Tucker, I looked at the angus data, WOW. Those are some high performing bulls and the owners have some good things to offer potential buyers. Hereford data at the yards was good too. I didn't look at the Charolais since there wasn't much of an offering to choose from. Sorry you didn't like the cattle that were representing Shorthorn genetics in the yards. As I look at where my program is going, it is becoming more and more obvious that high out put cattle tend to be high input cattle. In the future, beef production, in my opinion will hinge on cattle that convert efficiently, rapidly, and have retained daughters in the herd that require little assitance to maintain body condition. Steers that cannot convert under 6:1 feed to gain will be un-profitable to owners and yard managers as long as we continue with $6.50 corn. Steers that grow like weeds, but are not choice or above until they reach 1,450 pounds will be tough to make a buck on even if they are yeild grade 1's. Our steers from last year did really well, and converted gain $.10 under the yard average. With high cost inputs, those traits will be sought after. The fun thing about the cattle business is that we run cattle on anything we can't farm due to moisture, soil condition etc. With that being said, it is obvous that cattle must be adept to their surrondings. We use the kind of animal that fits our environment. You don't see many santa gertudis in Canada and you don't see many scottish highlanders in south Texas. Didn't mean to ramble, but we should all realize that there is no perfect animal to fit all needs.