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DIXIE ERICA OF CH 1019 -Calved February 19, 1981.H 96 BLACK BELLE 442 -Calved January 14, 1982.Black Grove Longevity IndexAt Black Grove we continue to believe fundamentals survive fads. We try to take a long-termapproach to our breeding program. We believe the Angus cow is the most efficient and productive manufacturingplant in the cattle industry. We are concerned with the trend towards statistical selection based onindividual breeder reported contemporary group data and terminal trait characteristics to the exclusion ofor regard for the functionality of the Angus cow. While we use the multiple trait selection tools offered bythe Association, we also focus on breeding and selecting functional, low input cattle.After years of study, we have determined the best measure of functionality is longevity (a traitnot presently measured by the Association). We believe logic dictates that cows who live a long timewould have been culled if they were not functionally sound. If a cow did not have good feet, good teeth,good udder and teats, milk well or maintain her fleshing ability, remain fertile and productive, she wouldhave been culled. It is also logical to assume these cattle will be easy fleshing, low input and low maintenancecattle which will reduce our annual operating cost. If we can breed cattle that live for 12-15 years,we will dramatically reduce our turnover in the cow herd and the huge capital cost of raising replacementheifers.To that end, we have developed a new longevity trait selection index which allows us to identifyanimals which should have a higher probability of living longer. The result is less turnover of productivefemales (our factories), lower capital investment in replacement heifers, and therefore, higher profitabilityand improved return on investment. We believe longevity/functionality is one of the most important selectiontraits for any commercial or registered cow-calf operation.To come up with the score that we used to determine a cow’s longevity, we sent letters to thelast owners of the cow’s mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers and asked if they are still aliveand if not, when they died. In case their owners did not know, we asked for written permission to accessthe American Angus Association records, to see when their last registered calf was born. (The Associationwould not provide information without written authorization from one of the owners.) We devised aformula (available on request) to calculate a weighted average of the lifespan of the cows in our subjectcow’s pedigree going back three generations. We only used cows in our calculations that were born before2005. The numbers we came up with fall into one of the following six categories.AAR DONNA 1853 -Calved March 16, 1983.Cows with a pedigree average of 6.9 or less = no starsCows with a pedigree average of 7-8.9 = 1 starCows with a pedigree average of 9-10.9 = 2 starsCows with a pedigree average of 11-12.9 = 3 starsCows with a pedigree average of 13-14.9 = 4 starsCows with a pedigree average of 15 or higher = 5 starsSITZ EVERELDA ENTENSE 1905 -Calved March 8, 1985.VDAR POLLY 215 -Calved January 6, 1989.Each cow that we know is still alive in a pedigree, but is over 9 years old presents a challengefor our formula. We solved this by adding a + symbol to the stars, to indicate that the value could go up asthe cow’s mothers or grandmothers continue to produce cows. (Cows in the pedigree born after 2005 arenot considered in any part of this formula.) For example: A cow with a score of 11 and a mother or grandmotherthat is 9 years old or older and still alive would get a score of +. A cow with the same score of11, but with all of its ancestors that were born before 2005 having died would get a score of .We also came up with an accuracy rating for each of the cows. This was necessary because wewere not able to obtain permission to look at the records of all of the cows in our family tree, and someof our cows have mothers and even grandmothers that were not born before 2005, and therefore are notconsidered in this formula. If we were able to obtain the information on all of the cows in the pedigree,and they were all born before 2005, the cow would get an accuracy rating of 100%. For each great-grandmothernot included in the calculations, the accuracy drops 8%. For each grandmother not included inthe calculations, the accuracy drops by 16%, and if the mother is not old enough to be included in thecalculations, the accuracy drops by 33%. To qualify for a rating, an animal cannot be missing informationon more than two ancestors.We believe that star indexing the scores will provide breeders with an easy, comparative, analyticaltool to evaluate relative probability for longevity and functionality. If you have any questions, pleasefeel free to contact us at (803) 276-9385.GDAR FOREVER LADY 98 -Calved February 12, 1989.LEACHMAN ERICA 0025 -Calved February 6, 1990.BASIN ENCHANTRESS D14A -Calved March 27, 1991.IDEAL 4465 OF 6807 4286 -Calved February 28, 1994.