EPD's what are they

[js2743]

i have reg black Angus cows nothing abouthe epd's is there a difference with them with different breeds or are they all the same number system. also whats good numbers and whats bad ones to watch out for please help me its driving me nuts.

 

[Frankie]

i have reg black Angus cows nothing abouthe epd's is there a difference with them with different breeds or are they all the same number system. also whats good numbers and whats bad ones to watch out for please help me its driving me nuts.

Here's a link to Angus EPDs. http://www.angus.org/sireeval/howto.html

It explains what each Angus EPD means.

EPDs (Expected Progeny Difference) is the predictor of how a given animal's calves (progney) will perform compared to the progney of another animal of the same breed. There are across breed EPDs available, but let's not confuse the issue right now.

Simply put, if you breed a bull with a BW EPD of 5 to a set of cows, you would expect his calves to weigh 5 more pounds at birth than if you bred those same cows to a bull with a BW EPD of 0. If the first bull had a weaning weight (WW) of 40, you would expect his calves to weigh 35 more pounds at weaning than if you bred those cows to a bull with a WW EPD of 5. EPDs will never, ever tell you what something will weigh. They can't take into account your management (creep feeding, irrigated pastures, drought) or what kind of cows a bull will be bred to (Jersey or Simmental).

There are no good EPDs or bad EPDs. They are just information for you to use in your breeding decisions. If your cows don't milk enough, you might want to use a bull with a higher milking EPD and retain daughters. If you sell calves at weaning, you might want to look at a bull with a high WW weight EPD. If you retain ownership on your calves, YW and carcass quality might be of interest to you.

And, just for grins, here's the across breed EPD table.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Pl ... 06News.pdf

 

[Capt Call]

i have reg black Angus cows nothing abouthe epd's is there a difference with them with different breeds or are they all the same number system. also whats good numbers and whats bad ones to watch out for please help me its driving me nuts.

Here's a link to Angus EPDs. http://www.angus.org/sireeval/howto.html

It explains what each Angus EPD means.

EPDs (Expected Progeny Difference) is the predictor of how a given animal's calves (progney) will perform compared to the progney of another animal of the same breed. There are across breed EPDs available, but let's not confuse the issue right now.

Simply put, if you breed a bull with a BW EPD of 5 to a set of cows, you would expect his calves to weigh 5 more pounds at birth than if you bred those same cows to a bull with a BW EPD of 0. If the first bull had a weaning weight (WW) of 40, you would expect his calves to weigh 35 more pounds at weaning than if you bred those cows to a bull with a WW EPD of 5. EPDs will never, ever tell you what something will weigh. They can't take into account your management (creep feeding, irrigated pastures, drought) or what kind of cows a bull will be bred to (Jersey or Simmental).

There are no good EPDs or bad EPDs. They are just information for you to use in your breeding decisions. If your cows don't milk enough, you might want to use a bull with a higher milking EPD and retain daughters. If you sell calves at weaning, you might want to look at a bull with a high WW weight EPD. If you retain ownership on your calves, YW and carcass quality might be of interest to you.

And, just for grins, here's the across breed EPD table.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Pl ... 06News.pdf

The problem comes in when your running a composite bull like the Maine/Angus in my pasture on crossbred cows. The hybred vigor is there for pounds and growth to sale.
I should have said the problem EPDs.

 

[OhioRiver]

What is composite?

i have reg black Angus cows nothing abouthe epd's is there a difference with them with different breeds or are they all the same number system. also whats good numbers and whats bad ones to watch out for please help me its driving me nuts.

Here's a link to Angus EPDs. http://www.angus.org/sireeval/howto.html

It explains what each Angus EPD means.

EPDs (Expected Progeny Difference) is the predictor of how a given animal's calves (progney) will perform compared to the progney of another animal of the same breed. There are across breed EPDs available, but let's not confuse the issue right now.

Simply put, if you breed a bull with a BW EPD of 5 to a set of cows, you would expect his calves to weigh 5 more pounds at birth than if you bred those same cows to a bull with a BW EPD of 0. If the first bull had a weaning weight (WW) of 40, you would expect his calves to weigh 35 more pounds at weaning than if you bred those cows to a bull with a WW EPD of 5. EPDs will never, ever tell you what something will weigh. They can't take into account your management (creep feeding, irrigated pastures, drought) or what kind of cows a bull will be bred to (Jersey or Simmental).

There are no good EPDs or bad EPDs. They are just information for you to use in your breeding decisions. If your cows don't milk enough, you might want to use a bull with a higher milking EPD and retain daughters. If you sell calves at weaning, you might want to look at a bull with a high WW weight EPD. If you retain ownership on your calves, YW and carcass quality might be of interest to you.

And, just for grins, here's the across breed EPD table.

http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Pl ... 06News.pdf

The problem comes in when your running a composite bull like the Maine/Angus in my pasture on crossbred cows. The hybred vigor is there for pounds and growth to sale.
I should have said the problem EPDs.

 

[IL Rancher]

Composite is a crossbred basically. I generally would use the phrase composite for 3 or more breeds in an animal instead of just a stand crossbred animal of 2 breeds but that is just me (Any maybe some other folks too).

 

[Keren]

What are EPD's?

In short . . . a bunch of crap.

In Australia they are EBV's . . . Extremely Bl00dy Variables.

You dont want to rely on them too much. Dont get caught up in all the hype.