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Breeding / Calving Issues
Are we too dependent on EPD's?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ebenezer" data-source="post: 1727126" data-attributes="member: 24565"><p>EPDs are an average number of the assumed offspring. EPDs have more inflation than the national economy. The most unfair part of EPDs are the pivot year. It discounts older cattle and that is just not true. But it is good for sales so that tells me that sales are more important than truth. </p><p></p><p>Why are there discussions on this site and others about guarding bulls with bad feet, some about disposition and mothering instinct and the constant, constant question about "tell me about the daughters" ... if EPDs work? The point is that AI sires in catalogs and ranches are picked by EPDs and salability of the EPDs. Some fudge and force feed to get 1000 pound weaning weights that no purchaser can produce. I cannot imagine the pondering someone does for EPDs from a force fed bull with high EPDs and the lesser data on the next generation of normally fed animals. Others sources for AI studs are Wagyu-like selection of bulls so that the cow side is minimal in concerns. The dairy industry is not in decline if the EPDs for milk are anywhere near correct for the latest wonders of the semen catalogs and 4 color sales catalogs. I had a friend who told me he was rambling through some papers and found a 10 year old semen catalog. Not a single sire is still listed in the current catalog. The turnover rate is not due to success but due to failure.</p><p></p><p>You can use EPDs as bumpers or guard rails and know that you do not want to run off of the road. And you can note herds that have trends: high % low HP EPD, excessive CED in a lot of sires, negative CEM in a lot of sires... The skew of the herd is more important than the single #s of any one star bull they have.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ebenezer, post: 1727126, member: 24565"] EPDs are an average number of the assumed offspring. EPDs have more inflation than the national economy. The most unfair part of EPDs are the pivot year. It discounts older cattle and that is just not true. But it is good for sales so that tells me that sales are more important than truth. Why are there discussions on this site and others about guarding bulls with bad feet, some about disposition and mothering instinct and the constant, constant question about "tell me about the daughters" ... if EPDs work? The point is that AI sires in catalogs and ranches are picked by EPDs and salability of the EPDs. Some fudge and force feed to get 1000 pound weaning weights that no purchaser can produce. I cannot imagine the pondering someone does for EPDs from a force fed bull with high EPDs and the lesser data on the next generation of normally fed animals. Others sources for AI studs are Wagyu-like selection of bulls so that the cow side is minimal in concerns. The dairy industry is not in decline if the EPDs for milk are anywhere near correct for the latest wonders of the semen catalogs and 4 color sales catalogs. I had a friend who told me he was rambling through some papers and found a 10 year old semen catalog. Not a single sire is still listed in the current catalog. The turnover rate is not due to success but due to failure. You can use EPDs as bumpers or guard rails and know that you do not want to run off of the road. And you can note herds that have trends: high % low HP EPD, excessive CED in a lot of sires, negative CEM in a lot of sires... The skew of the herd is more important than the single #s of any one star bull they have. [/QUOTE]
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Are we too dependent on EPD's?
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