EPD

[Anonymous]

Im looking for some opinions. I'm sure I will get some here. What BW EPD should i be looking for in an ANgus bull. I will use him on heifers and cows. I am thinking anything from 3 and below would be ok. ANy suggestions. I have reg limos and black white face cattle. ANd yes my limo and xbred limos always outsell my other cattle.

 

[la4angus]

Im looking for some opinions. I'm sure I will get some here. What BW EPD should i be looking for in an ANgus bull. I will use him on heifers and cows. I am thinking anything from 3 and below would be ok. ANy suggestions. I have reg limos and black white face cattle. ANd yes my limo and xbred limos always outsell my other cattle.

3 and below could be OK if the bull is siring real long bodied calves.
I had one first calf hfr bred to Hoff Limited Edition SC 594, He has a BW EPD of +4.7 with 98% accuracy. The hfr had no problem having a 93 lb.
hfr calf. The calf was very long aand was up nursing in a matter of minutes and continued to grow like a bad weed. She weaned at 610 actual wt. and adj 205 day wt of; I believe 639 lb. No creep feed, strictly on the dams milk and hay and RyeGrass thru the winter.

I would definite look for a high accuracy bull that has plenty of calves on the ground. I prefer an accuracy of 98% to 99%.

 

[PATB]

I prefer using bw 2.5 or less on heifers in registered black angus bulls. If it is a young bull with low accuracy EPD's make sure he is not a product of fire and ice breeding. One parent has a large bw epd and the other has a low bw EPD.

 

[Larry Sansom]

Im looking for some opinions. I'm sure I will get some here. What BW EPD should i be looking for in an ANgus bull. I will use him on heifers and cows. I am thinking anything from 3 and below would be ok. ANy suggestions. I have reg limos and black white face cattle. ANd yes my limo and xbred limos always outsell my other cattle.

Kentucky has a cost share program on bull genetics - funded by the Tobacco Settlement Money - For a bull to qualify as heifer acceptable- it must be under 1.5 epd . Again - I agree with the EPD comments above - watch for those low acc numbers with bulls from "fire & Ice" or from a heavy use on 1 farm - without national exposure. Getting an honest answer from many breeders trying to sell you semen about calf shape is Very Risky. Better go lower and safer.