By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
The Red Angus Association of America (RAAA) and the American Hereford Association (AHA) recently announced a new genetically-verified program for developing commercial females.
The Premium Red Baldy tagging program, which is only for heifers, intends to promote and highlight the characteristics inherited from both breeds in the Red Baldy hybrids: longevity, fertility and adaptability.
“The program is designed to provide commercial producers with a premium replacement female and to hopefully give participants of the program some added value,” Trey Beford, director of Commercial Programs for AHA said.
Beford said this tag program is not a U.S. Department of Agriculture Process Verified Program (PVP), but that the tag is a program to add marketing opportunities.
“Each tag is around 99 cents,” Beford said. “So that’s not too big of a cost. We’re getting people to focus on the genetic merits of their herd and improve the quality of their cattle and, at the same time, giving them a value-added incentive.”
This is the first time two breed organizations have partnered to create a genetically-verified tagging program. Beford said the program has taken a little over a year to put together and both breed associations worked to develop the requirements.
Chessie Mitchell, Tag Program coordinator for RAAA, said both breed associations’ boards felt the program would help efforts to promote both purebred and crossbred cattle of each breed.
“Genetic verification for the commercial industry is new, but we just really feel like there is a difference in our red baldy females versus other commercial heifers and that it was something worth exploring,” Mitchell said.
The program aims to build better F1 females.
“It helps that we are the only two beef breeds that require whole-herd reporting,” Beford said. “The breed retains a lot of integrity when a producer is able to look at reports for an entire herd over a period of time because you get a look at the whole picture. The breeds really retain a lot of integrity with this method.”
To participate, ranchers should contact their respective breed association of the sire to verify females. Beford said the verification process consists of a phone interview and verification of sire registration numbers.
Eligible females must be sired by AHA or RAAA registered and transferred bulls. The bulls must also rank in the top 50 percent of their respective breed for AHA’s Baldy Maternal Index or RAAA’s Herdbuilder Index.
Breed percentages must be 25 to 75 percent for both breeds, with the balance being the alternate breed. The females must be red-bodied with either a bald or brockle face, and no black-hided cattle will be admitted to the program.
“The end goal is to bring a female to the commercial industry that’s loaded with hybrid vigor,” Mitchell said. “She’ll be workable in many different environments and have great longevity. That’s why we only want that top 50 percent sire, because we’re really trying to create a female that is truly premium.”