Maternal Merit

Engineered by ABBA’s research and breed improvement committee, the Maternal Merit Award identifies superior cows based on performance in the Brahman Herd Improvement Records (BHIR) program. This award identifies females that have an early onset of puberty, a regular calving interval and consistently produce offspring that perform above average.

On official ABBA registration papers, an “=” ahead of a cow’s name represents the Maternal Merit designation.

Award Requirements:

— Calved before her 24th or 36th month of age

— Had three calves with performance records, each having been raised with three or more contemporaries

— Maintain a regular calving interval

— Maintain a MPPA (Most Probable Producing Ability) of 101 or better, which is used to compare cows with a different number of offspring

There are three levels of excellence for the Maternal Merit Award, rewarding cows for high levels of production efficiency.

Maternal Performance Sire

The Maternal Performance Sire program recognizes sires that have produced Maternal Merit Cows.

On official ABBA registration papers, a “A =” ahead of a sire’s name represents the Maternal Performance Sire.

There are two levels of excellence.

Register of Renown

Designed to recognize the sires and dams of showring winners at ABBA-approved shows, Register of Renown points are accumulated beginning January 1 through December 31 of each year. 

On official ABBA registration papers, a “+” in front of a name identifies a Register of Renown.

Award Requirements:

— To obtain the status of Register of Renown, a cow must achieve a minimum of 75 points earned by two or more of her produce. 

— Bulls must gain 200 points earned by five or more of his get.

— Points may also be gained when a get-of-sire or produce-of-dam are exhibited by one or more owners.

Points are awarded on the following criteria:

Individual Classes

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Champions

The senior, reserve senior, junior, reserve junior, intermediate, reserve intermediate, calf and reserve calf champion of each sex division will receive at least as many points as any individual in their sex division.

The grand and reserve grand champion of each sex division shall receive at least as many points as any individual in their sex division. If necessary, points will be added to the points a champion won in its individual class to give it this subtotal.

In addition, the champion of each sex division shall receive points above and beyond those already described on the following basis:

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Get of Sire Class

A sire will be given points for class winners on the following basis.

— First place will receive one point for each entry shown in the class

— Second place, one point less

— Third place, one point less than second place

— And so on until the last place entry receives one point

Produce of Dam Class (Both Natural and Embryo)

A dam will be given points for winners in this class on the following basis.

— First place will receive one point for each entry shown in the class

— Second place one point less

— Third place one point less than second

— And so on until the last place entry receives one point

Vanguard Designation

To recognize the very elite Brahman sires and cows that quality for both Register of Renown and Maternal Merit awards, ABBA created the Vanguard program. There are only a select few animals that achieve this high level of performance.

On official ABBA registration papers, a Vanguard Sire is identified with “(+)” ahead of his name. For Vanguard Cows, they will have a “$” before their registered name.