Which bull would you select?

[George Monk]

I am currently in the 10 yr process of developing a registered angus herd. What bulls would be the leading canidate to build a herd around? What characteristics would be the leading selection criteria?
We currently have only 4 registered cows that are Dateline and Diversity daughters. We also have 30 commercial cows to use as recipients. This spring I have a tremendous opportunity through ET to increase our numbers rapidly. I don't know the genetics of the embryos which sounds irresponsible but understand this is a unique opportunity that doesn't happen to everybody. I feel confident that this will allow me to get started and then I can improve from there.
My ultimate goal is to end up with about 100-150 registered cows of which 1/2 would be used to breed for registered bulls and bred heifers and the other 1/2 crossed with hereford and charlois to produce commercial bred heifers.
I understand that I have lots of variable left out of these questions but your input would still be appreciated.

 

[Frankie]

I am currently in the 10 yr process of developing a registered angus herd. What bulls would be the leading canidate to build a herd around? What characteristics would be the leading selection criteria?
We currently have only 4 registered cows that are Dateline and Diversity daughters. We also have 30 commercial cows to use as recipients. This spring I have a tremendous opportunity through ET to increase our numbers rapidly. I don't know the genetics of the embryos which sounds irresponsible but understand this is a unique opportunity that doesn't happen to everybody. I feel confident that this will allow me to get started and then I can improve from there.
My ultimate goal is to end up with about 100-150 registered cows of which 1/2 would be used to breed for registered bulls and bred heifers and the other 1/2 crossed with hereford and charlois to produce commercial bred heifers.
I understand that I have lots of variable left out of these questions but your input would still be appreciated.

It's good to see that you have a plan. Simply being an ET calf doesn't make the animal good. Find out the genetics of the embryos before you buy.

Our herd is built around N Bar Emulation EXT. We didn't plan it that way, but his daughters are very good cows. His sons perform well in feed tests and commercial cattlemen loved their length and thickness.

Your market may be different than mine. I'd suggest you get out to some sales this spring and look at sons and daughters of different bulls. See what genetics sells best. Talk to breeders and ask why they're using the bulls they use. Talk to commercial bull buyers and see if they can tell you what they're looking for in a bull.

 

[KMacGinley]

I think that you need to check out La4's bull. I like the Hoff breeding for real cattle. Ext's are psychopaths.

 

[Frankie]

I think that you need to check out La4's bull. I like the Hoff breeding for real cattle. Ext's are psychopaths.

:roll: The AAA has records from over 15,000 EXT daughters from almost 3,700 different producers. If "Ext's are psychopaths", he wouldn't have been used that much.

 

[KMacGinley]

I take it back, they are well known for their great dispositions, in fact, that is why they are so widely used, because they are the opposite of nervous and aggressive. The calmest cattle in the whole angus breed. :lol:

 

[Frankie]

I take it back, they are well known for their great dispositions, in fact, that is why they are so widely used, because they are the opposite of nervous and aggressive. The calmest cattle in the whole angus breed. :lol:

I don't doubt there's some EXT nutcases running around. Years ago when I asked the guys that run our bull test station about EXT sons, they laughed. They had no more problems with EXT son's dispositions than any other Angus bull. They named off a couple of other breeds that they said made the worst Angus look good.

 

[George Monk]

We have a xbred EXT heifer that is a very good looking heifer. What do you think about 1I2 or GridMaker????