I'm not sure how many times it's acceptable to ask for forgiveness for my lack of frequency in posting to my blog, but for those of you who keep checking back, THANK YOU! I have several important announcements to make in the near future and I will have several posts within the next two weeks.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Kansas to pick the 2011 Lot 1 bull for the Gardiner Angus Ranch sale. Lot 1 has been selected by and leased to Select Sires for many years now. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to represent the GAR brand at Select Sires and participate with the Gardiner family in what I believe to be one of the greatest partnerships for genetic advancement in the beef industry.

The 2011 Lot 1 at GAR will be a very special bull that represents a tremendous milestone for the Angus breed and for the entire beef industry. For the first time, the Lot 1 bull will be selected using genomically enhanced EPDs. The DNA profile now has a considerable influence on carcass weight, marbling, ribeye area and fat thickness EPDs for Angus cattle and the economic indexes generated by AAA are adjusted accordingly. Since the AAA started adjusting EPDs for carcass traits in late spring of this year, I have seen nonparent animals move as much as $15 (both up and down) in the $Beef index. This is considerably more movement than we ever experienced for adjustments like yearling weight and ultrasound measurements.

Every population and herd of animals has a distribution of its genetic makeup and the GAR bulls are no different. While some bulls went down on $Beef after the genomic profiles, others went up. Consequently, there are several bulls in the race for Lot 1 with $Beef values over $80...very impressive.

Check back soon for more updates on new developments in the Select Sires Beef program. Have a great week everyone and thanks for reading.  Cordially, Aaron Arnett