I was very interested in B.Waylon a couple of years back, but was warned off of him... and other Protege sons... due to foot/leg issues, allegedly coming down from 6807. Another generation or two out...is that still a problem? I don't know.
Me and ol' SoBbutch are on the same page.
We're not using much in the way of Angus genetics these days, but I try to keep a cane in the tank for use now and again so I can make some high% AN females to breed halfblood Simmental, Shorthorn, Braunvieh, etc., out of.
Absolute and Pioneer Wave are the two Angus sires I'd been vacillating between. Both bring a lot of what I'm looking for from an Angus sire to the table.
I have some Gardens Wave daughters in the herd, and they are perhaps my favorite high% Angus cows; wish I'd bought more Wave semen before he went off the market. Have been using a Wave son, Gardens Next Wave HE17 for the last couple of breeding seasons... and the calves look good - both steers and heifers. Kinda makes me think that Pioneer Wave will get the nod as the next Angus sire in the tank; PW brings more marbling and ribeye to the table than Absolute, but $EN is lower than Absolute - but still 'positive'. Have not brought in any Final Answer influence before, but I've never heard anything negative about FA that would make me hesitate to use him or a bull/cow that he's behind.
Discussions I've seen on Angus boards indicate that Absolute really knocks frame off... PW has a 4.7 mature frame score, but MH epd is not as negative(-0.3 vs -0.5) as Absolute who's a 5.5 mfs ... so, I dunno. Walking Angus sire we kept around here for 8-9 years increased frame score over what the old SimAngus base herd had, so I can use a bull with frame score less than 5 and not get hurt too bad, most of the time.