kenny thomas":3oupwjnh said:
Simmental breeders and users. I am looking at a young bull for light use this year and heavy use next year.
I have cross cows and will not be keeping heifers from him. Below are his numbers.
CE-12.3
BW-0.4
WW-35.2
YW-62.8
MCE-6.6
Milk-2.6 I may have written this one wrong. seems low.
MWW-20.2
STAY-21.3
CWT-0.4
YG-.12
MRB-.32
BF-.03
REA-.05
API-127
TI-69
WW was 759
Frame is about 6.5 (Just how I like it)
He is 15 months old, good muscle, good disposition.
He is AI, out of In Dew Time.
All shots, wormed, and magnet put in his stomach.
Price is $1600.00
What are your thoughts? Again, he would be used on common cross cows with no heifers kept.
I think this bull is ok for a terminal sire -- like you I wouldn't keep heifers off of him because he lacks some important maternal traits like MWW (directly related to WW and MM) and MM. For him to have a 2.6 MM EPD it means that both his sire and dam are weak in the Maternal trait categories. When looking at In Dew Time his WW, YW, MM and MWW are all weak. The YW bothers me a bit because this represents feed efficiency and low growth.A 62 is a little better than average-- so what. As far as his other traits go in the carcass areas-- he is somewhat weak to just average, which wont impress the feeder buyer much.
In Dew Time (IDT) is not very strong in his carcass merit either and the apple doesnt fall too far from the tree. I think you could do better for $1600. Also when purchasing a PB Simm as a Terminal SIre you should be concentrating more on the (TI) In Dew Time, has very low accuracies for most of the traits for being a
2003 model. This tells me what I expect is that he hasn't been used that much as an AI sire and he is basically and umproved entity. I think you would be taking a chance on using any Son of In Dew Time for the same reasons. I personally have never considered using IDT because we don't normally keep a calf as a potential herd sire with a TI as low as 69.. Those calves end up castrated during Spring work.
Another thing I dont like about this bull is his Frame Score-- 6.5 it too much frame and you will take a hit on your feeders come sale time, which is taking money out of your pocket. You have to get out of the rut of these larger Frame scores and concentrate more on quality pounds of beef produced rather than quantity pounds. I realize you are being paid (by the pound) but a buyer trying to maximize his return on investment will not pay you top $ for frame score 6.5 calves. He knows that those calves will take longer to finish and a quick turn around on those larger calves will be non-existant-- so he/she will pay you less money. Frame score 5.8 to 6.0 calves will be bringing top money on sale day as those calves will exit the feed yard 30 days before yours will.
Also should you decide to keep heifers out of a FS 6.5 you will be baling more hay to feed those cows in the future-- which also cuts into your profits. It's just not worth it especially with the price of Fertilizer these days.
I have an example for ya-- real quick.....
In 2008 we sold simangus calves frame score 5.8 to 6.0 by video auction on a truckload basis. Born in October weaned in April weighed in at 680 lbs and were loaded in July at 800 lbs they brought $1.01 per pound.
My neighbor, who like you, likes the bigguns, sold his calves at 800lbs for $0.89 a loss of $96 per head. Since then he has sold his large framed cows and herd sires--- to maximize profits and concentrate on ROI down the road and quality lbs.
Good Luck