I probably would not with the information given. However, depending on the accuracy% of the bull, and the claw, angle EPDs/accuracy of his sire and dam might make a difference. I also double check foot scores, if available, on the sire/dam with Angus Australia. Most acquire EPD of .8 for a reason.Would you buy a bull that had EPD of 80%+ in both or one of these two categories?
Sure Fire (In Sure/5050 bull) is at +.53 (.50 being average, from what I remember) for Claw epd. 75 percentile (bottom 25% of the breed) for Angus Claw Score.. .85 accuracy (pretty high accuracy). His Angle EPD is +.43, top 20% of breed. That seems to be the tendency also from Angus Australia scoring... bad claws, good angle. Dam of the bull you're looking at must be contributing to the worse EPD's ??
I completely agree about buying bulls from operations that dont make their animals work for it, but producers being intentionally deceptive might be a bit of an overreach. They might not get the number exactly right but I have not met a known seedstock producer yet that just makes it up. (I'm sure it happens but making it sound like a portion of them are dishonest, is not reality when it's maybe 1 in 1000)It's a subjective score that can be manipulated by the producer (like most of them, but still...). I look at a lot of the big sales and see knee deep hay, and I wonder why anyone would buy any bull in those conditions, but folks line up.