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West Central Iowa | Claw and angle scoring and their EPDs are a little more confusing than the typical EPDs.
The optimum score for angle or claw from the association charts is a 5 (range of 1-9). If a sire's offspring always have a score of 5 for angle, they would have an EPD at or near the +.30 range (top 1% of the breed). If a sire's offspring always have a score of 1 (or 9) for angle, their EPD would increase and be near or exceed +.60 (worst 10% of the breed). The 50th percentile for angle EPDs in the Angus breed is +.48.
As claw and angle scores deviate from ideal, the EPD gets higher. The challenging part is you may not know why. If angle scores of 3 or 7 are submitted, the EPD will increase, but you don't know if it is because the angle was too shallow or too steep. Looking at the sire's picture may help you make an educated guess, but there will be no definitive place to verify.
All you can do is choose bulls with lower EPDs in hopes to achieve the "optimum". If you have a group of cows with angle scores of 9 (shallow), and you think you will fix it by breeding them to a bull that has a score of 1 (steep), I guess it would be possible to minimize the expression of your phenotypical problem, but your angle EPDs would never decrease on paper. That is because the shallow angled cows will have a high (undesirable) EPD, and the steep angled sire will have a high (undesirable) EPD. If that mating creates offspring with better angle than the parents and you submit data, then there EPDs could decrease over time.
In your case bull 2 has better feet than bull 3. How much better.....that may be in the eye of the beholder. Clear as mud.....right?
Edited by RCD 12/13/2025 10:29
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Bull EPDs
