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Estimating the Economic Value of Specific
Characteristics Associated with Angus Bulls
Sold at Auction
Rodney Jones, Tyler Turner, Kevin C. Dhuyvetter, and
Thomas L. Marsh
The genetic traits of a purebred bull convey the reproductive and economic value to buyers.
This study examines and compares the value of actual production weights (birth, weaning,
and yearling weight), production expected progeny differences (EPDs) (birth, weaning,
milk, and yearling), and ultrasound EPDs (carcass quality predictors) for purebred Angus
bulls sold at auction. One EPD, birth weight, was valued by buyers more than its
corresponding actual weight, though both actual weights and EPDs significantly impact
price. Predictors of carcass quality were important in determining price. Finally, several
individual animal factors and sale characteristics were significant in determining price.
Key Words: Angus bulls, carcass characteristics, EPDs, marketing factors, production
factors
JEL Classifications: Q10, Q12
The purebred cattle industry has undergone a
period of significant informational change in
the past 20 years. The development and use of
expected progeny differences (EPDs) has been
a primary component of this change. EPDs are
complex statistical estimates of performance
for a given animal’s progeny (Beef Improve-
ment Federation).1 Since their introduction in
the 1980s, EPDs have been increasingly ac-
cepted and used by purebred producers selling
breeding stock. However, the impact EPDs
have had in the marketplace and on commer-
Rodney Jones is an associate professor, Tyler Turner
is a former graduate research assistant, and Kevin C.
Dhuyvetter is a professor in the Department of
Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University.
Thomas L. Marsh is an associate professor in the
School of Economic Sciences, Washington State
University.
1 See Quaas and Pollak or Benyshek et al. for a
detailed discussion of EPD calculation techniques.
cial cattle producers is less clear. Research in
this field has demonstrated that some EPDs
(i.e., birth weight) are valued by producers
when they purchase bulls; however, the mag-
nitudes of the economic value of EPDs relative
to the corresponding actual underlying pheno-
typic measures have been found to be surpris-
ingly small (Chvosta, Rucker, and Watts).
Value-based marketing has increased the
interest in genetic estimation of carcass traits
by many cow/calf producers. Producers desire
measurements that provide reasonable expec-
tations as to the carcass quality of an animal
(Greer and Trapp; Schroeder and Graff).
Thus, the need for more accurate carcass-
related information has become increasingly
important to producers in recent years.
Carcass EPDs, ultrasound EPDs, and actual
ultrasound scan measurements are informa-
tion technologies being utilized as predictors
of carcass quality.