With the first matings at the Sheek Ranch, Cabool, Missouri, in the spring of 1997, the American Simmental Association launched a program that would eventually change the direction and collective futures of all producers and users of Simmental Genetics.  Then simply known as the Carcass Merit Project, the top sires of the Simmental and Simbrah breeds were randomly mated to commercial females with the plan to collect difficult to get progeny sire group carcass information and sometimes tenderness data. CMP is now entering its 15th breeding season. In addition to information about carcass traits, this program contributes well over 1,000 birth, weaning and yearling weights, and calving ease scores each year and nearly 4,000 shear force records have been collected. Another more recent addition to the CMP has been the inclusion of intake and feed conversion data collection at the University of Illinois on nearly 2,000 sire-identified steers.

These data collected also have allowed the ASA to amass substantial information for benchmarking so that performance and value expectations can be conveyed to current and potential customers of our members. From providing confidence regarding levels of calving assistance, all the way to predicting end product value for those wishing to be profitable in the feeding business, ASA can reliably estimate the performance of their genetic products due in part to the information collected on SimGenetic sires tested in these “real world” commercial situations. To date, data have been collected on individuals from 41 different commercial herds in 18 states with steers fed and harvested in nearly every cattle feeding region of the US.  In fact, end product data collected in this sire evaluation program led directly to the specifications developed for the 7070 beef marketing grid (www.simmental.org).

Carcass Merit Sire Evaluation Program

You may ask yourself, who pays for all this? Bull owners commit thousands of dollars each year to get an unbiased evaluation for the next generation of genetically influential young candidate sires. This information is important for all SimGenetic users as it builds significant accuracy for economically important EPDs and assists in the early screening for bulls that possess unique levels of trait differential and thus provide maximum selection leverage.  The sires listed in this Directory which have been, or are currently being, evaluated through the Carcass Merit Program, are identified with the CMP logo.

Sires are tested in “real world” commercial situations. Data is collected from 41 different herds in 18 states with steers fed and harvested in nearly every cattle feeding region in the U.S.

For more information, contact the American Simmental Association

Phone: 406-587-4531

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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