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The End of EPDs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ky hills" data-source="post: 1849913" data-attributes="member: 24816"><p>I think I understand and agree with what you said. There are in my opinion no totally foolproof methods or philosophies about breeding cattle in every circumstance.</p><p>I remember the days of selecting calving ease bulls based on smooth shoulders, under 100lbs birthweight, unassisted from a heifer etc. </p><p>EPD's helped to weed out some guesswork and could be backed up fairly quick for CE. </p><p>The example I gave of Charolais was coming in at a time when EPD's were just getting going and Charolais were behind the curve on utilizing them until an opportunity arose. The breed at that time was heavily influenced by the show ring movers and shakers. The champion bloodline cattle were streamlined to just a few lines and heavily sought after. The daughters from those lines didn't milk near enough if at all. </p><p>Suddenly milk was important again and people were clamoring for bulls with good milk EPD's. Those numbers we're very fluid, there may be more consistency now.</p><p>I've also found that pedigree history is a factor for traits too, but when mating animals with traits at opposite ends of the spectrum I call them fire and ice matings, a lot of variation happens.</p><p>An example the Angus bull Bismarck, in my opinion a really good bull. He is a proven calving ease bull but his sire Grid Maker, while a good bull in own right for growth definitely is not a bull you'd want to breed heifers to and expect problem free experience.</p><p>We got a Hereford bull sone years ago that was a fire and ice mating. Average EPD's for the bull, he was touted by the sales promoter as a sleep all night calving ease heifer bull because his sire was. </p><p>I didn't think he looked like what I would call a heifer bull, but we got in a pinch and didn't have another bull at the time. He had sired average sized calves from cows with no problem so we took a chance and put him with sone heifers. Had to pull over half of the calves and sone were very hard pulls. </p><p>He must have taken after his dams side similar but opposite of what Bismarck did.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ky hills, post: 1849913, member: 24816"] I think I understand and agree with what you said. There are in my opinion no totally foolproof methods or philosophies about breeding cattle in every circumstance. I remember the days of selecting calving ease bulls based on smooth shoulders, under 100lbs birthweight, unassisted from a heifer etc. EPD’s helped to weed out some guesswork and could be backed up fairly quick for CE. The example I gave of Charolais was coming in at a time when EPD’s were just getting going and Charolais were behind the curve on utilizing them until an opportunity arose. The breed at that time was heavily influenced by the show ring movers and shakers. The champion bloodline cattle were streamlined to just a few lines and heavily sought after. The daughters from those lines didn’t milk near enough if at all. Suddenly milk was important again and people were clamoring for bulls with good milk EPD’s. Those numbers we’re very fluid, there may be more consistency now. I’ve also found that pedigree history is a factor for traits too, but when mating animals with traits at opposite ends of the spectrum I call them fire and ice matings, a lot of variation happens. An example the Angus bull Bismarck, in my opinion a really good bull. He is a proven calving ease bull but his sire Grid Maker, while a good bull in own right for growth definitely is not a bull you’d want to breed heifers to and expect problem free experience. We got a Hereford bull sone years ago that was a fire and ice mating. Average EPD’s for the bull, he was touted by the sales promoter as a sleep all night calving ease heifer bull because his sire was. I didn’t think he looked like what I would call a heifer bull, but we got in a pinch and didn’t have another bull at the time. He had sired average sized calves from cows with no problem so we took a chance and put him with sone heifers. Had to pull over half of the calves and sone were very hard pulls. He must have taken after his dams side similar but opposite of what Bismarck did. [/QUOTE]
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