Calving ease bulls

What are peoples overall views on calving ease bulls? I am doing a research paper for one of my classes and want to do it on calving ease bulls and in a more general direction of some negative aspects of the continual and constant use of calving ease bulls. Some things I have seen and heard negatively are:
- smaller framed
-lower weights
-smaller dlvic areas
-using calving ease bulls forces producers to use smaller and smaller bulls every year

what are your thoughts pros and cons?

Your comment of wanting to do it in a more general negative direction automatically makes your paper biased, and therefore a poor research paper. Be careful of confirmation bias, and try to take an approach of "Results of stacking calving ease bulls through multiple generations." And there are very few (if any) people on this site credible enough to use as sources on a research paper, unless the topic is "breeders' conceptions of stacking calving ease bulls through multiple generations."

My suggestion is to find a purebred breeder that has stacked low bw bulls for multiple generations. Your best chance will most likely be an Angus herd. You just need to find a program that keeps detailed records of bw's, weaning weights, yearling weights, pelvic measurements, and ultrasound data.(GOOD LUCK!)
And compare those numbers to herds that have not stacked those genetics. The biggest problem is finding the operations, and using actual data not EPD's. I wish you the best. It will be a challenging paper to write.

shortybreeder said:

Your comment of wanting to do it in a more general negative direction automatically makes your paper biased, and therefore a poor research paper. Be careful of confirmation bias, and try to take an approach of "Results of stacking calving ease bulls through multiple generations." And there are very few (if any) people on this site credible enough to use as sources on a research paper, unless the topic is "breeders' conceptions of stacking calving ease bulls through multiple generations."

Click to expand...

I don't per say have a bias either way I have used on many occasions calving ease bulls and have plans to continually use. I guess what I meant is I am more interested in hearing peoples negative thoughts on the increased use and demand for calving ease bulls if any. Nor am I looking for credited scorches from steer planet but more so general opinions as to what people of calving ease bulls and if they have seen negative trends mies in with all the positives.

I do like the idea of doing it on "the results of staking calving ease bulls through generations"

Considering that you are doing a research paper on this topic you should consider brushing up on your use of spell-check, and also consider previewing your posts before posting! IMO
That said, your research topic seems to be fairly difficult in that you will battle to find a commercial breeder who has accurate records, and pedigree breeders may not be too willing to share their findings.
If you manage to get pelvic measurement details on the sires and their progeny you would have an incredible research article.
Good luck!

jchandler16 said:

What are peoples overall views on calving ease bulls? I am doing a research paper for one of my classes and want to do it on calving ease bulls and in a more general direction of some negative aspects of the continual and constant use of calving ease bulls. Some things I have seen and heard negatively are:
- smaller framed
-lower weights
-smaller dlvic areas
-using calving ease bulls forces producers to use smaller and smaller bulls every year

what are your thoughts pros and cons?

Click to expand...

In my experience there are a lot more positives to using calving ease bulls than there are negatives. The negatives are somewhat minimal in my opinion. The main thing is that you don't have a genetic issue with maternal calving ease. You don't want your lower birth weight type bulls to sire females who have small pelvic areas. In my experience I have seen more issues calving with larger framed higher birthweight heifers than daughters of calving ease bulls. If you want weight on your calves then you should be crossbreeding to get that weight. The smaller and smaller bull fear isn't reality either in my opinion. One negative to choosing based on calving ease would be choosing based on that alone although you could say that about many traits.

What kind of class are you writing the paper for?
Is the assignment meant to teach you how to write a research paper or how to do research?
Are you writing a review of research or asking a question and trying to disprove the answer?
The thing about doing research is you have to get in there up to your elbows and not just look for information that supports your original idea. You must also recognize information that conflicts with your expectations.
At the bottom of this page are "related topics". If you read thru all of that you might get a general idea of the opinions of the participants on this particular forum. If you search the forum for keywords like pelvic area and then add terms like heifer and calving ease bulls you can narrow it down.
Are you researching opinions? If so, you are looking in the right place.
As was mentioned, if you want quantitative information, opinions don't count.

I think there are a lot of commercial producers who sort their replacements on weight and pelvic measurements. These same producers probably AI with a variety of Angus bulls and keep good records. You almost have to if want to stay in business. I'd start with the vet and ask where he or she has been been doing pelvic measurements for several years, then interview those producers.
Maybe you can use their records in the methods part of your paper.