Penn State Agriculture Magazine

Fall 2003

Cash and Nichols—both Penn State football fans—named that bull calf “PS Power Play” in honor of the running game that had become one of the hallmarks of the Nittany Lions. “We knew we had some good cattle, and we wanted to tie the names to something that had a winning tradition,” Cash recalls.

P.S. Power Play, the famous bull behind the tradition of Angus breeding at Penn State, was born in 1972. His mark on the breed was unprecedented. It has been estimated that 20 percent of the world's black Angus cattle count him as an ancestor.

Just two years later, Power Play was the supreme champion at the All-American Angus Futurity, a national show that determines the finest examples of the breed. Over the next 20 years or so, sales of Power Play’s semen earned more than $2 million. Penn State collected one-sixth of that, because the University had sold interests in the bull to private breeders to raise funds.

As a sire, Power Play’s mark on the breed was unprecedented. “He doesn’t show up on many pedigrees today, but his grandsons do,” says Cash. “Power Play’s semen was shipped around the world, to places like Australia, Argentina, and New Zealand. Perhaps 20 percent of the world’s purebred black Angus cattle count Power Play as an ancestor. He excelled in performance at a time when breeders were looking for animals free of genetic defects—and he was proven free of defects.”

A year before Power Play made his international debut, a Penn State Angus heifer named PS Princess 117 was selected as the Supreme Champion at the 1978 All-American Angus Futurity. “It was highly unusual for a heifer to be named the supreme champion,” Cash says. “The stage was set. Here you had a university with the best Angus animals two years in a row.”

That era marked the pinnacle for Angus breeding at Penn State. A Penn State production sale of Angus cattle in late 1979 grossed $150,000. The University also sold a two-thirds interest in another renowned bull, named PS Sasquatch, for $30,000. But private breeders and companies quickly took over the high ground in the world of Angus breeding.

“As a public institution, we just didn’t have the funds to keep up with the private sector and industry,” Cash says. “Our emphasis shifted to research—and properly so.”

Back to basics
At the heart of current Penn State beef research is John Comerford, the college’s beef cattle coordinator, who has been doing research on Angus genetics for more than a decade. Comerford and his associates record growth traits such as weights at birth, weaning, yearling, and maturity; carcass traits such as lean yield, marbling, and fat content; and reproductive traits such as the age when a female reaches puberty, whether she becomes pregnant each year, and which sires produce females that calve easily.

John Comerford, the college's beef cattle coordinator, recently completed a five-year research project evaluating the effects of a feeding system to enhance carcass quality.

Most recent beef cattle research in the United States has focused on genetics to produce “better” animals, but Comerford expanded his research to discover how variations in feeding and handling helps superior animals reach their genetic potential.

It starts with determining which bulls are likely to produce offspring with greater marbling than others. “When we breed cows with high-marbling genetics to bulls with high-marbling genetics, we get calves with high-marbling genetics—but then we must find the management system that will allow those genes to be expressed in an economical way,” he says. “Genetics for high-quality beef are desirable, but to be truly successful in the business, producers must be concerned with feeding, health, and all the other factors that allow beef production to be profitable. Great management and handling can’t make a poorer genetic animal acceptable, but it can help producers get the most value for the higher-quality genetic animal.”

Pennsylvania’s agricultural infrastructure and proximity to major population centers give the state’s 15,000 beef producers—with approximately 200,000 cattle—an advantage in providing animals to the nation’s largest consumer markets.

But producers must pay close attention to genetics, feeding, and handling to capitalize on these advantages, because beef produced in the state is mostly sent to markets that demand the highest quality. “Our beef goes to white-tablecloth restaurants, high-quality food services, and the Kosher trade,” Comerford notes. “Those are close by in the Northeast, and Pennsylvania producers are uniquely positioned to serve them. Outlets are plentiful, and there are many meat-packing plants for the eastern population.”

High marbling—intramuscular fat that gives meat a higher quality grade—is a carcass trait that affects “juiciness” and flavor. “The higher the carcass scores for marbling, the more pleasant the eating experience,” Comerford explains. “That’s what it’s all about for the consumer. For the producer, it’s all about economics. Farmers aren’t in the cattle business, they’re in the food business. They must look at things like feed ingredients, veterinary care, marketing, animal selection, and handling—all things that the farmer has control over.”

Comerford recently completed a five-year research project evaluating the effects of a feeding system to enhance carcass quality. “Using the same feeding regimen, we were able to compare the ultimate carcass qualities in genetically superior versus genetically inferior animals,” he says.

Penn State | College of Agricultural Sciences | ICT

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