Which bull to use?

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Chi-man

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South Georgia - Doerun
https://bullsearch.absglobal.com/beef/b ... 88,2033726

Objective: Polled Hereford females.
We want good production cows, but we also show Polled Hereford heifers in the junior program. I am leaning more towards the Revved Up bull based on structure and depth. However, production is more important than banners at this point since we are in a herd building phase. Once my son gets to high school later, we may place a little more emphasis on the banners and buckles side.

We fall calve in Southwest Georgia, so high milk production is not a good thing. Forage quality doesn't allow for high milking cows. This is a bit of a concern with the Revved Up bull and gives the Foundation bull an advantage in my opinion.

I would appreciate any input from anyone that has used either of these bulls or seen progeny in production.

Thanks!
 
I have not seen progeny from either however I would lean toward Revved up as his maternal grandsire is 4R which stands out to me because I have some 4R's with some outstanding udders as well as good growth. It is difficult for me to dislike a bull because his daughter's milk too heavy.
 
I'd eliminate the Foundation bull on milk epd 10 that's in the bottom 6% of the breed, and too extreme imo.
Reved Up at 22 is breed average. But I can't tell you anything about either bulls daughters.
 
Are you limited to ABS bulls because I am not that impressed by the Hereford bulls ABS offers. Our 4R daughters have been performing as good as any cows we have in the herd right now so if you really had to go with one of those bulls Revved Up is the one I'd choose but I think if you expanded your search and looked into buying some semen shipped straight from some breeders you'll find better bulls and genetic base than what you might find limiting yourself to buying semen from the AI stud rep.
 
SPH - I would be very interested in purchasing from a breeder. I am looking for a Homozygous Polled bull. I just don't want to deal with horns. I also don't want to break the bank either. Some of those really nice bulls come with a lot of $$$$ for the semen and certificates.

I am not exactly giddy with excitement over the bulls that I have found from the big semen companies.

How much frame do the 4R cattle have? Our cattle could stand a little more frame for my taste. I was a little concerned 4R might maintain or reduce frame.

I have been looking at these bulls also:
JDH JJD 9Y 485T ALL IN 96B ET
C&L CT FEDERAL 485T 6Y
NJW PMH 66X 156T LUX 206A ET
KLS GREAT TIME 4Y

If you have suggestions for breeders that you like and are willing to share, I would greatly appreciate that information.

Also, thanks for the other replies to the post!!!
 
Chi-man-
I tried to send a PM but never heard from you. Check your inbox. I have a very small herd of registered polled Herefords and i'm about an hour from you. Very maternal bred, moderate, and pretty showy. Built around old southern programs (trask, fowken, etc.) I have three bulls available and a few daughters...as well as some nice calves getting bigger. Pretty sure i sent my contact in the PM. Good luck in your search.
 
Chi-man":1r75gii7 said:
SPH - I would be very interested in purchasing from a breeder. I am looking for a Homozygous Polled bull. I just don't want to deal with horns. I also don't want to break the bank either. Some of those really nice bulls come with a lot of $$$$ for the semen and certificates.

I am not exactly giddy with excitement over the bulls that I have found from the big semen companies.

How much frame do the 4R cattle have? Our cattle could stand a little more frame for my taste. I was a little concerned 4R might maintain or reduce frame.

I have been looking at these bulls also:
JDH JJD 9Y 485T ALL IN 96B ET
C&L CT FEDERAL 485T 6Y
NJW PMH 66X 156T LUX 206A ET
KLS GREAT TIME 4Y

If you have suggestions for breeders that you like and are willing to share, I would greatly appreciate that information.

Also, thanks for the other replies to the post!!!

How big of cattle frame size wise do you prefer? 4R tends to sire moderately framed calves, not too small IMO as long as you aren't breeding him to small framed cows to begin with. Most of our 4R calves over the years have averaged about mid 5 frame for heifers, and bulls upper 5 to lower 6 frame. Most of our cows are some type of 5 or 6 frame in size which is right were we like them, any bigger and they can be hard doer's in our environment and any smaller you worry about them possibly being hard calvers. I'm trying to pull up 4R's performance pedigree to see what the average frame size of his progeny has been as he's been a pretty heavily used AI sire but the AHA website appears to be having issues at the moment so I'll check back later on that. If I had to guess it's probably somewhere around 5.5 frame average on a couple thousand registered calves reported.

I will send you a PM later on with some suggestions, don't really want to turn this into a post to be promoting certain breeder's genetics over another. I guess my main question is other than preferring a homo polled sire what other qualities are important to you and what kind of traits are you looking to add to your program? That would help with narrowing down some bull suggestions knowing what kind of things you are looking for.
 
I also have a small registered herd of Polled Herefords. I have AI'ed to several different bulls over the years, including Boyd Masterpiece, Durango 4037, R294, Revolution 4R, DR World Class, Lambeau, Times A'Wastin, About Time, Trust 100W and Trust 167Y. I try to keep good phenotype with solid functional cattle by focusing on having good mama cows. I try to select bulls that move most traits in the right direction according to EPDs. That being said, my observations are:
Durango- Good cows, seems to add depth- sure won't hurt phenotype. Lots of white and not always the best uddered.
R294- My best cow (never has a bad calf) is by him. HEAVY milker- not really show looks cattle from what I've seen.
4R- had just a couple of them, weren't bad- I wanted more depth on the ones I had- but sold mine before I got to see how they turned out. Looked to be moderate framed.
World Class- Love my World Class mamas- good udders- good calves. Mine are not real showy, but their calves look good and grow well. Wish there was still semen.
Lambeau- Great phenotype- deep ribbed, thick, Smaller framed cattle- Can't beat for calving ease.
Times a Wastin- Only have a couple of calves from him, but they were good. Only daughter I raised went back into the herd and just calved a 58 lb heifer calf. Horned....
Trust 100W and Trust 167Y- Have just had this springs calves from these two. Really look like the best calves I've ever raised! Deep, square, correct and quite a bit of pigment. Love the balanced EPDs on both bulls.
This is just my opinion and is obviously not based on 100's of calves observed. And MAYBE, my calves are getting better because I have stacked several generations of AI bulls on my cows and have retained my own heifers...if fact I hope that is the reason! Anyway you might want to take a look at Trust 167Y from Genex- $20/ straw. 60/ cert
 

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