Happy New Year 2021!

has years of experience in breeding pure bred cattle and can help you build a better herd by improving calving ease, docility and soundness longevity.

Calving ease. Heifer calving ease EPDs were calculated using a multi-trait animal model including birth weight and calving score data. The result is a heifer calving ease direct and heifer calving ease maternal EPD, as defined below.

• Calving Ease Direct (CED): Calving Ease Direct EPD is expressed as percentage of unassisted births, with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first-calf heifers. It predicts the average difference in ease with which a sire's calves will be born when he is bred to first-calf heifers.
• Calving Ease Maternal (CEM): Calving Ease Maternal EPD is expressed in percentage unassisted births with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first-calf daughters. It predicts the average ease with which a sire's daughters will calve as first calf heifers when compared to daughters of other sires.

Docility.  Cattle behavior has been documented to influence economically important traits.
Researchers at Colorado State University (CSU) have studied cattle temperament as related
to beef cattle production systems, handling facilities and carcass end product. Data from
the Iowa Tri-County Steer Carcass Futurity (TCSCF) reflects a difference of $62.19 per head
in net dollars returned between the most docile category vs. the most aggressive category
of cattle evaluated. Quality grade was also greatly enhanced in the more docile cattle, with
double the percentage of carcasses grading USDA Prime and premium Choice.

Soundness Longevity.  This simply refers to the age at which a cow is no longer productive either due to death or unable to produce viable calves because she is no longer physically sound in any number of ways. Soundness Longevity or lack of, is a significant cost factor in the commercial cow/calf operation.  There is a two-fold impact, replacement cost of the cow and mature cows tend to have a higher percentage of calf crop weaned and wean heavier calves.  Producers should look for the indicators of structural soundness such as skeletal soundness, good feet, and udder quality.

R&K Angus select top line breeding sires to maximize for these traits in their A.I. program.

That List includes;