CED Question

[ChrisB]

I calve in the fall and share bulls with a neighbor that calves in the spring. I also work off the farm full time so I am not around as much during calving as I would like. I have an angus / hereford / baldy cowherd. "We" bought another bull this spring and I am a little leary of using him next breeding season. His CED epd is 5.26 and his BW is +2.8 His CED is in the bottom 20% of his herdmates, and his BW is in the upper 30%.

Would you have any concern with the situation or am I being too cautious? Would you use him on 2 year old cows that just had their first calf?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Lucky_P]

Wouldn't use him on a virgin heifer, but those CED/BW numbers wouldn't necessarily put me off of using him on a 2-yr.old that had already had a calf - and didn't require assistance.
Breed average(Angus) for current sires is CED 5, BW +1.9, so he's not too far off the breed average.

 

[vclavin]

Show me select Heifer uses CED of 8 this year but was 7 last year. We never use a bull under CED 7 and never over BW EPD of +2. If retaining heifers, We never allow the CEM to be less than 7. We also NEVER breed a heifer that has not had a pelvic measurement taken... cheap insurance.
Valerie
PS. The above info is on high accuracy AI sires. There's a chart at the Angus website to tell you the + - deviation for the accuracies.