Grading Up
The British White Cattle Association of America, in an endeavor to provide individual breeders with a means of better serving their customers within certain geographical areas, and as an economical method for new breeders to build a registered herd offers a grading up program.
Half-Blood
An animal registered with the BWCAA at any level higher than Three-Quarter Blood when crossed with a commercial or other non BWCAA registered animal will produce a half-blood. Also percentages are always rounded down so that a 3/4 bred to a 1/2 will produce 1/2 blood progeny. Exception, a half blood bull must have a registered pedigree on both his sire’s and dam’s side with one being a British White
Three-Quarter
An animal registered with the BWCAA at any level higher than Three Quarter Blood when crossed with a BWCAA registered Half Blood will produce a Three Quarter Blood.
Purebred
To be designated as a BWCAA registered purebred the animal must be seven-eighths blood (7/8) or higher. An animal registered with the BWCAA at any level higher than Three Quarter Blood when bred to a Three Quarter Blood or another animal that is also registered with the BWCAA at a higher level than Three Quarter Blood will produce Purebred Progeny. Purebred animals will be further graded or classified based on their number of complete generations of purebred ancestry recorded in the BWCAA herd book. An animal with five or more complete generations of purebred ancestry will be recognized as American Fullblood.
Animals previously qualified as “American Fullblood” with less than five generations of purebred ancestry are grandfathered in and recorded as American Fullblood (GF). For grading up purposes they will be considered the same as if they had five generations of purebred ancestry.
Animals previously qualified as “AAA Purebred” with less than four generations of purebred ancestry are grandfathered in and recorded as AAA Purebred (GF). For grading up purposes they will be considered the same as if they had four generations of purebred ancestry.
Animals previously qualified as “AA Purebred” with less than three generations of purebred ancestry are grandfathered in and recorded as AA Purebred (GF). For grading up purposes they will be considered the same as if they had three generations of purebred ancestry.
Any progeny that move up in grade due to their sire or dam being grandfathered in will also be designated as GF.
Recommendations for an American Fullblood
Preferred Animal will be Standard Marked (White body with black or red points, including black ears, eyes, nose, feet, legs and teats) and have no scurs (defined as a horn like growth fastened only to the skin and not attached to the skull, an animal that has had scurs removed is considered to have been horned and is not eligible for registration).
It is highly recommended that all American Fullblood animals and their parents have a DNA profile on record with the BWCAA office. DNA is required on all A.I. sires, Embryo sires, Donor dams and progeny resulting from embryo transfer (E.T.). Parentage confirmation by DNA will enhance the value of any registered animal. You should remember if a DNA test is not done prior to an animals death and no material is available for DNA testing after death then that animals progeny can never be parentage confirmed by DNA testing and may be considered less valuable.
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