Dylan Biggs":1anxvje5 said:
angus9259":1anxvje5 said:
You might find out too late that the herdsire out of your own stock is a dog.
You might. That is true. Dogs are found in studs also. If you track the number of prospects that Studs bring in to their line up every year and see how many actually stay in the line up it is clear that no prospect is risk free.
I once heard a number that they hope for one in three to make it.
now this was a few years ago before all the breeder owned studs....
And I do not recall if they were talking beef or beef and dairy.....
Make it .... also would include not only progeny perfomance results but consumer (AI using breeder) acceptance as well.
Now....I will tromp on some toes....
Some studs can get prefix blind.....
but these AI comapnies have folks on staff, whose job it is, to find bulls that will increase sales share for the stud
These folks look at more than a couple of bulls a year.
Industry standards for what is desired in a bull change....a mere glance at mature heights over the years will reinforce this argument.
Not everyone wants the same things in a bull.
there is a wide diversity of genetics in several breeds. A dog to one breeder is the ultimate to another. EPD breeders will not consider Wye cattle. Wye does not obsess over epds even thought they were among the first to contribute tremendous data that the angus breed data was based on.
There are, and always have been, and will always be, breeders at the top of the heap who will have difficulty finding bulls outside their herd who will improve their herd. Most of these still try to find that bull.
for all of us to think that old betsy out back when bred to the right bull will give us the bull to compete with those breeders........I truly enjoy the optimism.
There are breeders who have been at it a long time and who have carved out a market and who are very sucessful with their own program. not all of them are famous.
To me there is a difference between having the confidence to use my own bulls, and making the assumption that because I do not have a drop off in performance that my bulls are as good as anything available AI.