knabe
Well-known member
the best way to do this is teach yourself. call people up, have an opinion, find the people who will actually tell you you have your head up your tuckus and quiz them some more. the best thing i have fun with is talking with people who have opposite opinions about the same animal, like say irish whiskey, and not about his PHA status. it's really amazing the comments you hear about some bulls you "think" are complete and the comments totally make sense, and why this breed is such an enigma. i think people havn't tried enough of their own theories about where the phenotype they desire comes from. more and more, i think some of the defect traits have enough diversity in them other than the defect themselves to warrant line breeding to sort out the different phenotypes. here's a short list.
tubiness
hard vs soft
long hipped, long sided, long fronted versus balanced
softness out of hard cattle
muscle vs maternal and balance of the two in a breeding vs terminal sire product
bone versus marbling
arthritis
rolling hips
walking in tracks and keeping them there
i think the next 20 years are going to be one of thee most exciting times in purebred breeding of all breeds. the deck has been shuffled and will reward those play their own hand rather than someone elses. this is the only way to confirm one's convictions. from what i gather, it takes a minimum breeder life beyond 7 years. i'm one year old and ignorant. the most rewarding thing about talking with maine breeders is that they are trying things where enigma's exist and are researching opportunities by being more informed as to the numbers that are required to screen and are doing it. it's really amazing the pedigrees of some of the cows that are out there now and just how fast people are moving. a little over a year or so, i wouldn't have believed it possible how fast people are moving.
tubiness
hard vs soft
long hipped, long sided, long fronted versus balanced
softness out of hard cattle
muscle vs maternal and balance of the two in a breeding vs terminal sire product
bone versus marbling
arthritis
rolling hips
walking in tracks and keeping them there
i think the next 20 years are going to be one of thee most exciting times in purebred breeding of all breeds. the deck has been shuffled and will reward those play their own hand rather than someone elses. this is the only way to confirm one's convictions. from what i gather, it takes a minimum breeder life beyond 7 years. i'm one year old and ignorant. the most rewarding thing about talking with maine breeders is that they are trying things where enigma's exist and are researching opportunities by being more informed as to the numbers that are required to screen and are doing it. it's really amazing the pedigrees of some of the cows that are out there now and just how fast people are moving. a little over a year or so, i wouldn't have believed it possible how fast people are moving.