Supplied by Beef + Lamb New Zealand – AngusPRO Magazine 2026
For AngusPRO breeders, the latest results in Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Beef Progeny Test report deliver a clear message; Angus continues to perform strongly, and in several key maternal traits, the breed is showing real strength.
For more than a decade, Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ)’s Beef Progeny Test (BPT) has been building a comprehensive commercial beef dataset. A defining feature of the programme has been the retention of as many commercially viable daughters from maternal Progeny Test sires as possible within the cow herds, allowing maternal traits to be measured across multiple years and calvings.
The most recent report, published at the end of February, focuses on maternal performance for sires involved in both the original Beef Progeny Test and the ongoing INZB across-breed Beef Progeny Test. Together, these results provide insight into how sires have performed over time, and how they’re stacking up in the current across-breed Progeny Test.
Cow size and condition
Across all breeds in the BPT, the average cow weighed 544.4kg, had a body condition score (BCS) of 6.9 and a hip height of 128.5cm.
Two Angus bulls ranked inside the top ten for mature cow weight. While heavier cows may return more when culled, this trait is highly dependent on environment and farm goals, and bigger isn’t always better.
Angus bulls made a stronger impression in body condition. Out of 129 bulls assessed for BCS, nine Angus sires ranked inside the top 20, with three in the top 10, including the #2 and #3 positions. Hip height results followed a similar story, with eight Angus sires among the top 20 sires for this trait.
The report reinforces that body condition score is a highly relevant trait for reproductive success. BCS is moderately heritable, at around 27 percent, meaning there is opportunity to influence a herd’s ability to maintain condition through genetic selection.
The report also notes a modest genetic correlation (25 percent) between cow BCS and rib fat depth measured in young heifers and steers. While sires with higher rib fat EBVs tend to produce daughters with slightly higher BCS, the correlation is not strong enough to consider rib fat depth a good predictor for cow BCS on its own. This means that using fat depth EBVs to improve condition score will add a lot of fat to carcasses relative to the improvement in BCS of cows.
Milk and fertility
Across all breeds, the average pregnancy rate in the BPT was 92 percent, with average days to conception sitting just under 25 days. On both traits, Angus sires performed well.
Of the 97 bulls assessed for pregnancy rate, 30 Angus sires ranked inside the top 50, including nine in the top 10.
Days to conception followed a similar trend: of the 110 sires assessed for this trait, 26 Angus sires ranked inside the top 50, with six appearing in the top 10, including #1 and #3 ranked positions.
The BPT data confirms that both pregnancy rate and days to conception are heritable traits, meaning genetics play an important role. With Angus performing strongly, breeders can be confident that selecting the right sires can improve rebreeding outcomes.
Rebreeding performance
Replacing females after their first successful calving season is the most expensive stage in the lifetime production cycle. Replacement costs are high, and returns from calf weaning up until this point are limited. Greater emphasis on rebreeding ability in two year old rebreeding heifers reduces losses.
Research has shown meaningful sire variation in pregnancy rate (heritability of 12–14%) and days to conception (heritability of 11–21%) in two-year-old heifers, indicating that genetics has a significant impact on the ability of two year olds to rebreed.
These latest results in the Maternal Report underpin the Angus breed’s performance across the full spectrum of commercially important traits. At the same time, the across-breed Beef Progeny Test continues to highlight the valuable variation that exists both within and across breeds, and the opportunities this presents for ongoing genetic improvement.
For more detailed information on specific sires and their rankings in these traits, refer to the full report on B+LNZ’s website: beeflambnz.com
Footnote:
*Days to Conception – 2-year-old Heifer:
Represents the average number of Days to Conception of a sire’s daughters, from the time when the first heifer in the mob conceived and calculated from estimated Foetal Age ultrasound scanning. The trait combines both the ability to get pregnant (which is represented in the Pregnancy Rate trait), with credit for getting pregnant early in the mating period.
Similar concept to the Days to Calving (DTC) trait used in BREEDPLAN and presented in sale catalogues, but does not include variation in gestation length. This trait has been reported for heifers at their second breeding (as a 30-month-old heifer).