Totally agree with the comments that figures are only half the picture! However one without the other can lead you astray just as easily!
We tend to use the mating predictor function which is attached to our EBV's in which you combine the sire and dam names and it spits out expected progeny EBVs, which of course are merely 50% of each parent, but at least if you enter your list of females against various bulls you can see which make the best match!
For bulls we cannot go and visit in the flesh-either AI bulls or at the other end of the country this mating predictor is the main way of picking a bull.
We do much the same as you Jeanne Simme Valley, and highlight how many traits are improvements on both the breed average and those already better than what we have. The mix with the most highlighted traits in the progeny get the big tick.
Whilst we are looking more closely at marbling these days, because that is the way we can add value to a carcase, we certainly don't single trait select.
Interesting you mention that high marbling leads to light boned animals, that must explain why the few Waygu animals we see over here look scrawny dairy types out in the paddock. The first ones we saw looked like Jersey- Angus cross breds!
For phenotype one might have only photos to rely on, and we know how photos can drastically alter whether they look better or worse! On farm we judge temperament perhaps as no 1, especially for the cows. We need to be able to walk up to a new calf and tag and weigh it with mother nearby and for bulls, I need to be able to walk around the herd without having to watch where the bull is and what his intentions are! After 42 years of selection-and culling- I think we just about have this one mastered.
Feet, udders and scrotums are next on the inspection list, if we are looking at the herd.
With only a small herd of 20 or so cows on 50 acres we have a strict selection and culling process, but having access to figures sure plays a big part. Having shown stock over the years one tends to get ones eye in for correct , functional cattle from the outside so adding the figures completes the picture.
Pictured is the 3 yr old dam of the bull Overlord pictured earlier and which we have just sold, and her this years calf, a heifer, by the 'light boned' bull Murphy at 7 days old. Hope she turns out as nice as her big brother!
