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Beef Quality Corner -- Virginia Quality Assured EPD Levels
Livestock Update, September 1999
Bill R. McKinnon, Extension Animal Scientist, Marketing, Virginia Tech
As the Virginia Quality Assured (VQA) feeder cattle program enters its third fall marketing period, it is interesting to note that the purple tag has been demanded more by sellers than the gold tag. The purple tag denotes calves sired by bulls with superior genetics for growth along with a documented health background. The gold tag certifies only that the cattle have met health program minimums.
It may not be surprising to some that the purple tag is in greater demand. Many cow/calf operators who have invested in better bulls want their calves identified as having superior genetics for growth. The VQA purple tag requires that the breed of sire of the calf be identified with a letter on the tag. Additionally, the bull siring the calves must have minimum levels for yearling weight EPD. For most breeds this minimum level is breed average yearling weight EPD for the year in which the bull was born. For the Charolais, Gelbvieh, and Simmental breeds, this minimum EPD level is at the 70 percentile level. The top 70% level in the larger continental breeds was established to avoid the inadvertent bias toward extremely large framed cattle.
The purple VQA tag identifies cattle with the genetics to grow faster for the cattle feeder. Feed efficiency is the single most important cattle related factor affecting profit in cattle feeding. To this point in history, the industry has had difficulty directly measuring individual feed efficiency. The industry has done an excellent job in measuring growth rate which is moderately correlated to feed efficiency. The bull's yearling weight EPD is our best measure of relative post-weaning growth in his calves. The table below lists yearling weight EPD minimums for bulls siring calves eligible for the VQA purple tag. In some cases a bull will fail to have a yearling weight calculated. In the absence of the yearling weight EPD, a bull's weaning weight EPD may qualify the bull to sire VQA purple tag cattle.
|
Yearling Weight EPD |
Weaning Weight EPD1 |
|||||||||
|
Birth Year |
Birth Year |
|||||||||
|
1997-'98 |
1996 |
1995 |
1994 |
1993 |
1997-'98 |
1996 |
1995 |
1994 |
1993 |
|
|
Angus |
56 |
51 |
44 |
42 |
40 |
31 |
29 |
27 |
25 |
24 |
|
Charolais2 |
15 |
-2 |
-2 |
-3 |
-5 |
8 |
-1 |
-2 |
-2 |
-3 |
|
Gelbvieh2 |
53 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
30 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
|
Hereford |
52 |
50 |
46 |
44 |
43 |
31 |
29 |
27 |
23 |
23 |
|
Limousin |
17 |
17 |
12 |
10 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
|
Red Angus |
43 |
37 |
38 |
35 |
30 |
25 |
23 |
24 |
22 |
21 |
|
Salers |
17 |
17 |
15 |
15 |
13 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
|
Shorthorn |
23 |
25 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
15 |
16 |
12 |
13 |
13 |
|
Simmental2 |
47 |
42 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
32 |
27 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
|
Tarentaise |
7 |
22 |
20 |
19 |
17 |
1 |
12 |
11 |
10 |
9 |