Recent content by Professor Plum

It was started by the horned junior association before the merger, way back when AI was a new technology.  You choose sires from a list, receive two straws of semen and a certificate (but usually pay the shipping yourself), and a resulting calf can be shown in the special class.  Some years they...

Traded for one a couple of years ago.  Love it.  Didn't get the remote switch, so it was the same price as an Air Express, but I like the aluminum housing, it will look nicer longer than a painted steel housing. Prof

Same weekend as Kansas Beef Expo.

Is it the switch that broke?  I've replaced the switch on my AGC (round body) 2-speeds twice, easy fix, part is about $11, I keep a spare handy.  Not sure on the AGP's. Might as well open 'em up and see if you can diagnose the problem.

Just for comparison, I saw this in a recent sale catalog: Show Expenses: <Ranch name deleted> does not make any money showing, however, we would like to cover our expenses. If <Ranch name deleted>  cares for and shows your animal it will cost $8/day for calves and $12/day for yearlings. In...

The Golden Ox is still there. It gets busy during the Royal, but you should eat there once just to say you did.  My favorite used to be the Hereford House, but unfortunately, the original downtown location burned down a few years ago. They have several other locations around town, good food but...

Lots of great BBQ in KC, my personal favorite is Jack Stack: http://www.jackstackbbq.com/, their Freight House location isn't far from the Royal, near Union Station.  If you're a College Basketball fan (who isn't?), check out the College Basketball Experience next to the Sprint Center...

Quirks had an Angus bull called Mister T back in the 80's Here's his pedigree: http://bit.ly/PEVfFq I doubt that's the Mr. T you're referring to. His maternal grandsire, Warrant, carried a genetic defect called white-eye. TNT Mr. T was a Simmental bull, the paternal grandsire of Meyer 734...

Regardless of breed, start working with the calf as early as possible. Not everyone can do this, but for all three of our kids, their first year they showed September, October or November heifer calves that we raised.  Our show season is April to September. We would get the chosen heifer...

Heard this second hand, but it was too good not to post. A prominent judge most of us know, back in his younger days, was judging a county fair market lamb show.  Feed must have been cheap because the lambs were hog fat, all of them.  Before he picked his champion, our judge said "If I was a...

Since you are located in Nebraska, a good person to answer your questions would be Dr. Matt Spangler at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Dr. Spangler is an extension specialist with expertise in beef cattle genetics. His contact information can be found here...

EPDs are obtained from your breed association.  You should have received a report (Interim EPDs) when you submitted weaning weights.  Most breeds update their EPDs in December, so new numbers will be available in January.  You can look up the heifers' EPDs on most breed associations' websites...

If you want to better understand how EPDs are calculated, and how to use them in genetic improvement, this book would probably be more helpful.  It's an excellent reference, and quite readable.  It takes an advanced statistician to get through Mrode.

Don't know if MARC publishes the sires they use, you may have to call and ask.  AMAA should know.  However, the adjustments account for the sires' EPDs in their breed evaluation.  So if a "bad" bull gets used at MARC (high BW, low marb, etc.), that doesn't hurt the breed unless his EPDs (in his...

How tall (inside)?