ABSTRACT
The implementation of the new performance concept by most breed associations should mark a new era for rapid genetic improvement in beef cattle for both the purebred and the commercial industry. The importance of sire evaluation as a genetic tool is directly correlated to how well it is understood and subsequently utilized by the beef cattle producers, both registered and commercial. Beef cattle performance testing was conceived in the early 1950s, born in the mid-1950s, had several postnatal setbacks but was weaned in the mid-1960s, had a long postweaning period before approaching maturity in the late 1970s. The Sire Summaries produced by breed associations have, as their audience, three distinct segments—the within-breed seedstock sector, the commercial industry that utilizes multibreed bulls, and the group known as advisors, consultants, or legitimizers. To put beef cattle sire evaluation in proper perspective, let's briefly compare it with the dairy industry's similar program.
