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Choosing bulls ?
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Jim
Posted 1/28/2015 18:59 (#4345559 - in reply to #4343795)
Subject: RE: Choosing bulls ?


Driftless SW Wisconsin

I purchase a single registered Hereford bull every couple years from the same breeder. So I'm not a big bull customer but on the other hand my occasional bull is 50% of the genetics of my herd for a few years. I retain almost every heifer calf to increase my brood cow herd.

So the one registered bull I do buy every couple years is extremely important to the future of my cattle operation. I need a bull who is a cow maker but also sires steers that grow and do it mostly on grass. My bull also needs to be a smaller frame size as I try to reduce my average mature cow size to around 1200 lb.

I start with going through the extensive EPD data provided by my Hereford bull supplier prior to his sale. Calving Ease Direct epd (CED) is my first criteria. I want a calving ease bull or nothing else much matters.  My cows need to be able to calve on their own in the pasture. Second criteria is scrotal circumference. This is fertility. Then I look at maternal calving ease, growth, milk, mature cow size, rib eye area and marbling...

EPDs can get very confusing and get you going in circles. I find the AHA bar charts to be very helpful to compare different bulls.  Narrowing the list to a few that look good EPD wise then it is time to look at the bulls physically. I am still learning here but am getting better.

I stress the EPD graph approach because most of the traits that are important to me are not very obvious looking at a bull in a ring. I am no where near an expert in bull selection but am getting better.

Here is my current bull's EPD graph.  Since AHA updates their EPDs  a couple times a year as new data comes in, my bull's EPDs have been getting better in the directions that I want them even though I don't report measurements on the calves that I do register. CED is extremely good.  Some folks say EPDs don't mean anything with low accuracy numbers.  My bull's calves on the ground this year seem to reinforce his CED and growth EPDs.

I think these graphs are very helpful in choosing a couple candidates at a sale. Then go with conformation.  Conformation without EPDs is not very useful when trying to build a herd, imho.

Jim



Edited by Jim 1/28/2015 19:13
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