American Angus Association $Value Updates

Following major research efforts, the American Angus Association (AAA) has revised its $Value Indexes to better serve commercial cow-calf operators and seedstock breeders.

Following major research efforts, the American Angus Association (AAA) has revised its $Value Indexes to better serve commercial cow-calf operators and seedstock breeders. The Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) currently available through the AAA, along with numerous individual performance measures, can be difficult to understand.

Essentially, the revised $Value Index will make multi-trait genetic selection and understanding EPDs simple and convenient for cattlemen and the beef industry as a whole.

The updated $Value Indexes include revisions to: Beef Value ($B), adding Maternal Weaned Calf Value ($M) and rounding all $Values to whole dollars to eliminate decimals. Quality Grade ($QG) and Yield Grade ($YG) will be removed because $QG is redundant to the Marbling EPD, and $YG is redundant to Fat and REA EPDs.

After reviewing the new $C, $B and $M indexes, STgenetics® has nine sires ranking in the top 10% for at least two or more of these index categories.

These sires include:

G A R Reliant

G A R Sunbeam

Sitz Thunderball 734E

Bobcat Blue Sky

TK Driller

G A R Storm

Spring Grove Expanse 7313

Stevenson Declaration 7074

44 Lucky Charm

BCA Groundswell

Additionally, a combined index will be implemented in June 2020 with a complete education plan to be executed with the membership and industry to take place over the next 15 months.

After careful review and revising of the new AAA EPD updates, we are proud to announce that seven sires in the STgenetics® lineup stand in the top 1% for Combined Value ($C).

Combined Value ($C), expressed in dollars per head, is an index which includes all traits that make up both Maternal Weaned Calf Value ($M) and Beef Value ($B).

Combining maternal and terminal traits into a single multi-trait genetic selection tool allows producers to make genetic progress in several different traits at once while accounting for the interrelationships among these traits which may pull costs and revenues in different directions.

At STgenetics®, we believe that the best way to predict the future is to create it. We feel our success within the Combined Value ($C) Index showcases our dedication to generating high quality genetics for our customers.