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In this part, we will look at the EPD breakdown of a young pedigree Angus bull from a well-known pedigree ranch in North Dakota, and try to understand the traits that are of value to the US beef production system.
CED – calving ease
Americans look on the bright side, reporting calving “ease” instead of “difficulty” like us. This bull will have 17% more unassisted calvings than the breed average, at 29% reliability.
BW – birth weight
This bull’s calves will weigh 4.3lb (1.95kg) less than the breed average, at 37% reliability.
WW – weaning weight
Expect this bull’s calves to weigh 50lb (22.7kg) more than the breed average at weaning time.
YW – yearling weight
Yearling weight is an important measure in US cattle circles. This animal’s progeny are predicted to be 97lb (44.1kg) heavier than the breed average on their first birthday.
RADG – residual average daily gain
Residual average daily gain represents the expected additional post-weaning daily gain in lb above the breed average. This bull’s own RADG EPD is not reported, but his sire’s value predicts 0.26lb (0.12kg) extra weight gain daily.
DMI – dry matter intake
Predicted daily feed intake above or below breed average, reported in pounds (lb).
YH – yearling height
Physical height at one year old, measured in inches.
SC – scrotal circumference
This is an important measure of fertility and prolificacy in males. It is reported in centimetres.
Doc – docility
Higher values here indicate a more favourable temperament.
HP – heifer probability
An interesting one – defined as “the chance of a sire’s daughters becoming pregnant as first-calf heifers during a normal breeding season”. In the US, calving at two years is accepted as the norm.
CEM – daughter calving difficulty
This bull’s daughters should have 15% more unassisted births at calving than the average for the breed, at 10% reliability.
Milk – daughter milkiness
Weaning weight is recorded on most US ranches and provides an accurate reflection of dam milkability. This milk figure is heavily based on weaning weight figures and represents additional weaning weight (lb) gained from milk.
MW – mature weight
US ranchers like their cows to be tidy and manageable and chase a weaning weight that’s 50% of mature cow weight. They’re also big on feed efficiency, which the MW EPD has a bearing on. This animal’s sire is predicted to produce cows that are 36lb (16.4kg) lighter than the breed average at maturity.
MH – mature height
Measured in inches.
$EN – cow energy value
This EPD represents the dollar savings per cow per year in feed terms. Mature cow size feeds into the figure. This animal’s daughters are a negative here, meaning that they’ll require $21.42 worth of extra feed above the breed average each year.
CW – carcase weight
Though reliability is low at 5%, this bull’s progeny are predicted to weigh 24lb (10.9kg) more than the breed average at slaughter.
Marb – marbling
This is expressed as a fraction of the difference in USDA marbling score, with a figure of 1.0 indicating a predicted jump of one full quality (marbling) grade.
RE - rib eye area
The RE EPD is expressed in square inches. Progeny of this bull will have a ribeye with an area of 0.892in larger than the breed average.
Fat – fat thickness
Back (external) fat thickness at the 12th rib of the carcase hindquarter is a common measure of fatness in the US. This EPD is reported in inches.
C & U Grp/Pg
These are simple measures of the number of contemporary groups included in EPD calculations and distinguish between numbers of actual carcase measurements (C) and ultrasonic measurements (U) used to derive the carcase EPDs.
$W – weaned calf value
How much more, or less, this bull’s progeny are predicted to be worth than the breed average at weaning time.
$B – beef value
This applies to cattle finishers and places a cumulative monetary figure, relative to breed averages, on feedlot performance and carcase value.
$F & $G
Feedlot ($F) and beef grid ($G) predicted monetary return from this bull’s progeny, above the breed average.
$QG – quality grade
Represents the proportion of $G attributed to above-average quality grade at slaughter.
$YG
Represents the proportion of $G attributed to above-average yield grade at slaughter.
Ranchers primarily use EPDs as a tool when selecting or buying stock bulls. A lot of AI is used on US ranches, despite huge herd sizes, and EPDs can obviously help with this. As in Ireland, big emphasis is also placed on visual appearance, particularly when sourcing replacement females. In truth, the use of EPDs commercially is mostly in selecting and sourcing bulls and not females. However, the maternal qualities of the US cow herd are excellent given the rigid culling policies in operation on most farms.
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