Soderglen strives to be at the leading edge in genetic education, technology and data gathering. Performance information, EPDs and ultrasound are the most powerful tools we have available today to let us make economically important decisions. Data is simply a conglomeration of numbers unless we know what to do with them. Our best advice to you, our customer, is not to ever get caught chasing trends that are not proven or accurate. Using these tools along with common sense helps you produce beef economically.

In any areas such as performance, EPDs and carcass data, we need to remember these numbers should be used to help compare one bull to another. You as cattlemen must determine what traits you wish to improve, then select bulls that will help you do that. Find the breed or line that exhibits the traits you feel your herd needs, then go through the data and select the ones that accent these traits you are looking for in a balanced and common sense approach. This is a difficult time in the cattle cycle and those cattlemen who are going to survive and succeed are making careful bull buying decisions.

To stay competitive in the beef industry today we need to supply the lean high quality beef consumers want and to ensure we deliver exactly the products our customers demand, we have to know more precisely what we produce. Soderglen has used for the last five years, the Image Enhanced Ultrasound from Windy Ridge Ultrasound to grade our bulls. The testing provides accurate data regarding ribeye size, lean meat yield (LMY) and back fat thickness. The ultrasound probe is run over the bull's loin between the 12th and 13th rib, creating an image which instantly appears on a monitor. This will help us to consistently provide a high quality product to our customers.

REAL - TIME ULTRASOUND EVALUATION OF CARCASS TRAITS Heritability: Carcass traits are moderately to highly heritable. This means that a measurement taken on a bull will indicate the carcass value of his progeny relative to other sires under similar management. Real-time ultrasound allows the measurement of fat depth and ribeye area in live yearling bulls. This means that carcass traits can be evaluated in potential herd sires, similar to average daily gain, weight per day of age, scrotal circumference and other traits.

Economic Importance: The economic importance of carcass traits is increasing. Consumers demand lean beef of consistent quality. As a consequence, beef cattle that are sold in Canada on a “railgrade” basis are priced on a lean meat yield basis. A 700 lb yield grade one carcass (more than 58% lean meat yield) is worth $14 more than a 700 lb yield grade two (54% to 58% lean meat yield) and $70 more than a yield grade three (less than 10 54% lean meat yield) carcass. Retained ownership or contracting between ranchers, feedlots and packers is expected to increase as the industry demands cattle with predictable feedlot performance and carcass traits. This should produce calves with uniform growth and carcass characteristics. Ultimately, demand for improved beef quality and leanness will require the selection and use of breeding stock with desirable carcass traits. Cutability (% Lean Meat Yield): Cutability is the percentage of lean meat in the carcass. This is an important factor in both the Canadian and U.S. grading systems and producing calves with a high genetic potential for this trait can be an important objective of a breeding program. Ribeye Area (in 2 ) : The ribeye area gives an indication of overall carcass muscling. Fat Depth (mm): Backfat depth gives us an indication of overall carcass fat content. The fat measurement is important for two reasons. Firstly, fat is inversely associated with lean content. Fat bulls have less lean meat. Secondly, the fat measurement gives an indication of a bulls fleshing ability. A bull with no fat will produce calves with little fleshing ability. These calves will not finish well and will not make good replacement heifers. On the other hand, bulls carrying excessive fat may suffer reduced fertility if not managed properly prior to the breeding season. In other words, extremely fat (low cutability) bulls and extremely lean (high cutability) bulls are undesirable, regardless of the breeding objectives, moderation is the key. The ration fed influences the amount of fat a bull puts on. Most young bulls do not deposit fat very rapidly, especially if they are fed a high forage diet. As a result, ultrasound measurements should only be compared among animals of similar age that have been fed a similar diet. These comparisons can be made when EPDs are developed for ultrasound traits. Marble Scores: We have provided you with a marble score calculated by ultrasound equipment. Anything above 5 indicates a high possibility of AAA, 4-5 indicates a AA and below 4 indicates A grade. We have printed these numbers because of a number of inquiries, but with reservation. In our opinion, this marble data is exactly that, data. Take a look at it and compare it, but do not give up more valuable traits in order to achieve a AAA grade. We are very cautious about the selection of this trait as we are concerned that it may prove to be antagonistic to performance and lean meat yield. A marble score is highly influenced by environment, management, days on feed, maturity, rations, implants or sex of feeders and these factors can change the marble scores dramatically. For the above reasons, use a common sense approach to your selection process in regards to marble scores.