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Directions from Elmdale: One mile East on the paved county road across Cottonwood River bridge to top of the hill. Turn left or north to get to the barn. Watch for the red and white sign to your left.

Mention Mushrush-Beckton Red Angus at check in for special rates from

Grand Central Hotel, Cottonwood Falls (4 star rating) $99...................................... (620)273-6763

Prairie Fire Inn & Spa, Strong City, Kansas, $35 - $40............................................ (620)273-6356

Absentee Bidders: Please contact before the day of the sale at 620-273-8581 so we have adequate time to give you the attention you deserve. Together we can prepare a bidding plan to best accomplish your wishes. Every year more and more customers are buying their genetics this way, with complete satisfaction.

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Explanation of EPDs and data used in catalog

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About the program The cattle you will find listed in this sale catalog are truly among the most genetically superior Red Angus seed stock available anywhere. They come from two programs that are true "family" operations literally spanning decades of experience and dedicated breed improvement. Unlike sales with cattle from multiple sources, you have the opportunity to buy into proven programs dedicated to predictability and consistency. The Beckton and Mushrush programs both utilize line breeding to manifest superior traits within their lines. Not only does this increase predictability of the performance you can expect, it leaves all hybrid vigor kick for you.

At many sales you have the chance to only purchase

an individual, maybe the son of a popular herd sire, with little or no information about the philosophy and selection that went into the other 50% of your genetic purchase, the cow herd. Both Beckton Red Angus and Mushrush Red Angus cow herds are handled under low input commercial type conditions. They are not pampered in any way but are expected to earn their keep as economically as possible. The Beckton cow herd runs on dry foot hills range and high mountain pastures inaccessible to vehicles, and as high as 10,500 feet. The Mushrush cow herd is made of true "range" cows running in large native Flinthills pastures. The Fall calving cows calved in large pastures being checked only once per day.

About the cattle Due to Total Herd Reporting, Red Angus are the most accurately described cattle available in the entire cattle industry. The integrity of Red Angus EPDs cannot be matched by any other breed. Red Angus was first and the only major breed to require that you report what happened to a cow every year. By reporting everything, good and bad, Mushrush and Beckton have increased the reliability of our own data.

Although the only actual weight that must be submitted to register a calf is Weaning Weight, both programs take weights at birth, weaning and yearling. Mature cow weight and Body Condition Score is taken on the cow at weaning. In addition culls are fed out to obtain actual carcass data and all other calves are scanned for carcass merit. All of this improves the accuracy and integrity of our EPDs.

We believe that the cattle in this sale are the most accurately described Red Angus cattle and thus are the most genetically accurately described cattle available anywhere of any breed. Why? We have planned consistent programs. With the use of highly accurate predictable genetics we have methodically guided our program toward our goal which is easy calving, low input heavily muscled cattle. We avoid jumping around to the popular "bull of the month". We do not stack EPDs of low accuracy parents to obtain artificially high numbers in an even lower accuracy offspring. At Beckton the entire 1200 head cow herd is randomly mated to the herd sire battery, thus eliminating any selection bias. Both Beckton and Mushrush herds maintain their cattle in their contemporary groups. Extra time and expense is incurred by keeping contemporary groups intact until after the yearling weights have been made. It makes sense that a high ratio for a trait in a large contemporary group is more meaningful than a high ratio out of a small contemporary group.

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After making a visual appraisal to select those bulls that best fit your unique phenotypic requirements we highly recommend you use EPDs to determine which bulls best fit your production goals. It must be remembered that actual weights and measurements cannot be used to compare individuals across contemporary groups, let alone across herds. A contemporary group is simply a group of calves of same sex and age that have been handled identically. All actual weights, including birth weight, can be affected or even manipulated by environment, feed, age of dam, etc.

For example, we could scan our bulls at 18 months and give you actual REA of impressive size. Does this make these bulls genetically superior? NO.

It is generally accepted that cold weather prior to calving will increase birth weights. Are these cattle

genetically predisposed to higher birth weight? NO.

In the Flint Hills of Kansas, fall calves winter extremely hard. The grass is at its lowest protein (4%) and the weather can be very harsh. On the other hand, spring born calves hit their stride about the time green grass starts growing. They traditionally will have higher weaning weights when compared to the fall born calves using identical genetics. It is normal for our spring born calves to wean 50+ pounds heavier than the Fall born calves. Does this mean our spring born bulls will sire calves with higher weaning weights than our Fall born bulls? NO

It would be misleading for us, or any seedstock provider to promote individuals using actual data.

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Using EPDs -A common misconception is that EPDs will tell us which animal of several being compared is ‘best’. EPDs are merely a description of each animal’s genetic makeup. It is up to us to determine which animal is best for us. What is best for my herd and management situation is not necessarily what is best for your environment, herd composition and management style.

By correctly using EPDs we can each determine which animal best fits our programs, or moves them in a direction we want to go.

For instance, if your herd is of a heavily muscled continental influence, it may not make sense to put emphasis on the REA EPD when selecting your Red Angus bull. Your calves will be inheriting all the Rib Eye size and cutability they need from the dams and you may even be penalized for excessive Rib Eye size on some pricing grids. On the other hand, if your cows are lighter muscled, British type cows, you may want to breed towards more cutability and Rib eye size by selecting a Red Angus bull that has a higher REA EPD. In this scenario, however, it may not make economic sense to pay extra for above average marbling ability if the cow herd itself is adequate in this trait.

The key to using EPDs is knowing what you have, what you need, and making selections accordingly. Another misconception is that EPDs are absolute. Calves from a high accuracy +60 Yearling Weight bull have the genetic potential to weigh 20 pounds more than calves from a high accuracy +40 pound Yearling weight bull at harvest. Whether they express this added weight depends on if the environment or management, including feed availability, allows them to. In many cases it may not be worth the extra costs to express the extra genetic potential.

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Using Maintenance Energy EPD –The ethanol mandate and weak dollar have input costs going through the roof. Fortunately Red Angus users have the tools to select those cattle that require less high priced supplemental feed. With the Red Angus Maintenance Energy EPD (ME) we have a way to measure efficiency. Listed as Mega Cal per month, the ME EPD lets you measure the expected difference in energy required to maintain the daughters of individuals. Select for lower inputs without suppressing production. It’s like having your cake and eating it too!

At Mushrush and Beckton Red Angus highly efficient, low maintenance cattle are not something we have just discovered. We have focused on moderate framed, easy fleshing, easy keeping, and efficient cattle for years. And the cattle still have the post weaning gain and growth to quickly finish at 1250-1300 pounds. Both programs have been weighing cows and assigning Body Condition Scores at weaning. Beckton has taken them for many years while Mushrush began several years ago. By contributing this data we are insuring that our EPD for Maintenance Energy has as much accuracy as possible. The bulls in this sale average in the top 20% of the breed for both maintenance energy EPD and Calving Ease Direct EPD while maintaining above average growth.

Environment does affect raw data and this year it has been with ice, snow, mud and rain in Kansas.