February 14, 2025

Board Recap: Improving Tools, Long-range Planning, and a Ribeye Area Adjustment

1 hour 3 minutes

As the breed continues to make progress, the American Angus Association Board of Directors meets quarterly to provide direction on projects that will keep the Angus breed on top. This episode covered a lot of ground, including these topics:

Ongoing research in Angus Genetics Inc., from validation studies to ongoing bovine congestive heart failure (BCHF) work
Crafting a data recognition program
Improvements to the GeneMax® test for commercial Angus females
AngusLink℠ success and packer feedback
A ribeye area specification adjustment for Certified Angus Beef (CAB)
Changes to National Junior Angus Show competitions

HOSTS: Miranda Reiman and Mark McCully

GUESTS: Jonathan Perry, chairman of the American Angus Association, has spent much of his life working in the purebred business.

In 1998, he came to manage the Deer Valley Farm's purebred program in Fayetteville, Tenn. As general manager, Perry developed an Angus program that balances all economically relevant traits in cattle that maintain structural soundness and phenotype. Each year, more than 500 bulls are marketed through three sales.

Perry and his wife established the Hickory House restaurant in 2014, and it specializes in serving 100% CAB-branded product.

Roger Wann, Poteau, Okla., was elected to the American Angus Association Board in 2022. He was raised on a multigenerational commercial cow-calf ranch. After the purchase of commercial Angus cows and one Angus bull, the benefits of Angus genetics became clear. After graduating from OSU, he earned a master’s in physiology of reproduction from Texas A&M and began a career with ABS Global, where he helped cattle producers learn the value of efficient reproductive management programs. Wann Ranch hosts an annual production sale.

He served on the board for the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Oklahoma Angus Association and has helped develop its Angus feeder-calf sale.

John Stika, CAB president, leads the American Angus Association’s consumer-facing subsidiary. The brand that is owned by registered Angus breeders and operates to create pull-through demand for Angus cattle has grown to more than 1.234 billion pounds of sales annually under his leadership. He joined CAB in 1999 in feeder-packer relations division, before working in business development and assuming the role of president in 2006. He’s a Kansas farm boy, with degrees in animal and meat science from Kansas State University and the University of Kentucky.