Some people need to experience the train wreck before they'll learn...I purchased a group of really fancy black and red balancer heifers many years ago that were bred to a couple of bulls that had breed avg CE/BW epds. The seller assured me that the bulls had been used on heifers with heifers for the past several years with no issues. The heifers all had good pelvic measurements.Bright Raven said:ALACOWMAN said:You gotta keep em at their genetic potential in the seedstock business ...I've seen good bulls that looked like crap during their development because of poor management..but eventually caught up later and looked like the bull they were bred to be..sired better calves then they looked like they could during that ugly period..and not knowing,you would scratch your head wondering how...
That brings up an issue. Often we read posts suggesting that bulls developed in the seedstock business "melt". I assume that means the bull has lost condition when put to work. I don't see anything "critical" in the term "melt" but the way it is used in posts on this forum, it seems to imply something far more sinister.
When I sell a bull to someone, my concern is performance and function. I don't care if he "melts". What I don't want is bad feet, bad back, low libido, inability to handle fescue pastures, or killing someone's cows with giant calves, etc. Etc.
I have a few bulls out working now, here and in Missouri. So far I have gotten no feedback of a "form or function" problem. If someone tells me a bull "melted", I expect them to lose some condition. I got one bull in Tennessee that I get pictures back on. He looks good but more importantly he has performed.
What I cannot control is someone who doesn't know what they are doing. For example, in the fall, I sold a Broadway bull. I was EMPHATIC that he was not a calving ease bull to be used on heifers. All you have to do is look at Broadway's numbers to know that. The guy who bought him was looking specifically for a Broadway bull. I suggested several times that he was not calving ease. I saw the buyer in Cynthiana. I ask about the bull. First thing he says is that he had him on a group of heifers. :???: To top it off, these were Angus heifers. The bull was PB. So add the heterosis into the equation. I may hear from this guy this coming fall.
I ended up pulling 19 of the calves.. They had heads like cinder blocks.. I felt fortunate that I only lost 6 calves and none of the heifers. It was hell.