Hi all
Pretty new here but old posts have already proven a wealth of information- thanks! Now hoping for some direct comparative views on sires if anyone has them.... We've had a purely horned Hereford herd for the last 30 years but we are now trying some poll genetics amongst the rest. From what I've seen discussed, the Feltons strain intrigues as being practicle "cattleman's cattle" in addition to being somewhat linebred to make these traits more prepotent.
No herd is perfect, but in our aims we haven't followed fads and always selected for moderate, structurally correct, easy doing, maternal cattle cattle as thick as we can get them combined with the darker colour, pigment and eye-set demanded in our part of the world. Over the last 30 years we've tried to maintain these traits whilst cautiously pushed growth to the point where I think we've reached optimum mature cow weights in our regional environment for a maternal, self-replacing herd. From here I'd like to maintain structural correctness, thickness and cosmetics whilst working on the antagonisms to enhance early phase growth, marbling and EMA whilst reducing birthweight and mature cow weight- but EBV's only tell a part of the story required....
Of the pure Feltons bulls I've narrowed it down to Feltons Ozzie 492, Feltons Jedi 154 and EF F475 Frank P230 from what's already available here. I haven't seen any of the progeny in the flesh, let alone daughter type and performance, so I'd be keen to hear any thoughts on their comparative merits in any production environment. There would be some corrective mating no matter which of these sires might be the best overall package or which may excel in particular areas. However, given we're looking to take the horns off a portion of the herd, whether they're homo or heterogygous polled would probably be a good start for selection in our particular case. I'm looking forward to any discussion on which is the best of Feltons!
Pretty new here but old posts have already proven a wealth of information- thanks! Now hoping for some direct comparative views on sires if anyone has them.... We've had a purely horned Hereford herd for the last 30 years but we are now trying some poll genetics amongst the rest. From what I've seen discussed, the Feltons strain intrigues as being practicle "cattleman's cattle" in addition to being somewhat linebred to make these traits more prepotent.
No herd is perfect, but in our aims we haven't followed fads and always selected for moderate, structurally correct, easy doing, maternal cattle cattle as thick as we can get them combined with the darker colour, pigment and eye-set demanded in our part of the world. Over the last 30 years we've tried to maintain these traits whilst cautiously pushed growth to the point where I think we've reached optimum mature cow weights in our regional environment for a maternal, self-replacing herd. From here I'd like to maintain structural correctness, thickness and cosmetics whilst working on the antagonisms to enhance early phase growth, marbling and EMA whilst reducing birthweight and mature cow weight- but EBV's only tell a part of the story required....
Of the pure Feltons bulls I've narrowed it down to Feltons Ozzie 492, Feltons Jedi 154 and EF F475 Frank P230 from what's already available here. I haven't seen any of the progeny in the flesh, let alone daughter type and performance, so I'd be keen to hear any thoughts on their comparative merits in any production environment. There would be some corrective mating no matter which of these sires might be the best overall package or which may excel in particular areas. However, given we're looking to take the horns off a portion of the herd, whether they're homo or heterogygous polled would probably be a good start for selection in our particular case. I'm looking forward to any discussion on which is the best of Feltons!
