The best "heifer bull" we ever used was New Design 036 and we have a few straws of him left. I think 878 is going to be a good bull and if calving ease is a top priority he's probably a good one to use. We bought an 036 heifer with a 6I6 bull calf on her last fall. I'm not especially impressed with him. But I have seen some nice 6I6 bulls. So we'll see. Generally, though, a heifer bull won't give me the muscling that I'm looking for. I guess the best bull we ever used that added muscle was the ABS bull Plowman. We never were disappointed in a Plowman calf. They were born in the 80-90 lb. BW range, weaned heavy, tested well and ultransounded in the top 10% of their test group. But he's a moderate framed bull so we haven't used in in a couple of years. I've seen some of Bando 5175 calves and am anxious to get some on the ground here. We also bred a few fall calving cows to Neutron 377, but haven't seen anything by him. We were going by word of mouth and bull test reports when we used him. And there's always EXT. He's only about 2 for BW. Good luck...
> Yea, we breed strictly AI...we
> don't even have a clean-up bull.
> Actually we are looking to use a
> couple different Angus bulls this
> year on some of our Gelbvieh
> heifers and mature cows to product
> Balancer hybrid bulls.
> In our bull market the majority of
> cattle producers are running small
> herds and either work in town or
> have other farming operations that
> don't allow them to check
> regularly on cows during calving
> season. Consequently, they are
> looking for bulls with good
> calving ease and low birth weight
> EPDs.
> I'm always on the lookout for that
> unique calving ease bull (whether
> it be a Gelbvieh, Angus, or Red
> Angus)that also maintains or
> improves muscling and also has
> adequate growth. I'd love to hear
> suggestions of any bulls you have
> used that do this.
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