Sorry Mike, I didn't realize that he was an ET. I would still be concerned but would put some consideration into the contribution of the recip to his bw. I have not had any ET calves quite that big. I would still be leaning towards making a steer out of him.MikeC":2qn65ody said:jnowack":2qn65ody said:BRG":2qn65ody said:Doc,
I too wander why you would not use him, when you are the one that ussually talks and pushes epd's.
EPD's are computed using ratios. When this calf ratio's high on bw, then his EPD will go up. At this point he will still be an unproven bull with little accuracy. And any cattleman worth his salt will look at the actual bw, along with the epd and make his decision based on that. There are undoubtedly some people out there who would buy the bull but there are a lot more who would pass on him for that reason. As purebred breeders we need to produce cattle that will work for our customers and that are marketable. The high bw would make him unmarketable for me. Even if I had a customer who wanted him, I would be reluctant to sell a bull with that kind of BW because if he turns out to be a hard calver I would likely not only lose that customer but other potental custmers that come in contact with the unsatisfied one. For me it is not worth risking your reputation on a potential train wreck.
All the calves will have the same EPD for BW. He's an ET calf with a different breed dam.