Tehama Tahoe vs. GAR Sure Fire

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Bestoutwest

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In my opinion you would be fine with either of those bulls. My own choice would be Tahoe because Tehama is located in an environment more similar to my own. They are in the central valley of northern California. It is hot and dry there in summer, and some of those pastures don't look like they could feed a Jackrabbit. It is usually even hotter and dryer than we are here, so I figure if a bull comes from a herd that can survive there, it should do well here.

One thing that has always concerned me with Gardiner, is their policy of selling all of their cows at a very young age. That way they are always using the latest genetics, but it makes it impossible to know how long those cows would be productive. Tehama keeps their cows until age gets in the way of production. You won't see an 8-year-old cow at GAR, but there will be plenty at Tehama. The heifer pregnancy EPD seems to show that fertility might be a factor for GAR. Sure Fire's HP EPD is in the bottom 15% of the breed while Tahoe is in the top 35%. Sure Fire has 4 times the data reported compared to Tahoe in that area, so perhaps with more heifer pregnancies reported Tahoe's numbers might drop too. HP numbers always have less data than birth and weaning numbers, so I never really trust them.

Both bulls show EPD's with excellent carcass traits and good calving ease. Calving ease numbers for these bulls' daughters is also quite similar and appear more than adequate. Both bulls claim to produce daughters with good udders. Their docility scores are both good, with Sure Fire in the top 10% with almost 1400 reports and Tahoe in the top 25% with almost 350 reports. Tahoe's EPDs show greater potential for growth to weaning. His weaning weight EPD beat Sure Fire by 20 pounds. EPD's also indicate that both will mature at a moderate weight and height and their numbers for those traits are almost identical.
 
In my opinion you would be fine with either of those bulls. My own choice would be Tahoe because Tehama is located in an environment more similar to my own. They are in the central valley of northern California. It is hot and dry there in summer, and some of those pastures don't look like they could feed a Jackrabbit. It is usually even hotter and dryer than we are here, so I figure if a bull comes from a herd that can survive there, it should do well here.

One thing that has always concerned me with Gardiner, is their policy of selling all of their cows at a very young age. That way they are always using the latest genetics, but it makes it impossible to know how long those cows would be productive. Tehama keeps their cows until age gets in the way of production. You won't see an 8-year-old cow at GAR, but there will be plenty at Tehama. The heifer pregnancy EPD seems to show that fertility might be a factor for GAR. Sure Fire's HP EPD is in the bottom 15% of the breed while Tahoe is in the top 35%. Sure Fire has 4 times the data reported compared to Tahoe in that area, so perhaps with more heifer pregnancies reported Tahoe's numbers might drop too. HP numbers always have less data than birth and weaning numbers, so I never really trust them.

Both bulls show EPD's with excellent carcass traits and good calving ease. Calving ease numbers for these bulls' daughters is also quite similar and appear more than adequate. Both bulls claim to produce daughters with good udders. Their docility scores are both good, with Sure Fire in the top 10% with almost 1400 reports and Tahoe in the top 25% with almost 350 reports. Tahoe's EPDs show greater potential for growth to weaning. His weaning weight EPD beat Sure Fire by 20 pounds. EPD's also indicate that both will mature at a moderate weight and height and their numbers for those traits are almost identical.
Thanks for all the information on that. I'm in the Treasure Valley, and it's HOT and dry so having genetics that work in my environment really helps. I have one cow that is always in the shade compared to the others, and she's SAV on the top side. My others come from a local breeder here that's been doing it for close to 30 years. Prior to that I hadn't really thought about how environment influences genetics in ONE particular breed so much.
 

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