Well, as far as I am concerned, and I know I'm just a nobody, Frankie has it a little bit skewed. For her, testing bulls in a feedlot works, and guys feel better about writing a check for a pretty fat bull. Anyone likes bulls in good condition with a good profile, both phenotypic and genetic. But for us, both Lim bulls we turned out the last two years lost weight. We expected that. But our Angus PCC influenced bull we raised and the red PCC bull we bought from a sale a few years back both gained weight their first breeding season. In fact, I ought to take a picture of that little black bull. He has all his cows covered and is fat as a tick at 18 months. Big, pretty, Lim bulls (or Angus for that matter, we've had experience with both) will produce heavy steers that bring in money at weaning and produce flashy females to sell as breds. So there's one definition of what "genetic merit" is. But if I'm gonna keep cows for years and years to try and improve my herd, if my bull can't gain weight while out there breeding cows and zero supplementation, he don't cut the mustard. Females out of that red bull are still producing somewhere in MO and this little black bull shows promise of making keeping cows. That's another type of "genetic merit". So to me, I guess it is all case specific, as it always is, but true genetic merit is a bull that will breed cows, come home "fat" (not obese, but in better than average condition), and not look like he had to work all summer. To me, that bull will make great mamas and produce calves that could finish on grass, and sure as heck ought to be able to gain and get fat in a feedyard. On the other hand, our LimFLex steers need to be in a feedyard like their dadddy, and the LimX heifers will most likely be harder keepers than their peers coming out of easy doing bulls that get fat while breeding. My 2 cents.