superior Livestock Actions to show that Red Angus females will sell above the price of just about any other breed.
“People know these cattle do work at the ranch level, and they are looking for that Red Angus cow,” Brink said. “She is a productive cow, she is a fertile cow, and she tends to last very well.”
Red Angus is an “all traits breed,” Brink said, and consists of genetics that can contribute to all segments of the cattle business and make all segments of the industry more profitable. Over the years, Brink said breeders have successfully improved a variety of traits within the breed, while sticking to that maternal base that Red Angus is known for.
“That is the reason I think we have done a good job in terms of gaining market share, and growth even in difficult times like we have seen with high input costs and drought,” Brink said. “We feel good about our position- we just have to keep plugging away because it is a competitive environment out there, and our ranchers are faced with plenty of challenges.”
Data generated with Superior Livestock over the past 12 years, Brink said, documents that statistically, Red Angus is the most favored female.
Brink also talked about programs such as the Lim-Flex program, in which purebreds are crossed with Red Angus to achieve the traits the market is looking for.
“At the Red Angus Association, we are a big proponent of cross-breeding,” Brink said.
A 50/50 F1 is going to produce one more calf per lifetime, per female than a straight-bred female, Brink said, which is too much of an added value to ignore.
“Crossbreeding really is something that helps everybody,” Brink said. “It creates cattle that are just more fertile, more thrifty, they are durable, they tend to get a bump in a bunch of different traits because of that heterosis, and it is too big to ignore,” Brink said.
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