justintime
Well-known member
coyote, I am still scratching my head when I saw the new BW EPD numbers. I have only had 6 calves from Salute but all 6 were born unassisted with BWs of 92 to 108 lbs. I have 4 more ETs by Salute due in the next few days so I may change my tune. I recently spoke to another Canadian who has had 17 Salute calves so far and has assisted two calves.... both from heifers. I certainly would never consider him a bull for use on heifers.
That being said, I have also heard of some big birth weight calves from him, but I have not experienced them. But then I have heard of some 120 lb calves being born from bulls with a BW EPD of +2.
In regards to EPDs, I am really struggling to understand the latest numbers issued from the ASA. We have 48 Shorthorn bulls presently in a performance test together from 4 breeders. These bulls come from a wide array of genetics. Last week we received the EPDs on all 48 bulls. None of it makes any sense. One breeder has 6 bulls from 5 sires, and the dams of these bulls are sired by 6 different sires again. Every one of these 6 bulls have identical EPDs for BW, CE, WW, and YW. This doesn't seem possible. Another breeder who has been sending in his data for EPDs ever since he got into the breed, has only got 1 bull out of 6 that has different EPD figures.
I have 16 bulls in the test, and my EPDs are all over the map. I have two Salute sons on test, that are ET full brothers, and their EPDs are a mile apart. In fact these two Salute sons have pretty good BW EPDs.
We have tried to find someone at the ASA to explain to us how these numbers are arrived at, and if they are to be considered to be accurate. So far, we have been told that there is no reason for them to not be accurate, but personally, I am not comfortable with them and I know I could never talk to anyone about any of these numbers with any confidence at all. Quite frankly..... I am extremely confused right now....!!!
That being said, I have also heard of some big birth weight calves from him, but I have not experienced them. But then I have heard of some 120 lb calves being born from bulls with a BW EPD of +2.
In regards to EPDs, I am really struggling to understand the latest numbers issued from the ASA. We have 48 Shorthorn bulls presently in a performance test together from 4 breeders. These bulls come from a wide array of genetics. Last week we received the EPDs on all 48 bulls. None of it makes any sense. One breeder has 6 bulls from 5 sires, and the dams of these bulls are sired by 6 different sires again. Every one of these 6 bulls have identical EPDs for BW, CE, WW, and YW. This doesn't seem possible. Another breeder who has been sending in his data for EPDs ever since he got into the breed, has only got 1 bull out of 6 that has different EPD figures.
I have 16 bulls in the test, and my EPDs are all over the map. I have two Salute sons on test, that are ET full brothers, and their EPDs are a mile apart. In fact these two Salute sons have pretty good BW EPDs.
We have tried to find someone at the ASA to explain to us how these numbers are arrived at, and if they are to be considered to be accurate. So far, we have been told that there is no reason for them to not be accurate, but personally, I am not comfortable with them and I know I could never talk to anyone about any of these numbers with any confidence at all. Quite frankly..... I am extremely confused right now....!!!