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AGA Sire Summary ...Criteria for
Sires to be Listed
The American
Gelbvieh Association produces a
Sire Summary twice a year
following the production of
updated EPDs. Typically this is
accomplished in January and
June/July. Each Sire Summary
is comprised of three sections:
Progeny Tested Sires, Genetic
Indicator Sires, and Trait
Leaders. For each sire, general
pedigree information is included
as well as whether the sire is
AI Qualified, Total Progeny with
weaning records, Number of herds
submitting weaning information,
Number of producing daughters,
Number of carcass progeny and
Number of female progeny with
ultrasound records. To be
listed the sires must have
produced a calf in the previous
four years. Each section then
has more specific criteria as
described below.
Genetic Indicator
Sires:
As well as siring registered or
computed calves in the past four
years, these sires have met an
accuracy standard of .45 to .64
for the Weaning Weight (WW) EPD
evaluation. EPD and accuracy
values for all traits are
published for these sires. The
EPD values for these bulls
should be considered in relation
to the lower accuracy values.
Progeny Tested
Sires:
In addition to the above
criteria, sires in this category
have Weaning Weight Accuracy of
at least .65. Bulls listed in
this category have sired enough
progeny to provide added
predictability.
Trait Leaders:
The Trait Leader listing in the
Sire Summary on the AGA website
contains approximately 40 sires
for each trait. The sires are
ranked in descending order from
the most favorable value for
each trait. In order to be
listed as a Trait Leader, a sire
must qualify as a Progeny Tested
Sire and have Accuracy in the
listed trait of at least .50.
Listing for Carcass Traits are
slightly different as sire must
have either five (5) carcass
progeny or 25 female progeny
ultrasound records to be
listed. Feedlot Merit (FM) and
Carcass Value (CV) leaders,
indexes that do not have
accuracies, must have Yearling
Weight (YW) accuracy of at least
.50 to be included.
Top 25% Sires:
Sires that rank in the upper 25%
for a specific trait among all
active sires and have accuracy
for that trait of at least .65,
will have a star below the EPD.
Additional Sire Summary
Information:
The statistics and genetic
trends for the current Gelbvieh
genetic evaluation run are
presented for your reference. The MBE accounts for
hybrid vigor and fairly analyzes
for the additive genetic
contribution of individuals of
different breeds that appear in
pedigrees of Gelbvieh and
Balancer hybrid cattle.
The averages, minimum and
maximum EPDs for each trait and
percentile rankings are
presented in the tables below.
The data is broken out in this
manner for Active Sires, Active
Dams, Balancer cattle, and for
all calves born in Active Sires
Percentile Breakdown.
Percentile rankings are useful
to describe an animal relative
to the population in a number of
traits. The EPDs in any trait
follow a normal bell-shaped
distribution; therefore there
are very few animals out at the
extremes, and a lot of cattle
that have EPDs close to the
average. Because of
biological relationships and
antagonisms between traits, few
cattle will have high percentile
rankings across several traits.
Genetic trend charts indicate
that Gelbvieh breeders have
successfully reduced birth
weight and improved calving ease
while maintaining positive
genetic trends for weaning and
yearling growth.
The data provided furnishes
cattle producers with important
snapshots as to where the
Gelbvieh breed is at in the
current analysis, and the
selection pressure and direction
that has been applied in the
various traits over the past
several years. |
