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cattle to some of these guys who have com- posite programs and want to have an end result producing a higher quality product.” Having all registered Akaushi cattle DNA parent verified has been important to the association since day one, and Bain says that’s something that has greatly impacted the rules for becoming a part of the Grid- Max™ program as well. Because every animal, including all terminal cattle that come through the association, have been DNA parent verified, everything that goes through the meat program is not only par- ent verified, but source verified as well. This 100-percent confidence in origination is something Bain sees as unique to the association, and something that applies to GridMax’s hybrid cattle as well. For the non-Akaushi side, the association requires a certificate signifying what breed the Akaushi genetics are crossed with and what percentage the blood is. “If it’s an Angus or Hereford, or whatev- er the case may be, we want the buyers to understand these are not just haphazardly bred cattle, these are cattle a producer

has put a lot of thought into. Then we are going to supply that producer with veri- fication so the buyers know exactly what they are buying, whether it be terminal or replacement-type cattle,” Bain says. The rules of the program state that GridMax-registered animals must have 50 percent or higher certified, DNA-parent- verified Akaushi breeding and 50 percent or less of certified non-Akaushi breeding. Aside from that, the sky is nearly the lim- it for producers because there is no restric- tion on what breed the non-Akaushi side of the hybrid cattle must be. “That’s the nice part, whatever cattle they have already work for them,” Bain says. “They could take a full Akaushi bull or semen and put them on those existing cows and produce a halfblood from their maternal side. Then they can go however they want to go from there. They can take it down or they can use a halfblood bull back on the same commercial cows next year and produce a quarter-blood.” Although the quarter-blood wouldn’t be papered of Continued page 35

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www.akaushi.com • Spring 2018