Full Power

[Bestoutwest]

Well, when it all shook out this was the bull that was available from my rep. I had never heard of him, but judging him by his numbers and catalog picture I'm impressed. Fingers crossed, now we wait.

 

[Stickney94]

Well, sometimes all the research in the world is trumped by what your rep has in the tank, haha.

I've had several animals out of Full Power's sire Power Tool. Full Power looks like he packages much of that in a smaller thicker frame.

We actually pre-order with our rep each year just to make sure he has on hand what we want for our first round of AI. After that we often take what he has in the tank. I've got a bunch of Cowboy Up calves on the way as a result :lol:

 

[J+ Cattle]

Bull Search

absbullsearch.absglobal.com

I know this is an older thread, but does anyone know anything about this bull or have used him?
Thoughts and opinions?

 

[Ky hills]

No experience with that bull, but did use PA Power Tool a few years ago. He was one of the best bulls we used.
Retained a son and have kept several daughters from that bull, they make some pretty nice females with good milk.

 

[Stickney94]

I haven't used this bull (I would consider him once his accuracy gets higher as his EPDs meet criteria I look for).

Based on a seminar by an ABS rep and by looking at their catalog -- ABS tends to buy sons/grandsons of bulls they think carry on and improve upon the sire/grandsire (particularly if they don't own that sire/grandsire). I also have heard ABS really uses the EPD searches to identify bulls based on numbers -- which I suspect might be how they identified/purchased this particular bull.

With that said -- I've used the grandsire PA Power Tool and I will say the following -- large frame, docile, excellent carcass qualities, udders/teats not great but very good mothers/calve growers, fertile, leg angle not great, claw ok.

 

[J+ Cattle]

large frame, docile, excellent carcass qualities, udders/teats not great but very good mothers/calve growers, fertile, leg angle not great, claw ok.

@Stickney94 you mentioned three negatives with the grandsire PA POWER TOOL 9108 but you would still consider using him when his accuracy improves. Are you thinking these negative areas have been improved upon or do you consider the issues minor ones? By that I mean, the udders/teats not great but were they fully functional and didn't impare the dams ability to raise a good calf.

 

[Ky hills]

I retained a bull by PA Power Tool 9108, and out of a daughter of HA Image Maker. The resulting females have pretty nice udders with quite a bit of milk. They have been good to take care of their calves and have weaned off some very nice calves. For the most part they are larger framed, but have bred and bred back consistently.
I retained 2 bulls from that Power Tool x Image Maker bull. Both of those are out of commercial cows, and are more moderate framed than their sire. One is out of one of my smallest framed cows and have been using him for heifers. I would consider him at this point to be a sure thing 4 star heifer bull if there ever was one. The other bull is moderate and well muscled, his calves have a lot of natural thickness and growth.

 

[Stickney94]

@Stickney94 you mentioned three negatives with the grandsire PA POWER TOOL 9108 but you would still consider using him when his accuracy improves. Are you thinking these negative areas have been improved upon or do you consider the issues minor ones? By that I mean, the udders/teats not great but were they fully functional and didn't impare the dams ability to raise a good calf.

Good question. First, I should have said this up front -- I run a calving to finishing operation. Because of that, I'm looking at an animal across the spectrum. Second, I'm only commenting on Power Tool, I can see the bottom side of the pedigree (Connealy Confidence) likely would have some positives in terms of these negatives.

But, yes, a perfect udder does me no good if the cow won't get bred or won't claim a calf. I understand the logic of wanting perfection, but I'm not culling them for that alone. Leg angle and claw set are items I'm certainly evaluating, but I weigh fertility/mothering ability above them. I've also harvested enough carcasses from these Power Tool cows to know that they have real merit there.

I realize some might try and say the sire you mentioned is a "terminal" sire and we are discussing "maternal" traits -- which is a reasonable argument to make. But, as mentioned, because I also finish animals I weigh things differently.

 

[J+ Cattle]

We can strive for perfection but in the meantime I'll take "functional" cattle. In 20 years of raising cattle I've had one cow that had to have her feet trimmed. I sold her a few months later. I've sold several cows that didn't breed or raise a good calf. I agree fertility and mothering instinct is important.

 

[BFE]

I like the combination of his milk and $EN epds. If accurate then any retained heifers/cows should be lower maintenance with sufficient milk.

I've not used him but I would based off ky hills testimony. Apparently he has some fescue genetics in the mix.

 

[Ky hills]

I like the combination of his milk and $EN epds. If accurate then any retained heifers/cows should be lower maintenance with sufficient milk.

I've not used him but I would based off ky hills testimony. Apparently he has some fescue genetics in the mix.

The cattle way back in the subject bulls pedigree, like his grand sire PA Power Tool, Predestined, and a few other New Design 036 descendants have worked well for us. Especially, in the sense of commercial market calves. They grow good, have slick hair coats. All of those bulls just seem to be really virile, and the walking bulls we used of that pedigree always tested very high for BSE.
I didn't retain many heifers until the home raised Power Tool son out of my Image Maker cow. I've kept back several of his daughters. Could not be any happier with them. They are on average larger framed, but stay in good shape and so far breed back on time. Some of those have weaned off our heaviest calves of their contemporaries.

 

[Ky hills]

Here is a 3 yr old granddaughter of PA Power Tool 9108, with her new second calf. The next heifer is a 2 yr old granddaughter that has a calf about 10 days old.