The Te Mania Angus herd has been performance recorded with Breedplan, since its inception in Australia in 1971. Today, performance recording is the backbone of the breeding strategy and management program at Te Mania Angus.
Te Mania Angus has dominated the breed’s EBVs for many years – with more than twice as many Angus Group Breedplan trait leaders as any other stud.
Adding to that success is Te Mania Angus’ insistence all sale bulls are stringently – and independently – assessed for structure. With the results published alongside each bull in all sale catalogues.
Te Mania Angus can deliver calving ease and be commercially profitable with the fast-growing, high-marbling bulls wanted by the feedlot industry, processors, and, most crucially, consumers.
Te Mania Angus has been going to great lengths – lengths above and beyond that expected by the rest of the industry – to further improve that accuracy.
This is done in many ways, such as keeping animals together in large contemporary groups to achieve more effective progeny in each group which can then be compared in one environment.
The phenotype (what you see) is made up of the genotype (inherited factors) plus the environment (all other factors). If we put animals in large groups where the environment is the same, then we can compare genotypes.
Te Mania Angus also progeny tests a significant cast of sires each year – both on-property and through the Team Te Mania commercial progeny test herds.
Sires such as Te Mania Garth G67, Emporer E343, Berkley B1 and Tuwharetoa Regent D145 have been progeny tested and provent through the Team Te Mania herds, which span SA, Victoria, NSW and Qld.
These progeny test herds contribute valuable information on sires, which further increases the accuracy of the of the sale bulls, through the sire line. While this is a time consuming and expensive program, Te Mania Angus remains committed to this principle – and its success is clearly reflected in Breedplan and in demand from major feedlots for Te Mania Angus blood steers.
As we all well know, EBVs can change as more information comes to light, because EBVs are estimates of the animal’s genotype. The more information made available, the more accurate the estimates and the reason why an EBV may change.
In our breeding program these short generation interval, high accuracy animals also give us the opportunity to make faster genetic gain, therefore improve our herd and the herds of our clients at an ever-accelerating rate. It also means we can use more of our own-bred sires, which we practically know much more about.
With this extra accuracy we can make more specific breeding decisions than the rest of the industry, for example keeping a lid on birth weight.
Te Mania Angus offer low birthweight bulls while pushing growth hard, and keeping mature size at a viable limit. We can also do this while boosting marbling and other important carcase traits. At the same time, this genetic progress is run in tandem with Te Mania Angus’ focus on structure.
The stud is continually expanding its structural assessment program to optimise soundness and performance in its stock. The program involves an independent assessor from BEEFXCEL analysing the structural composition of the herd on an individual basis. The program comprises of an annual assessment of all sale bulls, an annual assessment of all breeding females and donor cows, with any animals deemed inadequate immediately culled.
