Trends in Percentage of Beef Calf Lots Sired By Single Sire Breeds and Marketed Via Video Auction from 2010 through July 14, 2017

The objective was to characterize the potential change in the percentage of lots of beef calves sired by a single breed and marketed via video auction from 2010 through July 14, 2017. Data were available on 29,535 lots of beef calves marketed through 178 video auctions through Superior Livestock Auction from 2010 through July 14, 2017. The sire breed of a lot was determined based on lot description information provided by the seller and sales representative. For a lot of beef calves to be included in a sire breed category, all calves in a lot must have been sired by a single breed. A minimum of 50 lots of beef calves were required for a single sire breed to be included in the analysis. The single sire breed categories included in this analysis were Angus, Brangus, Charolais, Hereford, Red Angus, and SimAngus. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to determine the presence of an increasing or decreasing trend in the percentage of lots sired by Angus, Brangus, Charolais, Hereford, Red Angus, and SimAngus bulls over time with P ≤ 0.05 considered significant. Calf lots originating from the northeast region of the US (CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, and VT) were excluded from this study due to few lots marketed from the region. The percentage of lots of beef calves sired by Angus bulls decreased (P < 0.0001) from 2010 through July 14, 2017. Angus-sired lots, however, comprised the greatest percentage of single-sired lots marketed, ranging from 70 to 82% across all years. The percentage of lots of beef calves sired by Brangus, Charolais, Red Angus, and SimAngus bulls increased (P < 0.001) from 2010 to 2017. Red Angus was the second largest single sire breed represented, siring 12.4% of beef calf lots marketed in 2017. The percentage of lots of beef calves sired by Hereford bulls did not change (P = 0.16). While the Angus breed comprised the greatest percentage of calf lots marketed, there appears to be a recent shift in sire breed selection by producers marketing calves via video auction.