Simmental and Angus breeds on upwards trajectory

SimmentalBeef breed primary registrations increased by 4.5 percent to 147,293 in 2018 compared to 140,898 in 2017.

The Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association statistics have recorded the number of primary and secondary registrations for 36 beef breed associations over a 33 year period.

Table1; Change in Primary Registrations from 2107 to 2018

Breed

2017

2018

Change %

Angus

40,999

48,085

+17.2

Hereford

19,762

19,704

‐0.03

Wagyu

11,786

11,799

+0.01

Brahman

12,152

10,068

‐17.1

Droughtmaster

8,708

8,778

+0.08

Charolais

7,639

7,935

+1.04

Santa Gertrudis

5,591

6,382

+14.2

Limousin

6,170

6,070

‐0.16

Shorthorn

5,614

5,388

‐0.41

Simmental

4,353

5,117

+17.6

Stand out breeds in 2018 were the Simmental and Angus breeds with increases of 17.6 percent and 17.2 percent respectively for primary registrations.

The Angus breed increase of 17.2 percent follows a fall of 9.1 percent in 2017 so continues their steady trend of increasing market share.

The Tropical breeds had contrasting results in 2018 with the Brahman breed down by 17.1 percent but Santa Gertrudis increasing their primary registrations by 14.2 percent.

Droughtmasters were steady with a small increase of 70 registrations in 2018 compared to 2017.

For the European breeds, Charolais led the way with a 1.0 percent increase to 7,935 registrations up by one percent with Limousin showing a small decline of 0.2 percent to 6,070 registrations.

While Wagyu primary registrations were steady at 11,799, they advanced to fourth place for primary registrations passing the Brahman breed.

Year on year the British breeds increase their share of primary registrations from 53.4 percent to 55.7 percent largely due to the big increase in Angus Primary registrations but the Tropical breed share dropped from 23.4 percent tp 21.5 percent.

The European market share held steady at 14.1 percent.

Secondary registrations include animals that are bred for seedstock production and recorded by a beef breed society but excluding animals entered in the Society’s Herdbook.

An example is the Angus Performance Register which records non Herdbook animals included in the Angus Breedplan analysis.

There are other less formal registers which include the progeny of registered parents which can be performance recorded and contribute to seedstock production.

Table 2; Primary and Secondary Registrations in 2018

Breed

Primary Registrations

Secondary Registrations

Total

Angus

48,085

24,713

72,798

Brahman

10,068

15,350

25,418

Hereford

19,704

3,442

23,146

Santa Gertrudis

6,382

11,517

17,899

Wagyu

11,799

717

12,516

Droughtmaster

8,778

3,189

11,967

Charolais

7,935

633

8,568

Limousin

6,070

460

6,530

Shorthorn

5,388

680

6,068

Simmental

5,117

378

5,495

The Angus breed recorded the most secondary registrations to record a total of 72,793 primary and secondary registrations.

With 15,350 secondary registrations Brahman stepped up to second place for combined registrations with Herefords ranked third with a total of 23,143 combined registrations followed by Santa Gertrudis with a combined total of 17,899 registrations.