abs power tool

[trappersteve]

Looking at getting some calving ease Angus straws when I get my tank. The three bulls im looking at is power tool, progression and Hoover dam. With power tool being my #1 choice as his numbers are through the roof. However I watched a video on him and didn't like his walk . My question is this have any of you used him and how was his calves? I do plan on retaining most heifers as future mommas.

I guess I should tell y'all what I'm breeding for in order is calving ease, docility and milk as he is one of the highest in breed in all these epds.
I plan on having 2 Angus bulls in my tank.

What are your thoughts on these bulls?

 

[Gators Rule]

personally, I don't think its a good idea to breed for extremes...especially when the bull has issues, such as walking. I did not pull up his video, but if he does have issues, then why perpetuate them.....especially if you're looking at producing some breeding stock.

 

[bse]

I didn't see the video either. What are you using him on cows or heifers? hes top10% CED, top35% for BW, top1% for milk. His milk would be more than id want. Just curious why limit yourself to 2 bulls if you have your own tank?

 

[shortybreeder]

I would be careful about retaining heifers from a bull with an extremely high CED score, because with too much CED comes narrower hips and more calving problems later on down the road. If you pick out a nice angus bull with a CED of about a 9 then you should be fine with just about any heifers. I would just look at the bulls with CED of 8-10 and pick the one that matches your docility requirements and milk needs. I really like the hoover dam bull, got a CED of 10 and top 10% for docility and heifer pregnancy. As well as a 39 milk EPD. With an awful lot of 90% accuracies on top of that! Power tool looks really good too, but I would be wary of that 13 CED. Progression is a nice looking bull too, but again that is one scary high CED. All 3 would be great for putting in heifers, but for retaining future generations I would lean towards Hoover Dam and Power Tool.

 

[cow pollinater]

I have a customer that used twenty units when Power tool first hit the line-up. I spoke to him a few days ago and he's not very excited about what he sees so far. He said they're nice calves but they're "just calves". I'm suposed to go look at the whole herd with him later this week so I'll know more by then.

 

[greybeard]

This him?

[youtube]O1pBRgTI2Co[/youtube]

[youtube]yTdTzmxjC_g[/youtube]

 

[trappersteve]

This him?

[youtube]O1pBRgTI2Co[/youtube]

[youtube]yTdTzmxjC_g[/youtube]

Yes

 

[trappersteve]

I didn't see the video either. What are you using him on cows or heifers? hes top10% CED, top35% for BW, top1% for milk. His milk would be more than id want. Just curious why limit yourself to 2 bulls if you have your own tank?

Why would you not want alot of milk, I would think the more milk the better that's why im asking. I plan on using 3 hereford bulls and maybe 3 Angus bulls I thought ced would be a trait everyone would breed for can someone explain to me why you wouldn't want a high calving ease even on cows to me a live calf is more important . Live calves pay more.
I am a rookie so take it easy on me!

 

[cow pollinater]

Calving ease is a good thing if they have the growth to back it up. Maternal calving ease is what you want to look for in keeping daughters and he's fine there. Milk starts to be a problem when there's not enough feed to support all that milk. Cows tend to take care of the baby on the ground first, themselves second, and a baby on the way third so if you add more milk than your feed can keep up with you're going to have some thin cows that don't breed back as they do a little to good of a job with priority one.
Also, Angus is pretty much the standard for calving ease in widely available genetics so don't be scared to use something other than the most extreme calving ease bulls if you see something that you like better that isn't as extreme. On the Hereford side you could be a little more extreme in your calving ease choice and that would help you some. Just make sure you look at both maternal calving ease(what the daughters of this bull will do) and calving ease(what the bull himself does).

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

What CP said. Best to try and stay in the middle of the road.

 

[trappersteve]

Calving ease is a good thing if they have the growth to back it up. Maternal calving ease is what you want to look for in keeping daughters and he's fine there. Milk starts to be a problem when there's not enough feed to support all that milk. Cows tend to take care of the baby on the ground first, themselves second, and a baby on the way third so if you add more milk than your feed can keep up with you're going to have some thin cows that don't breed back as they do a little to good of a job with priority one.
Also, Angus is pretty much the standard for calving ease in widely available genetics so don't be scared to use something other than the most extreme calving ease bulls if you see something that you like better that isn't as extreme. On the Hereford side you could be a little more extreme in your calving ease choice and that would help you some. Just make sure you look at both maternal calving ease(what the daughters of this bull will do) and calving ease(what the bull himself does).

thanks cp this clears up a lot

 

[bse]

C P said that very well i think folks have gone low BW high CED crazy if a cow cow cant handle some BW something is wrong when i started with purebreds around 2000 the average BW was 2 .8 i think now i think its 1.7 our extension agents have preached it until thats all anyone wants.