Consensus 7229 or Hickok?

I have a group of 21 1st calvers that I'm trying to figure out what I'd like to breed to this spring. I'm considering either Hickok or his sire Consensus 7229. My goal is some nice replacements. Overall Hickok has better calving and growth numbers, but Consensus' $E and $W values are about as good as it gets. I've never seen any Hickok progeny, but I've never seen a Consensus sired cow our bull that I didn't like (including Hickok). What do you suggest?
Consensus:
http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/angus. ... =237AN2199
Hickok:
http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/angus. ... o=29AN1965

7229 would be my pick.

Okay I'll cast the tie breaking vote... Hickok... lol
I haven't seen either, but I don't think you'll go wrong by choosing either one.
The reason I chose Hickok is since your goal is replacement females he has much better cem 9 vs cem 5 for 7229

Consensus would be my pick but Butch has a good point depends if you need CE or not :2cents:

Butch,
I still can't get how popular Sav Resource is with a -8 CEM.
They can't all be using him as a terminal cross and with as much as he has been used you don't see anyone on here talking about his heifers being train wrecks. I know that you can't live on EPDs alone but you have to rely on them for some things.

I'm not Butch, but you just breed his heifers to high CED LBW bull and wind up having a good cow for years. Only applies to being a heifer, not a cows life! Those type bulls don't bother me at all. If CEM scares you Renown is a little better at 2.

cem 2 is bottom 5% and - 8 cem is deep into the bottom 1%
Long term that's gotta come back and bite ya at some point. I'd strongly recommend pelvic measurement before
selecting any as replacement females.
But since they're black angus you know they'll be delicious...

Id take a field full of em, doubt Id eat many, but for me I'm not scared to death of BW or -6 CED on cows. Have never pelvic measured anything maybe just lucky.

I don't think CED is a huge issue on a cow because you can always breed to a low BW high CED bull and not have any impact on your herd. But, as Butch stated it has got to bite you at some point if you have a subpar CEM animal in your lines. A breeder on another site noted that he loves Resource and that his family hasn't had any problems with their Resource heifers. So, would you flush to Resource, hope you get heifers and then cull based on pelvic measurements? There is no doubt that Resource has tremendous eye appeal and growth.

CEM is expressed as a difference in percentage of unassisted births with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first calf daughters. It predicts the average ease with which a sides daughters will calve as first calf heifers when compared to daughters of other sires.
It says as heifers not the cows entire life, I don't think you will have any problems with cows out of this bull. Use him right and make some nice mommas. Id flush and wouldn't think about pelvic measurement, id be more likely to pelvic measure calves out of these LBW high CED bulls. Just me.

If top and bottom 1% aren't extreme curve benders, then I don't what is.
What happens in the next generation?
In a planned mating program you wouldn't overlook the dam's contribution too.
Ignoring cem opens the door to stacking poor cem on poor cem and the next thing you know you have simmentals ;-)
or worse .... show cattle. :cry2:

(All Show and No Go... also known as... the show ring's contribution to the cattle industry)

You hit on the secret right there, know how to breed cattle. Keep stacking anything and your headed for trouble in my opinion. Theres extremes in all EPD numbers, its about making them work to your advantage. I haven't seen Resource cows yet but I have seen 9969`s same line and they sure make great mommas, with something to them, just breed em right no worries. Resource has data on close to 6500 calves folks way way smarter than me are using him, just use him right!!!