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Reaching genetic potential
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<blockquote data-quote="Brandonm2" data-source="post: 154409" data-attributes="member: 2095"><p>NOT true!! Nothing is absolute. EPDs are "expected" progeny differences, not "progeny differences". There are a LOT of environmental factors which can tilt the data. Everybody in this business knows that some cattle perform better on infected fescue than other families of cattle. Dittoe with heat or cold. I can use the cross breed EPD tables to compare an Angus sire versus a Brahman sire; but if I am in Florida do I really expect the Brahman to not outperform his EPD versus the Angus? But if I am grazing a mountain in west Montana the Angus should have an advantage over the Brahman greater than what the EPD comparison should predict. I know that is an EXTREME example; but there are smaller differences even between cattle within breeds. In another string we looked at a high growth Angus bull. His daughters should be very high growth, very productive very framy cows. I (grazing fescue in Alabama) 'might' have some problems with a group of frame score 8 Angus cows here that a dude on a farm in Ohio won't have. I might do better with a more moderate framed set of cows despite the EPDs while those moderate cows might underperform versus the bigger cows in a well managed Ohio farm. EPDs are management tools. That does not mean that we should not be talking to other breeders in our area about their experiences and keep in herd ratios on how those genetics perform on your particular ranch.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Brandonm2, post: 154409, member: 2095"] NOT true!! Nothing is absolute. EPDs are "expected" progeny differences, not "progeny differences". There are a LOT of environmental factors which can tilt the data. Everybody in this business knows that some cattle perform better on infected fescue than other families of cattle. Dittoe with heat or cold. I can use the cross breed EPD tables to compare an Angus sire versus a Brahman sire; but if I am in Florida do I really expect the Brahman to not outperform his EPD versus the Angus? But if I am grazing a mountain in west Montana the Angus should have an advantage over the Brahman greater than what the EPD comparison should predict. I know that is an EXTREME example; but there are smaller differences even between cattle within breeds. In another string we looked at a high growth Angus bull. His daughters should be very high growth, very productive very framy cows. I (grazing fescue in Alabama) 'might' have some problems with a group of frame score 8 Angus cows here that a dude on a farm in Ohio won't have. I might do better with a more moderate framed set of cows despite the EPDs while those moderate cows might underperform versus the bigger cows in a well managed Ohio farm. EPDs are management tools. That does not mean that we should not be talking to other breeders in our area about their experiences and keep in herd ratios on how those genetics perform on your particular ranch. [/QUOTE]
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