Redgate aims to breed Herefords to the highest standard
and to achieve significant genetic gains
with every generation of calves.
The Redgate herd is a relatively small herd simply because the primary focus of our business is producing and selling semen & embryos. We breed the best possible animals we can and then select the ‘best of the best’ for semen & embryo production.
Our cattle are raised solely on natural grasses and pasture hay. Mineral & vitamin blocks are always available to stock to ensure their good health and condition. Our herd is carefully managed at all times for soundness, structure, temperament & overall consistent performance.
We are sincerely grateful for the impartial, constructive advice and guidance of our Stud Adviser, Ian Watson, formerly of Injemira Beef Genetics.
At Redgate, Breedplan is used as a benchmark. Benchmarking with $Indexes & EBVs enables us to rank our animals amongst themselves and against other herds in the database.
$Indexes are a simple and convenient starting place to benchmark our cattle and plan our breeding program. These Indexes are weighted averages of relevant EBV’s to meet the needs of defined markets - supermarket, grass fed, grain fed & EU. At some point of time all our cattle (or their progeny) are in the ‘food supply chain’ and are measurable against one or more of the $Indexes.
At Redgate all four $Indexes are taken into consideration. Our initial selections are refined by reference to specific EBV’s and the physical attributes we want in our cattle which must always be true to ‘Hereford type’.
EBV’s as raw numbers, can be overwhelming. These numbers however are simply a means to an end, namely placing animals in groups (‘percentiles’).
The current percentile bands are available on the HAL website.
The greatest number of animals are, statistically, around ‘breed average’ [50%] and the numbers drop off as the EBVs move away from ‘average’ either higher [towards top 1%] or lower [towards 99%]. Once again in statistical terminology, it is a classic ‘bell curve’ graph.
It is most important to know in which group or percentile an animal belongs. For example, there will be relatively few animals in the top 5% band for any EBV or the [bottom] 95% band, whereas there will be a vast number around 50% or breed average.
Remember – EBV’s are a benchmark for an animal’s genetic code; its code is inherited in part from each parent and should be passed on, in part, to its progeny.
Joining two high/positive value EBV animals should result in a high/positive EBV calf.
EBV graphs (in Breedplan) are very helpful because EBVs are grouped by colours and descriptions (eg easier, harder etc.) are used that put meaning into what is otherwise a whole sea of EBV/EPD numbers. The graphs clearly show the percentile groups.
Breedplan does not guarantee success.
Redgate has had good results and disappointing ones – we just keep trying to achieve our aim. All weight, scan & other data is submitted to Breedplan no matter what, so the resulting EBV’s for Redgate cattle are as complete, reliable and useful as possible.
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When assessing the genetic merit of overseas bred animals positioning these animals in percentile bands and closely studying the EBV/EPD graphs gives a reasonable measure of their genetic characteristics. This is the only reliable method (according to advice from ABRI) in the absence of international genetic linkage data. New Zealand is the one exception to this.
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Redgate genetics – ‘opening new opportunities’.