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East Central Ia | There are several important factors that should be considered when selecting a bull to sire replacement females. A bull makes a lasting contribution to the herd (good or bad), since the quickest way to change the genetics of a herd is through sire selection. If I buy a bull from someone else’s herd, I try to do as much research as possible, using the internet and checking production records on the cow and grandam, etc. I want to see the animals also. These bloodlines have worked very well for their breeding program. There may be a generation or two of something else in there, so it’s not quite line breeding, but I do like to use proven cow families, When looking at the dam of a potential sire, in some ways it can be easier to evaluate her critically if she’s an older cow rather than a 2 or 3 year old. Then you get a better idea about how her udder, feet and legs hold up. It’s good to also review all the data you can get your hands on, including EPDs, actual carcass, etc. but keep in mind that all of these are just tools. Everything needs to be weighed and balanced. Keep it middle of the road. Milk is definitely something that I select against. You have to be careful, with some of the family lines, that you don’t bring in too much additional milk. You have to match this with your resources.
Some folks select for so much milk that the cows cannot keep their body condition, putting too much energy into milk production, and they don’t rebreed on time in a real-world environment. Longevity is important. I also don’t want poor udder attachments or the udder will go downhill rapidly. Even if a cow raises a good calf, if she can’t breed back on time, or her udder goes bad, she won’t last very long in the herd. Some cows can milk well and still have a good udder in their old age, while others will sag and the udder becomes a problem. Once that happens, there’s never any improvement. If I start out with a bad udder, it’s never going to get any better. You need better-than-average udders to start with. Udder attachment, teat length, etc. are very important in our selection process. Calving time is the best time to assess udders, because with some cows the teats will shrink up again after the calf has suckled for a few weeks and the udder may look pretty good, and you forget how big and ballooned the teats can get, until the next calving season. I just don’t want to be milking cows or having to assist a calf in getting on a teat. That’s not what my goal is, in raising beef cows.
Disposition is also a very important part of the mix. It may not be as crucial if a steer is a little flighty, but I certainly don’t want heifers that are hard to manage, if they will be staying in your herd or going to someone else’s herd as replacements. You want cows that are easy to handle. I feel there is a hereditary factor in disposition and temperament. It’s partly heritable and partly the way they are handled In my opinion. Some folks are finally realizing that there’s a definite benefit to having quiet cattle.
When I select a sire the bull also has to fit the bill in looks. As most cattle are sold on their looks first then their performance. Phenotype is important, and these animals must be correct. I like females with a lot of ribcage and capacity. It’s a complicated selection process, to put it all together. Most folks have a picture in the back of their minds, regarding what the ideal female should look like. There may not be an ideal cow, but some cattle come a lot closer than others. Then you have to put this together with performance. You want everything working in that cow’s favor, for performance and longevity. This is what we all want and are trying to do — breed a herd of ideal cows! That’s the fun part for me of a breeding program, and it certainly keeps my interest, when you can see things that do work, or you can see you are making progress in certain directions. It’s always a work in progress, and I keep learning more and more about breeding and cattle selection, and the cattle themselves are always teaching us.
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