AHA EPD Accuracy

[JWBrahman]

Just finished looking at the 2014 Hereford epd's and the information for the sire of my bull was an incredibly accurate description of how he is developing. It says low fat, he is all muscle. It says behind the curve wean and yearling weights, which was also accurate because he was line bred. I have seen larger wean and yearling weights from the sire on the calves from bigger females. Big scrotum, accurate. Direct and maternal calving ease was accurate. REA is accurate.

So it looks like they have the basics nailed down to a fair degree of accuracy.

To quote the Vice President, this a big effing deal.

 

[mrvictordomino]

Glad to hear your numbers match the traits you see. EPD's are only as accurate as the information being submitted.

 

[SRBeef]

I have found the same thing: the AHA EPD's on my Huth bull seem to reflect his calves very closely. Especially his CED calving ease. Calves about fell out of the back of my cows this past spring. Lighter birth weights even out of my larger cows but seem to be gaining well. Older bull calves developing very good SC. I agree. I think the AHA is getting the EPDs figured out. Combined with the new DNA requirement for bulls should clean things up over the years. I appreciate the Hereford breeders like Jerry Huth that report their whole herd and report accurately.

http://www.herfnet.com/online/cgi-b...814E0EEE01C30F50E160A3B02E91414141C10111A1E17

Jim

 

[Alan]

Glad to hear your numbers match the traits you see. EPD's are only as accurate as the information being submitted.

X2, one of the honest statements I have ever seen posted here.

Alan

 

[JWBrahman]

I am 100% behind total herd reporting and blood testing. My money goes to the guys and gals collecting data and doing the right thing.

This was a unique situation where the breeder I purchased my Hereford from had used the sire Perfect Timing more than the group of owners. He is heterozygous polled and the polled side throws scurs. I only saw one Perfect Timing bull calf in the Churchhill sale. So the majority of the data was the data my breeder submitted. It was a perfect situation to double check her integrity and to test the accuracy of the new numbers.

Now if we could just convince the breed registries to add a hip height index. This is an important piece of information I collect on all the cattle. Yearling and 2 year old hip heights would really flesh out EPDs.

 

[dun]

When submitting data to the Red Angus association they have a field for Frame Score and BCS but they aren;t mandatory