Selecting the right bull to help my herd

[TrelinBAP]

My dad has been in the cow/calf business for quite some time. He has recently given me 6 brangus cows that are bred and are 3-6 years old. 3 of them have calved already and are ready to be bred again. My dad has always been kind of old school and is not keen on AI and his entire herd are crossbreeds so he doesn't have much advice to pass on to me about improving herd genetics through bull selection to the extreme of AI. The direction I want to take my herd is to breed my cows to superior bulls through AI in order to be a cow/calf operation at first as I build a reputation to become a seedstock breeder with around 20 cows and a herd sire after several rounds of AI. The cows that have already calved are great moms and docile, good looking bags and feet. Now on to my question: When selecting a bull for my first attempt to improve genetics, should I look for a bull that makes excellent daughters because I do plan on keeping all of my heifers at first or do I jump directly into a great all around bull? One of my goals is to eventually keep a bull calf as a herd sire once I am happy with the look of my herd and get away from AI for a few years. In simple I want to know if I should build an excellent cow base before I attempt to breed a great sire or should any genetic improvement to my herd be sufficient. I'm new to this whole herd improvement game of AI. I hope my question isn't confusing or revealing to me being completely clueless.

This is the bull I'm considering for my first round.

TCB Catawba Warrior- just looks to be a great sire as far as EPDs go to make great daughters and easy calves

Thanks in advance to those that don't mind passing on any tips and knowledge.

 

[bcarty]

My advice is to build that great set of momma cows before you worry about producing any type of herd bull prospect. That being said you cannot produce the "perfect" cow. You can get really close and create a set of cows that function and produce extremely well in your area and that should be your first goal. If you are already there with the set of cows you have then that's great. If your end goal is to produce seedstock you need a wider genetic base than just 6 cows to base your selection off of. You cant get an very accurate comparison among contemporaries if you only have 3 or 4 bull calves. Keeping replacement heifers obviously isn't as big of a deal to evaluate them early because they will only produce one calf a year. A bull is half the calf crop! If your going to sell bulls you really need to have your ducks in a row before you try to sell them. If you jump on that too early and have a misfire on a bull or two it could ruin any future bull business you might be aspiring to have.

I am in no way saying you would be this way, but the absolute worst type of seedstock producer is one with these traits:
1 Doesn't have a sharp enough knife - keeps too many bulls calves and sells them when they aren't worth spit claiming they are superstars.
2 Doesn't have enough cows to evaluate his calves the right way and just keeps them all and claims they are as good as his neighbors cattle who might be a big time seedstock producer.
3 One who has so many cattle he no longer has to rely on them for a living and doesn't have to deal with them and only sees the numbers on paper and says, "yup, hes a keeper."

All three of those type producers can and do produce some really good bull calves, but just like everyone else they have a few calves that need to be referred to as T-Bone or Ground chuck instead of walking around producing the next set of calves for someone who relys on them for a paycheck.

All that being said.... The person buying the bull better do his homework first and know what he is buying!

 

[Katpau]

Your goals sound similar to mine 25 years ago. If you are looking to make replacements, make sure you keep maternal traits as your #1 priority. Good udders, docility, milking ability to match your environment, good feet and legs, should all be more important than maxing out weaning weights. I think AI may be a good choice, but make sure you do as much research as you can into the daughters of the bull you chose to use. Don't use a young unproven bull, and find as many people with milking daughters as you can. Find out how happy they are with those daughters. Remember epd's, only evaluate some things. Don't forget forget to look at the whole animal. It is sometimes too easy to get caught up in all the impressive numbers.

bcarty seems to assume you are planning to sell bulls. I saw no mention of that in your post. You mention only breeding bulls for your own use. This can work, but if you only plan on running 20 cows, you will likely end up with quite a bit of line-breeding and inbreeding, when you use your own bulls. I am sure as a Brangus breeder you are quite aware of the effects of hybrid vigor, so you are probably also aware of the opposite effect that can result from too much line-breeding. It will also increase the likelihood of discovering the recessive defects that may be lurking in every herd. Perhaps once you have the maternal herd you desire, you might consider buying a good cow or heifer with bloodlines that would be an out-cross for your herd. You could raise bulls out of her to use back on your herd.