The term moderate frame gets bandied about but few people seem to give thought to it being a relative thing. A Charolais at BCS 5.5-6 a FS of 7 may be moderate while for an Angus that would be considered really large. A FS of 6 about the middle of the road for most Red Angus, and 6.5 is getting up there in size. So a moderate framed Red Angus would be more in the 5.5 range. But this too is subject to envoronment. The forage base around here just won't very well support a FS 6.5 a 6 is ok 5.5 is mcuh better. On better forage or colder climates the 6.5 is probably more in line with what is required.
Calving ease is also one of "those" things. A 900 lb heifer needs a greater degree of calving ease then a 1100 lb heifer. While a lot of calving ease does have to do with calf shape, a great deal of it has to do with physical size. The 900 lb heifer that can squirt ot a 75 lb calf may have a lot of problem with a 80 lb calf. Although the 1000 lb heafer may not. Looking back over the records of past years I realized the problem wwe had with the heifers that had problems calving. Of course the calves were much larger then they would have been expected to be, although they have alwasy run around 80 lbs but in 1000-1050 lb heifers they weren't a problem. The two primary calving ease bulls we use have the same degree of accuracy and exectly the same calving ease EPD. But there is a couple of pounds different in there BW EPD, again with the same accuracy.
Just some rambling thoughts. When they start giving the windchill I tend to not want to get outside and work much.
dun
Calving ease is also one of "those" things. A 900 lb heifer needs a greater degree of calving ease then a 1100 lb heifer. While a lot of calving ease does have to do with calf shape, a great deal of it has to do with physical size. The 900 lb heifer that can squirt ot a 75 lb calf may have a lot of problem with a 80 lb calf. Although the 1000 lb heafer may not. Looking back over the records of past years I realized the problem wwe had with the heifers that had problems calving. Of course the calves were much larger then they would have been expected to be, although they have alwasy run around 80 lbs but in 1000-1050 lb heifers they weren't a problem. The two primary calving ease bulls we use have the same degree of accuracy and exectly the same calving ease EPD. But there is a couple of pounds different in there BW EPD, again with the same accuracy.
Just some rambling thoughts. When they start giving the windchill I tend to not want to get outside and work much.
dun