Top Bulls for Females

[bse]

Luckiamute did you use Treasure before the number changes in the AAA? I was gonna use him but changed to Legend. Think Treasure will still work in a lot of situations

 

[SchenkAngusFarm]

BSE, have you had any hit the ground with Legend yet? I was thinking about using him. I was also thinking about Raindance.

I too looked at Treasure but backed up off the new numbers.

 

[Luckiamute]

Luckiamute did you use Treasure before the number changes in the AAA? I was gonna use him but changed to Legend. Think Treasure will still work in a lot of situations

I had purchased the semen from Treasure (and Concord) early last spring, so it was before the AAA EPD numbers changed. I couldn't believe that his Milk EPD went from +30 to +14. 30 is a little high for me, I usually look for bulls with milk EPDs in the low to mid 20s because that is what seems to work for me, so +14 is a little low and concerning. I guess we'll see what happens when his daughters go into production if they are worthy at that time. He also has a little too much growth for me in terms of EPDs now, though his numbers were on the high end to begin with. His calving ease/birth weight EPDs did improve if you're looking for additional calving ease; I guess I wouldn't hesitate to use him on heifers now.

 

[Air gator]

I honestly don't know how reliable the "new" epds are. I think it's going to be a while before the dust settles on those numbers. I think you can have an idea based on what you know about the bulls in a pedigree for a start. I am always skeptical about young bulls calving ease epds...I'm glad I didn't use Var Discovery when he was a +14 CED. He's now a +4. I hope to use the bull because I have heard great things about him...just wouldn't want to try him on a heifer. It seems like it would be better for most bull owners to have a lower milk epd when it comes to selling to commercial breeders, so I wonder if that is why some milk epds are so low?

 

[Luckiamute]

I honestly don't know how reliable the "new" epds are. I think it's going to be a while before the dust settles on those numbers. I think you can have an idea based on what you know about the bulls in a pedigree for a start. I am always skeptical about young bulls calving ease epds...I'm glad I didn't use Var Discovery when he was a +14 CED. He's now a +4. I hope to use the bull because I have heard great things about him...just wouldn't want to try him on a heifer. It seems like it would be better for most bull owners to have a lower milk epd when it comes to selling to commercial breeders, so I wonder if that is why some milk epds are so low?

Good points all around. I sometimes wonder how accurate and "honest" these EPDs are. Seems like the breed associations are constantly changing how they're calculated. I know most of the cows in my Angus herd took a hit when the new EPD calculations came out in July. I had one 6-year-old cow whose YW EPD when from +90 to +68. And she constantly weans and produces my largest calves in terms of weight at a year of age. Go figure?

 

[gizmom]

Thanks for the response. I appreciate the feedback.

You also bring up a great point about Charlo. I only have one cow out of his that I bought as a heifer calf combo but she's looking pretty good.

I don't have any Charlo in my tank but I may go ahead and order some. Thanks again.

Charlo died so supply may be limited. I checked with our rep and he wasn't able to get me any.