Tom Benson Farm & Ranch, Johnson City, Texas, have been recognized nationally by the American Angus Association® for having 2 registered Angus cows included in the Association's 2008 Pathfinder® Report.

Only 2,306 of the more than 36,000 American Angus Association members are represented in this year's report, according to John Crouch, chief executive officer of the Association with headquarters in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

The Pathfinder Program identifies superior Angus cows based upon recorded performance traits that are economically important to efficient beef production. These traits include early and regular calving and heavy weaning weights, reports Bill Bowman, Association director of performance programs. More than 1.6 million eligible dams and more than 5.4 million weaning records were examined to determine Pathfinder status. All registered Angus cows that meet the strict Pathfinder standards are listed, along with their owners, in the Pathfinder Report that is published annually by the Association.

The 2008 Pathfinder Report lists 9,917 individual cows and 273 Pathfinder sires. It is published in the April issue of the Angus Journal, and copies are available from the Association. The reports appear on the Web site at www.angus.org. The largest number of Pathfinder cows from a single herd this year is 94. Started in 1978, the Pathfinder Program continues to recognize outstanding breeders participating in the Angus Herd Improvement Records (AHIR®) Program.