In today’s BeefBuzz, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays continues his coverage of Cattlemen’s Congress and the diverse range of breeds exhibited there by discussing Brangus cattle with Executive Vice President of the International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) Rick Cozzitorto, who has only held that title since September 2024.
Cozzitorto’s background began in the Angus and Hereford industries and he said that his standard practice in a new leadership position is to spend a few months looking to see what is already being done well and encouraging it. Then, he looks for things that need improvement.
“The first thing we did was clean up their database,” he said of IBBA. “They had a nice database, but now, it is almost perfect. They also weren’t doing much marketing so we are relaunching a new website. We have a great publication right now, and they do a super job with it, and so we are going to add a digital element to it.”
He said that as a breed association, they must market and tell people how good their breed is. “In the last thirty years, Brangus genetics have changed dramatically,” he pointed out. “Now, they marble, and they feed well, and they do things that they didn’t do before. You shouldn’t be afraid to tell people how good they are. Right now, the demand is so good, we can’t produce enough of them. It is awesome, but there is room to expand.”
The Brangus genetic database is run by Neogen Genomics. Cozzitorto hope to launch some new carcass EPDs through the system in the next 90 to 120 days. He said, “That will get us where we need to be in order to be compared. If you are going to be compared, you need carcass EPDs. We have tons of ultrasound data; we have been feeding some cattle and found that ninety-five percent are going choice and prime, which is unbelievable on the Brangus side from thirty to thirty-five years ago. Now, we need to let people know that and show them through their EPDs.”
Brangus are known to be a versatile and hardy breed, thriving in both hot and cold environments and on both lush and sparse pastures.
“We are really going to focus on the cow and how great she is,” Cozzitorto said. “The longevity of the cow is tremendous. There are probably more cattle in our database that are 12 to 18 years old than there are under twelve. The fertility of the breed and the quality of the female coming back with a big calf. I tell them, they can put her out on a cement floor, and she’s going to come back fat with a big calf and bred back. That is really what we are noticing and we are seeing that demand for our females, right now.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
