EPDs

[El_Putzo]

Happy New Year! A little early but oh well, it's never a bad time to celebrate. Anywho, I've got a question about EPDs. I'm going to be buying some registered herefords in a couple of months and have been looking around comparing herds and EPDs. How are EPDs determined and how accurate are they? Do they get the EPD info from a blood sample or is it purely based on the sire and dam? I've raised a couple of types of registered dogs (Dalmations and Redbones) but neither the UKC or AKC uses any type of distinction close to an EPD, dogs are registered purely by the status of sire and dam, not on their performance. Just curious if I should base my decision more on the looks of the heifers or by the EPDs?

TIA

 

[Alan]

I'm certainly not the one to try to explain EPD's and where they come from, too complex. But if you did a search on this board for EPD's I'm sure you will get all your answers, it's a topic that has been on this forum several times. Just hit the search tab on top of this page.

I also raise polled Herefords, as do others on this forum, I would recommend going after a low birth rate and a high milk production. My thought on this is that it gives you calving ease and the high milk production, which may be hard to find in hereford (15+ range), should give you good weaning weights and growth. When I started out I just bought Red and White reg Herefords, not knowing what I was getting so now half my herd (10 cows) gives me poor calves. That's changing slowly.

Good luck

Alan

 

[txag]

here's a link to a thread about epd's:

http://cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 14&start=0

you can also check the hereford association website. http://www.hereford.org/AHA/tabID__3580/tailored.aspx for an online copy of the Sire Summary which has a really good explanation of epd's.

start with those two sources & then let us know if we can answer any other questions.

 

[El_Putzo]

Thanks a million. Those were very helpful links.

 

[UG]

I'm certainly not the one to try to explain EPD's and where they come from, too complex. But if you did a search on this board for EPD's I'm sure you will get all your answers, it's a topic that has been on this forum several times. Just hit the search tab on top of this page.

I also raise polled Herefords, as do others on this forum, I would recommend going after a low birth rate and a high milk production. My thought on this is that it gives you calving ease and the high milk production, which may be hard to find in hereford (15+ range), should give you good weaning weights and growth. When I started out I just bought Red and White reg Herefords, not knowing what I was getting so now half my herd (10 cows) gives me poor calves. That's changing slowly.

Good luck

Alan

Research has proven that EPDs are more accurate to use than actual birth, weaning, and yearling weights of individual animals. A good article to read is from the American Gelbvieh Assn. website:

http://www.gelbvieh.org/fsepd.html#What%20are%20EPDs?

The Gelbvieh article specifically deals with Gelbvieh EPDs but they apply to EPDs of any breed. Please note that you can not compare animals of different breeds since each breed has a different base for calculating their EPD's.

One other thought. Above Alan mentioned that he would select for high milk EPDs. I disagree. There is such a thing as too much milk. From my experience, cows with especially high milk epds are more likely to eventually develop udder problems (too large of teats, poor udder support, etc.) and consequently need to be culled too early. If you live in an area with minimal rainfall you may also want to look for females with more average milk epds.

 

[txag]

One other thought. Above Alan mentioned that he would select for high milk EPDs. I disagree. There is such a thing as too much milk. From my experience, cows with especially high milk epds are more likely to eventually develop udder problems (too large of teats, poor udder support, etc.) and consequently need to be culled too early. If you live in an area with minimal rainfall you may also want to look for females with more average milk epds.

you're right in that there is sometimes such a thing as too much milk if your environment doesn't support a cow to produce that way. on the other hand, i think Alan mentioned a +15. in no way is a +15 too high of a MM epd for herefords.

 

[dun]

Please note that you can not compare animals of different breeds since each breed has a different base for calculating their EPD's.

One other thought. Above Alan mentioned that he would select for high milk EPDs. I disagree. There is such a thing as too much milk. From my experience, cows with especially high milk epds are more likely to eventually develop udder problems (too large of teats, poor udder support, etc.) and consequently need to be culled too early. If you live in an area with minimal rainfall you may also want to look for females with more average milk epds.

Across breed EPDs have been caluculated. It's basicly a correction factor to be able to compare different breeds. I think Cornell came up with. But if you do a search on "across breed epd" you'll proably have the link show up.

There is milk then there is milk. Some breeds if feeding particularly growthy calves can definitly use a little more milk, other breeds can use less. It depends on the breeds as to what you need.
Personally I like a little higher milk then average in Herefords, Red Angus seems about right, Gelbvieh can use less.
As in everything else in this business, it's a situational thing.

dun