Polled hereford bull out of BR moler et

[midtncattle]

Thanks for the info. Are you with Missouri Meadows. Also, what do you know about the snodgrass(SPELLING?) line of gerts?

 

[greatgerts]

Missouri Meadows is Santas and Durham Reds on here. Have known him for a long time. The Snodgress cattle are raised to perform out in pasture. He does not show. His bulls and steers have topped tests year after year. Is there a particular line you are wondering about? I've had a few Adios daughters, and have really wanted to use Gridmaker to increase some performance in some of our cows.

 

[midtncattle]

Don't know enough to wonder yet. I have corrresponded with him on facebook and he mentioned the snodgress line. I am looking for gerts female lines that will perform in pasture with little suppourt. I like the "soggy cows" that are not real high legged. Just wanting to know what lines to look for in an animals pedigree. I am assuming that Adios and Gridmaker are snodgress line cattle. What other names male or female should I look for for performance? Is the Hatchet, Old joe, tank and the like mainly suited for show cattle?

 

[greatgerts]

Hatchet and Old Joe would work for both. We have some Hatchet females that are some of the most fertile that we have ever had. Adios and Gridmaker are bulls that Randy Snodgress uses, but were bought from other ranches.
If I get some time this week, I will try and get you some pictures on some of our heifers we have raised by our senior herd sire, HH Y-47.

Here is a picture of Y-47 that I took while bringing in a heifer that he was breeding for a sale coming up.

 

[midtncattle]

That is a fine looking animal. Please endulge me with a few questions. Let's look at Hatchet. His weaning weights are clearly above average but his MAT is below average. His total maternal is aboe average. For fertility and milking which is more important in you opinion?

 

[BC]

That is a fine looking animal. Please endulge me with a few questions. Let's look at Hatchet. His weaning weights are clearly above average but his MAT is below average. His total maternal is aboe average. For fertility and milking which is more important in you opinion?

IMO, fertility is more important than milking ability. Got to get them bred in order to produce a calf.

 

[midtncattle]

O.K., Does the Total Maternal represent fertility?

 

[BC]

O.K., Does the Total Maternal represent fertility?

No. Total Maternal (TM) is the maternal milk (MM) EPD is combined with half of the weaning growth (WW) EPD to produce the total maternal EPD. This is a prediction of the total genetic influence that a sire will have on his daughter's progeny.

 

[midtncattle]

What do I need to look at for fertility. I know scrotum circum. is a predictor. Is there anything else?

 

[BC]

Fertility has a low range of heritability, yet is very important to your bottom line. When looking at purebred cattle, look at calving interval as an indicator of fertility. With crossbred cattle, just follow a strict culling program. You will cull the slow breeders out of your herd.

 

[greatgerts]

That is a fine looking animal. Please endulge me with a few questions. Let's look at Hatchet. His weaning weights are clearly above average but his MAT is below average. His total maternal is aboe average. For fertility and milking which is more important in you opinion?

Thank you. He has become our senior herd sire from the consistency he has gotten in his calves over the last 2 years. He has one son that we ended up having shown this year and did very well in his division. His heifers have been that thick stocky type of female, and each stack right up along with the others. I agree with BC about fertility being more important than milking ability. The issue with some of the Gerts on their EPD's is that most breeders would not weigh their cattle at weaning or yearling.

 

[midtncattle]

I wondered about the numbers used in EPD calculations. I am currently looking a small group of gerts just trying to learn all I can. Thanks