So I was reading through the A.I. Sire Reference that was put out by the Texas Longhorn Breeders of America in its monthly publication, the Trails, in July, and I noticed that I, personally, would not use a vast majority of the bulls in there. By use I mean if I had their semen just sitting there in the tank or my neighbor owned the bull and offered to let me bring any of my cows over to get bred. When considering the bulls in the Reference I was thinking if I had a large herd of cows, of random genetics, but fit my phenotypic criteria. Basically, if I had the opportunity to use a bull, would I?
Since I had some extra time on my hands I went through and counted how many of the bulls I would use:
Of the 660 TLBAA A.I. Certified Texas Longhorn Bulls, I would use approximately 81 of the bulls. And, the latest certified bull that I would use was in the early 580's (The numbers for bulls are given out in order of which they are certified), so the last 80 or so bulls to be certified I would not use. Furthermore, of the ~140 - 150 bulls in advertisements in this issue of the Trails I counted and I would only use 5 of the advertised bulls (and 2 of them are from the ranch I currently work for).
I know there are many other bulls out there, not A.I. certified or advertised in that issue that i would use, but I found the numbers very interesting. Take it for what its worth, and that not much since it is only my opinion. Just thought I'd share.
Ryan
Since I had some extra time on my hands I went through and counted how many of the bulls I would use:
Of the 660 TLBAA A.I. Certified Texas Longhorn Bulls, I would use approximately 81 of the bulls. And, the latest certified bull that I would use was in the early 580's (The numbers for bulls are given out in order of which they are certified), so the last 80 or so bulls to be certified I would not use. Furthermore, of the ~140 - 150 bulls in advertisements in this issue of the Trails I counted and I would only use 5 of the advertised bulls (and 2 of them are from the ranch I currently work for).
I know there are many other bulls out there, not A.I. certified or advertised in that issue that i would use, but I found the numbers very interesting. Take it for what its worth, and that not much since it is only my opinion. Just thought I'd share.
Ryan