Maternal ABS hereford bull

[SPH]

My concern with KT Small Town is his mature frame size. In this area calves with a frame size under 5.5 are docked. His frame size is a 5.0. Otherwise I really like some things about him and his progeny. We are using a bull now that is a frame size 5.5 and many feel he is border line on being too small. Will know what the buyers feel this fall.

Frame score of progeny is going to be affected by the type of cows you breed any bull to really. Some guys are going to use more moderate framed bulls to bring down the frame size on larger cows while others will use one to hold pattern of similar frame size cattle. He doesn't have a yearling height recorded on his peformance pedigree but I did find 1 site that had his hip height listed at 55 but it doesn't say at what age that was at. I'm assuming that is probably a 2 year measurement because 55 at yearling would put him at an 8 frame and he surely is not that. 55 at 24 months would put him at 5.5 or slightly higher frame (at 24 months 53.9 is a 5 and 56 is a 6 frame) which I would believe. Only 4 measurements on his progeny so far averaging 5.4 frame. His sire Hometown has been used a lot more and 437 of his calves have averaged 5.4 frame as well so probably safe to assume he's probably a mid 5 frame bull and not a lower or straight up 5. We bred him to cows that are between a 5-6 frame so I expect their calves will probably frame somewhere in the mid 5's to lower 6 probably too. We measure hip height at yearling on replacement heifers and bulls so will know more next spring. Will be keeping a heifer and likely will probably have at least 2 of his sons in our sale pen I'm sure. All I know is we really like what we see from his calves so far and are excited to see how they grow out.

Speaking of frame size I'll tell you 1 bull I've never quite understood why so many guys like him is the EFBEEF TFL U208 TESTED X651 bull. He is a 4.4 frame bull and 172 progeny measured have averaged 5.1 frame. Guys that used him seem to really like his calves and apparently he has a lot of desirable carcass traits if you are breeder feeder cattle but from a seedstock perspective he seems too small framed for my liking. His A250 son is getting used a lot too and he's even smaller, 4.2 frame and 72 progeny averaging 4.9 but again his carcass results have been good too.

 

[elkwc]

My concern with KT Small Town is his mature frame size. In this area calves with a frame size under 5.5 are docked. His frame size is a 5.0. Otherwise I really like some things about him and his progeny. We are using a bull now that is a frame size 5.5 and many feel he is border line on being too small. Will know what the buyers feel this fall.

Frame score of progeny is going to be affected by the type of cows you breed any bull to really. Some guys are going to use more moderate framed bulls to bring down the frame size on larger cows while others will use one to hold pattern of similar frame size cattle. He doesn't have a yearling height recorded on his peformance pedigree but I did find 1 site that had his hip height listed at 55 but it doesn't say at what age that was at. I'm assuming that is probably a 2 year measurement because 55 at yearling would put him at an 8 frame and he surely is not that. 55 at 24 months would put him at 5.5 or slightly higher frame (at 24 months 53.9 is a 5 and 56 is a 6 frame) which I would believe. Only 4 measurements on his progeny so far averaging 5.4 frame. His sire Hometown has been used a lot more and 437 of his calves have averaged 5.4 frame as well so probably safe to assume he's probably a mid 5 frame bull and not a lower or straight up 5. We bred him to cows that are between a 5-6 frame so I expect their calves will probably frame somewhere in the mid 5's to lower 6 probably too. We measure hip height at yearling on replacement heifers and bulls so will know more next spring. Will be keeping a heifer and likely will probably have at least 2 of his sons in our sale pen I'm sure. All I know is we really like what we see from his calves so far and are excited to see how they grow out.

Speaking of frame size I'll tell you 1 bull I've never quite understood why so many guys like him is the EFBEEF TFL U208 TESTED X651 bull. He is a 4.4 frame bull and 172 progeny measured have averaged 5.1 frame. Guys that used him seem to really like his calves and apparently he has a lot of desirable carcass traits if you are breeder feeder cattle but from a seedstock perspective he seems too small framed for my liking. His A250 son is getting used a lot too and he's even smaller, 4.2 frame and 72 progeny averaging 4.9 but again his carcass results have been good too.

I've seen on one site where his mature frame is listed at 55 and been told he is around a frame size 5.0. Yes it depends on the frame size of your cows. Also what your market dictates. We are trying to maintain or add a little. We will be selling a bull this fall that is frame 5.0 and his calves get docked. I'm developing a son of Aventus. He tends to sire more frame. Only time will tell if he has the desired frame size. I don't pay much attention to yearling frame size. It seems many times the yearling size is a lot more than the final mature size. We have a bull now that was a frame size 7.0 as a yearling and now a 5.5 at 3 years of age.