choosing a bull..... numbers...?

[cowgirlup11]

can someone tell me what these numbers mean? i know what the letters stand for i just dont know how to read these numbers. i am sure they are some kind of scoring system or something, i am looking into possibly using one of these bulls for my heifer and i would like to know what all the numbers mean so i can juge them that way not just by how they look and what is said about them.
any help is greatly appreciated, a webiste with this information would be great too!!
thanks

http://www.cattlevisions.com/Shorthorn/shorthorn_directory.php

 

[flacowman]

The BW is birthweight, you want as small of a number as possible.  The WW is weaning weight, here, bigger is better.  The YW is yearling weight and here too you want a larger number.  For a heifer I would recommend focusing on a small BW since a live calf is the best calf.  I'm not a shorthorn breeder so I don't know the breed averages to give you more specific information, hopefully one will help you out soon

 

[cowgirlup11]

thanks! i knew that what the abreviations stood for, and i was pretty sure about how large or small i wanted the numbers, now i know for sure!! i see some bulls on here that the birth weight is like -5 and some are +9, any one know what that means? and same as ww and yw, what does the 25 or 38 stand for??
thanks!

 

[SheilAnneDavis]

Here is a pretty good document to explain what EPD's are and how they are used. I'd read that a time or two and then start looking at sire directories and using the information you read to think about the numbers you are seeing.

It's important to remember that EPD's can't be compared across different breeds. What is a +1.0 BW in say shorthorns, isn't going to represent the same birth-weights to expect in say an Angus bull with a +1.0. The Shorthorn Association should have some information about breed averages, or maybe even something that breaks down what the top numbers are for the breed in each trait. I'd do some digging around the Shorthorn Association web page, or I'm sure that someone here will have a pretty good idea about shorthorn numbers.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/beef/components/homestudy/mlesson3.pdf

 

[CAB]

thanks! i knew that what the abbreviations stood for, and i was pretty sure about how large or small i wanted the numbers, now i know for sure!! i see some bulls on here that the birth weight is like -5 and some are +9, any one know what that means? and same as ww and yw, what does the 25 or 38 stand for??
thanks!

Using your 2 #s as an example, the -5 would be 5lbs lighter than the breed average BW & then +9 would be 9lbs heavier than the breed average for BW.
Some PPL live and die by the #s, others pay little attention to them. The older I get the less attention that I personally pay to them for various reasons.

 

[wyatt]

Reg. #:
x4147512  Tattoo:824
Birth Date: May 2008
  BW: 65
WW:      YW:   


 
                  CF SOLUTION X ET
Sire: SULL GNCC Grey Goose
                  K-KIM MONA LISA 35L ET

                  WHR SONNY 8114 ET
Dam: TFS/AMFS Ameretta 24R
                  TLC HOT STUFF
 

Status - {PHA - Carrier} {TH - Free}
CED        BW      WW  YW    Milk  MARB  REA FAT
-4            3.8      17      29      1   


  so would this mean a 65 lb birthweight is 3.8 lbs above the breed average???? and what about the ced?

 

 

[CAB]

No, 65lbs is this bulls own BW. The 3.8 # represents all of the info from all of the #s turnt in that would pertain to this bull's #s. I hope that makes sense.

 

[JTM]

If your looking for Shorthorn calving ease bulls I think your best bet would be to ask for advice on this forum. I know this is not what you were doing but unfortunately a lot of the numbers are not going to be all that accurate. Some of them are. Shorthorn breeders on this site could steer you in the right direction and give you some options, then you could go from their? It's still your personal preference.

My suggestions in no particular order:
RS DV 034 329 08
A&T Captain Obvious
Jake's Proud Jazz
Diamond Prophecy
A&T Renegade (my bull not on website yet, he's up on my website)