Red Angus are above the industry average for tenderness. Since switching to Igenity Beef® as the association’s main commercial DNA panel in July 2024, almost 900 Red Angus cattle have been tested. Tenderness is an important consumer-level trait that is reported on each animal tested, and, overall, Red Angus looks very good. Keep in mind that tender beef most often equals a happy customer who comes back to buy more.

The average score on Igenity Beef’s 1-10 scale (10 being the most genetically tender) for this sizable group of Red Angus is 6.8 out of 10. According to Neogen, the average industry is 5.5, giving Red Angus a 1.3-point or 23% advantage. Thus, the indication from this data is that Red Angus has a meaningful advantage in tenderness.

More perspective from the data says 28.5% of all Red Angus animals tested scored high with an 8, 9 or 10, while only 16.6% scored a 3 or 4. None scored lower than 3. Genetic tenderness clearly leans in a favorable direction within the Red Angus gene pool.

Commercial producers testing their replacement heifer candidates may want to keep an eye on tenderness results and continue to eliminate low-scoring animals when possible. Red Angus has many genetically tender cattle, which means maintaining the breed’s advantage, or improving it further, should not be too difficult in the future.