Braunvieh World Summer 2023

By Mark Nelson, BAA Performance Committee Chair

BRAUNVIEH SIRE EVALUATION

The Braunvieh Sire Evaluation is a program started by Braun vieh breeders with a commercial cow-calf operation to artificially inseminate cows with nominated sires and cleaned up with known bulls. Performance measures are then recorded from the ranch through the feedyard and packing plant. Data collected is submitted to IGS and will soon be providing more accurate Braunvieh Association of America (BAA) expected progeny differences (EPDs) driven by genomics of the Braunvieh test sires, paired with phenotype of their progeny in large multi-sire contempo rary groups. This program will eventually influence every The project was born in 2020 when John and Loretta Hall, J-Bar Braunvieh, delivered some bulls to Arkansas and heard that Tom Butler, a sizeable commercial cow calf operation, had an interest in Braunvieh genetics and collecting data. After meeting, an agreement was struck to breed Tom’s fall herd that year to Braunvieh sires. A popular SimAngus bull was added to begin the multi breed aspect. Data collected included gestation length, birth weights and weaning weights. In spring 2022, John Hall asked me to help him with the project so additional data could be collected at a feed yard and through the packing plant. Finding a feedyard that would buy the calves and have the ability to mea sure feed intake and carcass data was solved by making an agreement with 2 Bar C Angus, Luling, Texas; Red Doc Farm, Belen, N.M.; and AzTx Feedyards, Hereford, Texas, which has a partnership that includes a GrowSafe Feed Intake system and retained ownership program. In exchange for use of the GrowSafe system at cost and AzTx being willing to buy the calves, it was agreed that 50 percent of the synchronized cows would be bred to 2 Bar C Angus and Red Doc Santa Gertrudis bulls. This agree ment made this evaluation truly unique as it now included continental, English and American breeds, all of which already had a significant amount of tie-in to the Vytelle Efficiency database. This allowed for additional data points such as yearling weight, residual feed intake, residual average daily gain, feed to gain, average daily gain, marbling, ribeye area and fat thickness to be added to the evaluation. Braunvieh EPD. Program History

Additional support has been provided by several others. Tommy Perkins, Ph.D., West Texas A&M, and the BAA also came alongside the evaluation. The BAA allows for all data to be entered into their database, providing a plat form for the data. West Texas A&M graduate student Ma son Carter then provides a lot of the data entry into the BAA database. Additional Braunvieh breeders, including Jay H Farms, Lane and Lane Braunvieh and Edsel Keith have also contributed significantly. The evaluation combines nicely with the National Braunvieh Bull Test program and efforts are made to in clude graduates. In addition, diverse bloodlines that have not been tested are included. Each test also strives to al low for pedigree links to prior tests so new data is always tied to the prior data. Challenges Collaborators in this program have met the challenges it takes to keep this venture going. With the project now in its third year and the first complete set of data on a calf crop nearly complete, the costs have been analyzed and a proper cost per sire and complete data point per progeny has been established. Costs run $10 per cow synchro nized and $300 per head of AI-sired progeny, which have a complete data set from the ranch, feedyard and packing plant. New sires enrolled must contribute semen delivered to the ranch, pay a $500 breeding cost and $3,000 in data costs to receive a minimum of 10 complete progeny records on per sire. Ongoing challenges include getting an agreeable price set between the ranch and the feedyard, and achieving a majority of cows settled AI. There are additional chal lenges including additional labor at the ranch, coordinat ing all segments to work together, keeping the data points moving to be compiled and providing clean-up bulls to the ranch, which are all being met by supporters and partners who believe in the project and contribute with no compensation. Providing known clean-up bulls is part of the agreement and key to making this project work so all progeny are part of an even larger contemporary group. The intent of the program is to provide full data on those clean-up sires at no cost to the providers. While this is what makes the dynamics of the program complete, it drives up the per

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Braunvieh World  Summer 2023