Do Crossbred Calves Qualify for Breed Specific Branded Beef Programs?

Bob Weaber (Kansas State University): The idea of branded beef programs typically has a variety of requirements in terms of either portion of breed composition or phenotypic traits in terms of carcass merit, carcass quality, as well as coat color, or hide color. Most of the branded beef programs do have enough flexibility that so long as you can produce an animal that meets the phenotypic specifications, you can get those animals qualified. So, for instance, a program like Certified Angus Beef has a black coat color requirement as well as carcass and marbling requirements. So, we can combine animals that may be half or three-quarter Angus that easily fit into those specification programs and help us leverage a crossbreeding system on the cow side that lets us leverage maternal heterosis but still produces calves that qualify for these value-added programs.