Influence of the Brahman Breed in Beef Calf Lots Marketed through Summer Video Auctions from 1995 through 2015

The objective was to characterize the potential change in the percentage of lots of beef calves with Brahman influence among calves originating from various regions of the United States marketed through summer video auctions from 1995 through 2015. Data were available on 80,574 lots (9,685,247 total calves) of beef calves marketed through 171 summer video auctions. Lots of beef calves were categorized as English, English crosses (EX), English-Continental crosses (ECX), or Brahman influenced (BR). The Northeast region (CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, and VT) was excluded from this study due to few lots representing this region. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to determine the presence of an increasing or decreasing trend in the percentage of lots with Brahman influence over time with a P-value ≤ 0.05 considered significant. There was a decrease (P < 0.0001) in percentage of lots with Brahman influence in the United States during the 21 years. Percentage of lots with Brahman influence decreased (P < 0.0001) in four regions: West Coast (CA, ID, NV, OR, UT, and WA), Rocky Mountain/North Central (CO, IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MT, ND, NE, SD, WI, and WY), South Central (AZ, KS, MO, NM, and OK), and Texas (TX). There was no change (P = 0.30; P = 0.07, respectively) in percentage of lots with Brahman influence originating from the Coastal (AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, and SC) and Sub-coastal regions (AR, KY, NC, TN, VA, and WV). Of the 80,574 lots marketed via summer video auctions from 1995 through 2015, 68,870 lots sold. Of the sold lots, BR lots had average price discounts of $9.44 and $6.81/100 kg BW when compared with EX and ECX lots, respectively. Over the 21 years, the smallest discount of BR lots compared with EX lots was in 1996 at $4.25/100 kg BW and when compared with ECX lots, in 1997 at $3.20/100 kg BW. The greatest price discount of BR lots was in 2014 at $15.43 and $11.27/100 kg BW compared with EX and ECX lots, respectively. The percentage of lots of beef calves with Brahman influence marketed via summer video auctions appears to be decreasing in the United States. However, it has remained unchanged in the Coastal and Sub-coastal regions where Brahman influenced calves are adapted to the warmer, more humid climates.