Page 10 - Loonan Stock Farm 43rd Annual Production Sale Private Treaty Auction Feb. 3, 2018 Red Angus & Simmental

Simmental Herdsires

HSR DAKOTA BEEF U653
BD: 3/11/08 Registration #2454850 Polled

WS BEEF MAKER R13 [ HOOKS SHEAR FORCE 38K
DCR MS RIBEYE N72

HSR MISS SUNRISE S351 [ MLC DAKOTA SUNRISE P32
HSR MISS REALITY N13
CE BW WW YW MCE M MW ST DOC CW YG MA BF REA API TI
12.8 2.2 91.9 147.3 7.4 17.2 63.2 18.0 10.7 60.6 -0.28 0.33 -0.027 1.30 163.2 91.6
• HSR Dakota Beef U653 topped the Dakota Xpress Sale in North Dakota at $12,000 when
we bought him.
• Dakota is moderate framed, deep bodied and had a 114 WW ratio and a 112 YW ratio.
• He makes a great combination on our own many Earthquake daughters, ranking in the top
1% for WW, YW, ADG, CW, REA, APR and TI, top 5% for MMW, 2% ST, 10% MA.
• Dakota not only has breed-leading EPDs, but his calves are impressive here.
• The four consignors at the Dakota Xpress sale commented, “He’s better than the A.I.
bulls.” So before we could get him picked up, they collected him and divided the semen.

RFS CLINT C45

BD: 3/19/15 ASA Reg. #3040615 Homo Polled

ELLINGSON COMPLETE A358 [ R PLUS HARD ROCK 145X
ELLINGSON MS AMIGO X5

RFS MISS Z198 [ RFS T46
RFS MISS Z198
CE BW WW YW MCE M MW ST DOC CW YG MA BF REA API TI
6.9 4.1 69.5 100.5 9.2 14.8 49.5 7.4 10.6 35.5 -0.33 -0.08 -0.064 0.83 97.2 63.7
• Lots of eye appeal in his calves that exhibit thickness
* He has four of the top fi ve calves in 205-day adjusted weights out of 39 head.

UNDERSTANDING AND USING ASA’S SELECTION INDICES
By Wade Schafer Ph.D.
API. The API evaluates sires being used on the entire cowherd (bred to both breeding programs. Though increasing growth is invariably a good thing in
Angus fi rst-calf heifers and mature cows) with a portion of their daughters terminal sires, its strong association with mature size makes it less desirable
being retained for breeding and the steers and remaining heifers being put on in replacement female sires, as increasing mature size increases cowherd
feed and sold grade and yield. All EPDs, with the exception of tenderness, are maintenance requirements. Keep in mind that the positive benefi ts of increased
taken into consideration in this index. growth in sires’ steers and cull females are accounted for in the API. Neverthe-
API puts heavy emphasis on bulls with good STAY (an estimate of the less, the index is telling us that the extra cost of maintaining larger cows
likelihood of a bull’s daughters staying in the herd). This should come as no outweighs the benefi t of increased growth in other areas of the system.
surprise; research has consistently shown that reproduction trumps all else in Even so, the API is evidently fi nding sires with more carcass weight than
economic importance. STAY improves your bottom line by lessening the need would be expected given their growth potential. (The top 25 average in the
for replacement females. Reducing your requirement for replacements allows 95th and 90th percentiles for weaning and yearling weight, while reaching the
you to market more young, high-value females, cuts your costs for heifer 70th percentile for carcass weight.)
development and changes your herd’s age structure so a larger portion of your From the top 25, it is evident that more weight is placed on marbling than
females are in their most productive years (5 through 10). yield grade. This is likely because there is no fi nancial incentive to improving
Direct and maternal calving ease also get substantial weighting in the API. yield grade unless there is a problem (i.e. yield grades reach 4); for the most
This is because they are strongly associated to calf survivability and, to a part, due to Simmentals superior yielding ability, SimAngus half-bloods see
lesser degree, female longevity. Given that milk is essentially neutral in the few discounts for yield grade.
index (the top 25 API bulls are only in the top 40% for milk), we can conclude TI. The TI is designed for evaluating sires’ economic merit in situations
that the benefi ts of increased weaning weight due to milk is negated by the where they are bred to mature Angus cows and all offspring are placed in the
additional cost associated with increased milk production. feedlot and sold grade and yield. Consequently, maternal traits such as milk,
It may be diffi cult for breeders to accept that the API places downward stayability and maternal calving ease are not considered in the index.
selection pressure on growth, as it is counter to the direction taken in most
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