How much sense does it make to look at a mature bull at stud to make a decision on using him or not?
To me, if you are breeding purebred cattle or breeding animals it makes some sense. But you have to take into account how the conditions he is being kept in effect his appearance. Like Knabe said, the Heat Wave clones look much better out in the pasture being bulls so you have to know the bull you are looking at might be different if he were out in your pasture.
But if you are breeding clubby cattle why does it matter what the bull looks like at nine years? You sell calves, you want to have a product that looks like those yearling pics of the bulls. The females out of these bulls aren't bred to be females. 6 or 7 years ago people would have laughed you out of a place if you said you were keeping a Who Made Who female as a cow. If you decide to keep a Clubby sired female to make a cow, you should be responsible for that decision, you should know the risks involved in using something for a purpose that it was not intended. Seeing an old terminal bull in an environment that is just right for crippling and aging him and deciding not to use him to make females is like seeing a 9 year old Dodge pick up that has been sitting at the coast exposed to salt water all that time and determining that it is not a vehicle you would use to cross a river. You should have been able to tell that a truck won't get you across a river from seeing it in a show room before it was ever driven off the lot or from pictures of it in a sales brochure. if you still decide to take that truck and try to cross a river it's on you. It's not the fault of Chrysler, it's not the fault of the salesman who sold you the truck, it's not the fault of the photographer who took the pics for the brochure.
