Help with EDP's

[paj315]

I am just getting into herfords and trying to decide what to breed a heifer to. I have been looking at bulls and their numbers but dont fully understand what the EPD numbers mean. For calving ease do you want a higher number or a lower number ? With birth weight is a higher number better or a lower number better ? Its all really confusing to me. I am not really concerned with weaning weight or yearling weight because more than likely we will end up showing the calf . Thanks in advance for the help

 

[wph119]

Hereford EPD's for BW WW YW Miik and Milk & Growth are an estimate of the number of pounds above (+) or below (-) breed average that individuals progeny will perform.  You would want a lower BW number and higher WW and YW numbers.  Any bull with a Calving Ease number of 2.0 or higher and a BW number of 2.4 or lower is in the top 25% of all Hereford EPD's.  You also want to consider the accuracy percentage of those EPD's.  The higher the percentage is the more likely that animals progeny are going to perform at the indicated levels.

 

[lightnin4]

I am just getting into herfords and trying to decide what to breed a heifer to. I have been looking at bulls and their numbers but dont fully understand what the EPD numbers mean. For calving ease do you want a higher number or a lower number ? With birth weight is a higher number better or a lower number better ? Its all really confusing to me. I am not really concerned with weaning weight or yearling weight because more than likely we will end up showing the calf . Thanks in advance for the help

You want a higher number on calving ease and a lower number on birthweight.  As the other poster said, accuracy (the % below the epd) is important too.  The closer that % is to 100%, the more accurate or consistent that sire will be for that trait.  I would caution you not to disregard WW and YW, because they are an indication of the performance/growth that calf will have.  You are looking for higher numbers for these epds as well.  When breeding a heifer, your main concern should be low birth weight and calving ease, but you should try to find a bull that balances all the growth epds as well.

 

[paj315]

Thanks for the info. Let me run some numbers by you and get your opinion on PHH PCC True Grit. Calving ease 4.6, BW 2.3, WW 53, YW 75, Milk 22, and Milk & Growth 48. The website I have been looking at show the breed average EPD's for 2010 they are calving ease 0.4, BW 3.6, WW 44, YW 73, Milk 17, Milk & Growth 39. The % values are still a little confusing to me but I'm sure it will just take some time to get used to reading them. Please feel free to give me your honest opinion on this bull he is out of CRR About Time 743 and also if you have another suggestion. Thanks again.

 

[leanbeef]

Why are you looking at 2010 breed averages? APHA should have current breed averages and % tables, and those are needed before the EPDs really mean anything. Hardly any breed has a base of 0's anymore, so unless you know where average is, there's no way to know what you're looking at. Same with % tables...it's impossible to understand how good or bad an animal's numbers are if you don't understand the breed population's numbers.

 

[paj315]

Thanks Leanbeef. I found the fall 2012 breed average EPD's for both bulls and mature cows. This helped out a lot in understanding the % values. Since I am looking for a bull to use on a heifer calving ease and birth weight are at the top of the list for me. This bull is in the top 10% on calving ease and the top 25% in birth weight and also top 25% WW. I have since found some people who have used this bull and they said calves average 65lbs.

 

[wph119]

I've heard True Grit is an easy calver.  I hope so I used him on a heifer and some cows with BW numbers that are bigger than I would like them to be.  I guess I'll see for myself how he works this spring.