Angus Bulls Question - pics added

[kfacres]

does he have to be a black bull, or can he be red? 

We have a red bull that's calved out over 200 heifers- and i call him sure fire calving ease. assited 5- all from malposition- heaviest calf was 75 lb.

without looking it up, I'm thinking 230 heifers, and one hard breeding mature cow.  Have about 25-35 more of those heifers left to calve to him, as we sold the bull in Oct. 

 

[BBP]

If you are looking for surefire calving ease I would use a fullblood Lowline bull!

 

[OH Breeder]

Brought this back. Our heifer calved to jupiter today 5 days early. She had a 60# bull calf that was up and nursing before we could even get out to the barn. Momma is a dirty hairy x ch- angus big gal for heifer. Lively little guy.

Okay you had a 60lb. calf out of Jupiter.  HIs birthweight epd wasn't the problem, it's his CED +4 that isn't good enough for a heifer IMO.  Yea maybe he's fine on 18 out of 20 heifers?  But he's got that epd for a reason people are reporting it as such (harder calving) 56%acc.

Ok? What?
I don't think I made any recommendations for anyone to use him. We breed all heifers and the week beofre calving they are shut up and we take turns checking them.
I seriously have been reading to try an understand the breed variations. One of the guys in an article I read said "Angus, go for a calving ease (CE) value of 13 or better and minus 1 or less for a birth weight EPD.

I guess I assumed you were recommending him because of all the positive you posted about him in the thread on being calving ease.  No #'s aren't the the only thing to look for in a bull but it is a really good place to start - especially if one is looking for a very safe bet on heifers.  Yes the heifer is half the equation or more (even more reason to look at the the bull you are using and his #'s and be more particular strict on what qualifies).
We used to do the exact same thing on the heifers  as far as penning them up and checking on them every 4hrs. or so - we do not anymore (past 5 years) and I don't miss it (no problems).

I keep reading new threads on here asking for a surefire calving ease Angus bull to use on heifers, that may or may not have calving problems in their background.  Several people recommending this bull or that bull for heifers and say that he is calving ease, when his numbers (some have high acc. and some have low acc.)  are below average for CED and way above for B.W.  Then others say his numbers aren't good enough for a heifer , then the recommender's  go on to say that we have used them on XX number of heifers with little to no problems.  Then I am looking at the #'s on these bulls and some do have high accuracy to them - and thinking all these calving reports from the breeders to the association must be wrong (because the breeders are saying he has calving problems and it is reflecting in the #'s.  So who in the world is reporting all of these false??? calving problems that are influencing these supposed surefire calving ease bulls that are being recommended.
OH Breeder you are more than bright enough to read epd's (if I can do it anybody can do it).  Here is a link to Black Angus breed averages http://angus.org/Nce/BreedAverageEPDs.aspx
If you want the best look at the top 25% of the breed with accuracy.

Sorry for the ramble- I'm not trying to gripe at you OH Breeder (I understand and respect what you have to say-Jupiter does have his b.w. going for him for calving ease) just trying to get a point across to many.  I will not interfere in anymore of these calving ease post!


 

No no....when this post started I was advised by my ABS guy that Jupiter was a solution for calving ease. I posted here cuz I am not an angus person and I do not know their numbers. I do not know what the difference is between EPD and EBV? One person in this thread he wouldn't use him and he wasn't recommeded. Others said use him. I lucked out I think, cuz the heifer I used him on was a big clubby bred. After reviewing the post I was kinda nervous about the calf coming. I guess it would be alot simpler if they would have all breed averages. I see what you are saying. Usually I stay away from recommending anything but sure fire calving ease bulls because lots of folks use clubbier genetics and its a roll of the dice I think with composite breeds. I don't tihnk you should NOT post on any thread. Its always good to get feedback that is what the forum is done for me. i have learned so much from others experience. I am a slow learner and trying to figure what WW and Milk and growth tie in to this deal. Some guys recommed sacrificing a little growth for CE and BW??.................... So keep posting. 

 

[Aussie]

OH Breeder here is the link that explains Australian Breed plan EBVs http://www.angusaustralia.com.au/breedplan/understanding/207.html. In one of the AI catalogs there is an explanation of the two but I can not find it

 

[Mill Iron A]

I've seen several Kessler's Frontman calves and they have a ton of muscle for a calving ease bull. I will agree with the fact they need a touch more length and maybe a fancier front end but  they are  sound, heavy muscled, and big ribbed.  From the pics you posted he looks like a good fit.  I wouuld also recommend BC Classic from the select sires catalog.