Red Angus passes Herefords

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Jeanne - Simme Valley

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Just read an article in SimTalk, stated "Angus, Red Angus and Hereford, in that order, are the British breeds of choice in the US and are an important and necessary part of the American beef business. (Based on annual breed association registration information)."
Wow, congratulations to the Red Angus breeders.
Has anyone else read anything on this info? Herefords have been in the two slot (seems like) forever.
 
All I know is that both Hereford and RA breeders around here are selling the heck out of bulls the last couple of years. Angus breeders have continued their strong sales. There aren't that many new breeders, so those sales have to be eating into some breed's (or breeds') market share(s). The RA seemed to have a jump on the Herefords on the increase in sales, so I think it's possible the two could go back and forth for the #2 spot for a while as the Hereford breed will see an increase in registrations for the next several years.

It will be very difficult for Herefords to ever again surpass Angus for the #1 spot for two reasons, even if all performance, carcass, fertility, and maternal are equal between the two breeds. The Angus breed has two very important dominant traits: polledness and hide color. If you put an Angus bull on a herd of cows, you will get all polled and all black calves, and this uniformity helps sell. The Hereford breed cannot offer both of these, although red on red always breeds true. But with todays mongrelized herds, an Angus bull is a good choice. Of course, I favor the Herefords a little, but there's very little practical difference between the two breeds, especially when the hides are off.

I realize that other breeds are striving for homozygous polled and black bulls, but Angus delivers this every time. If you happen to get one of the very few Angus bulls that carries the red gene, a lot of breeders will take him back, replace him, and thank you for letting them know he has the gene.
 
Jeanne, do you have a reference for that? is that total numbers or new registrations in 2005?
 
txag":2775f0xl said:
Jeanne, do you have a reference for that? is that total numbers or new registrations in 2005?
What's the matter...you getting that uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach? :lol:
 
Hey ollie,

Just noticed your sig. How do you make a cow get up before sunset if she doesn't want to? ;-)
 
Same way you make your wife quit being mad at you before dark. ;-)
 
ollie'":3u6t7w41 said:
What's the matter...you getting that uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach? :lol:

yep, ollie. i'm skeered. :shock: :lol:
 
txag":l27jj8wg said:
Jeanne, do you have a reference for that? is that total numbers or new registrations in 2005?

It can't be total numbers, as RA has never registered as many animals in a year as Herefords, ever. It could be 2005 registrations, but what a leap for the Red Angus breed from 2003. Here are the 2003 numbers for registraions from a Univ. of Georgia newsletter, which is all I have been able to find. The numbers come from the National Pedigreed Livestock Council.

Angus 281,734 39.7%
Hereford 71,243 10.0%
Charolais 47,107 6.6%
Simmental 47,000 6.6%
Red Angus 42,178 5.9%

Herefords have seen an increase in registrations the last couple of years, so for Red Angus to surpass them, as well as Simmental and Charolais, is an impressive feat in only two years.

Here is the link to my source. It is on page 7.

http://www.ces.uga.edu/Agriculture/asds ... August.pdf
 
I have heard it was close, but didn't know how close.

On another note, I think this is all happening because the feeders are demanding angus (red or black) in the cattle they are feeding. In a recent article in Drovers Journal called, "Quantity and Quality". It talks about Five Rivers Cattle Feeding. This is the biggest feeder in the US and they make the statement that the managers prefer cattle with at least 50% to 75% angus influence. So in turn I think that that Angus and Red Angus are going in the right direction.

The Red Angus Eecutive Secretary told me that Red Angus is the only breed association out there right now, that is at its highest point for registrations. Every other breed has been higher at one time.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":1dlk6jxu said:
Just read an
article in SimTalk
, stated "Angus, Red Angus and Hereford, in that order, are the British breeds of choice in the US and are an important and necessary part of the American beef business. (Based on annual breed association registration information)."
TXAG - as I stated, this was an artical in SimTalk, a publication put out by Simmental for the commercial man.
Kent - reread what I posted - BRITISH breeds only.
They did not post numbers - just what I quoted.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":2gqqltr3 said:
TXAG - as I stated, this was an artical in SimTalk, a publication put out by Simmental for the commercial man.

i read that. did they not have references or more specifics (total numbers or '05)?
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":1a8l2k2r said:
Kent - reread what I posted - BRITISH breeds only.
They did not post numbers - just what I quoted.

Yeah, I read it the first time. But if Red Angus has surpassed Hereford since 2003, either Charolais and Simmental have also surpassed Herefords, or Red Angus has surpassed all three. I'm just pointing out the magnitude of that feat. The market share has to come from somewhere. Hereford registrations have risen slightly the last two years, so for all three breeds (RA, Char, Simm) to have doubled their registration in two years, which is pretty much what it would take, is highly unlikely. If there are numbers to prove it from the breed associations, I will certainly not argue. It is what it is. But if it's just someone's opinion that Red Angus is now more important to the beef industry than Herefords, it is no more important than what you or I say on this message board.
 
Just shot an e-mail to Bob Hough concerning the table in the March ARA magazine and asked for references. We shall see..............

dun
 
dun":33i68z5f said:
There's a table in the Red Angus journal that shows the change in regitration statistics. There is also an excellent article on heat detection

http://redangus.org/index.php?option=co ... iew&gid=26

dun

Well, there you have it. It is clear from the Red Angus Association's own magazine that Red Angus registrations both in 2004-05 and peak are not at Hereford levels, although they are doing very well. So, what was the guy in Simmtalk talking about? Sooner or later people will realize there are very few unbiased people in the beef cattle industry when it comes to breeds. I'm certainly not unbiased, but I'm not giving seminars or writing articles, either. However, if it's a breed association publication, naturally it is not going to be unbiased and it shouldn't be. But breed articles pick and choose data that casts their breed in a favorable light and don't make much mention of unfavorable data, and I don't blame them.

Let me say this further: I like Red Angus cattle, better than black actually because I prefer the red color. I just dislike breed promotion type articles being touted as scientific or statistical fact, especially when my breed is the one taking the hit.
 
dun,

You posted while I was typing my last post. Yes, let us know what you find out from the ARA. Thanks.
 
Kent":k12kamy9 said:
dun,

You posted while I was typing my last post. Yes, let us know what you find out from the ARA. Thanks.

When I saw the table in the ARA Journal I just thought "that's nice, but so what".
We breed predominantly Red ANgus and I could care less what breed registers more animals. Anything I read about one breeds supposed superiority over another I always just lay to hype unless there are concrete data or references from a disinterested party.

dun
 
Well if you look at the Hereford genetic trends chart you will see that the amount of data reported has been declining sharply. Since 1993, the number of reported weaning weights has dropped from 146,128 t0 106,788 in 2003 (down from a high of 181,900 in 1983) even though breeders are under much greater pressure to record and report data I would ignore 2005 since data on many of those calves (and some of the 2004s) has not all come in yet.

http://hereford.org/Acrobat/Perf/S06_Trend.pdf

Angus has clearly been taking breeders, market share, bull sales, etc away from Hereford for a very long time. Are Red Anguses now #2??? It is possible; but the bigger story is the ascendancy of the Black Angus.
 
Brandonm2":1oxweeuh said:
Well if you look at the Hereford genetic trends chart you will see that the amount of data reported has been declining sharply. Since 1993, the number of reported weaning weights has dropped from 146,128 t0 106,788 in 2003 (down from a high of 181,900 in 1983) even though breeders are under much greater pressure to record and report data I would ignore 2005 since data on many of those calves (and some of the 2004s) has not all come in yet.

http://hereford.org/Acrobat/Perf/S06_Trend.pdf

Angus has clearly been taking breeders, market share, bull sales, etc away from Hereford for a very long time. Are Red Anguses now #2??? It is possible; but the bigger story is the ascendancy of the Black Angus.

Declining data reporting is a direct result of the AHA's increases in reporting costs. You have to pay a $100 activation fee before you can even register the first calf, plus the registration fee per animal, plus the TPR charge per calf, plus the initial cost per cow to enroll in TPR. It has caused a lot of breeders to choose not to enroll, which hurts the breed. For the guy with ten registered cows, the first year in TPR would cost a total of $340 to get his calves registered and in TPR. The second and subsequent years would be $290. The guy with 500 cows would pay $12,100 the first year and $9,600 every year thereafter, assuming he registered all 500 calves, which is of course theoretical. Many breeders just feel it is too much money.

Total registrations are the only way to tell how many animals there are in the country.
 

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