There are some breed differences in propensity to grade in the upper two-thirds of USDA Choice among cattle that are fed alike. British breeds such as Angus, Red Angus, Shorthorn, and Hereford do tend to have higher levels of marbling than Charolais, Simmental, Gelbvieh, and Limousin and as a result will produce more cattle that have higher quality grades. Generally, cattle are not fed long enough in the United States to produce but a small percent of cattle in the USDA Prime grade because the result is often for such Prime cattle to be very costly to feed and to have excess trim fat. The export market (Japan, Taiwan, Korea) is the primary market for cattle in the USDA Prime grade. Comparative data on breeds of cattle can be found at the Web site for the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at www.marc.usda.gov. Click on “online information” and then “Germplasm Evaluation Program Progress Reports” to review recent research on various breeds.