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The End of EPDs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ky hills" data-source="post: 1849878" data-attributes="member: 24816"><p>How did we ever manage to breed cattle before EPD's?</p><p>I believe most folks had some idea of what worked for them and tried to select for and replicate that.</p><p>Today we have a lot of people that live by numbers. A lot of money is to be made from superior numbers. Apparently the solution to correcting problems brought in by single strait selection and or numbers is to come up with more numbers. We now have numbers for feet issues, heifer pregnancy, etc.</p><p>I remember years ago with Charolais, the number everybody was concerned with was milk, the higher the better.</p><p>A popular bull of the month came out with good numbers across the board including milk. Great outcross pedigree for most folks, The movers and shakers were all in and so everybody else was too.</p><p>Bull was heavily used via AI, he sold for a big amount at the time through a dispersal sale. By the time most folks down on the level were getting calves on the ground his milk numbers plummeted to the negatives, and move on nothing more to see here.</p><p>Have seen other situations in other breeds to that were on the same scale.</p><p>Then there's the argument of using only proven bulls with high accuracy. To me there's still a range and different management and environments are going to get different results.</p><p>The EPD's for growth have climbed significantly and like somebody already commented the actual growth of calves has not followed in reality. </p><p>It is a marketing tool that is being promoted and it makes money for some, but the reality as far and tangible results is just not there that I can see.</p><p>I agree with the statement that EPD's are a guard rail. </p><p>BW and CE are traits that can be first recorded and a pattern figured fairly quickly if there is a less than desired issue. </p><p>I'll pay more attention to some traits than others. </p><p>I have spent literally many hours studying semen catalogs trying to pick bulls to use. Taking each EPD into account and comparing them and trying to weigh out the importance of whatever against something else.</p><p>Honestly, my opinion is that is nothing more than fools gold to believe that an obscure number is going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things. </p><p>Obviously, if it's a real low number with accuracy of a higher percent then it might be noteworthy, but then again the cattle of the eighties and nineties had tremendous growth, maybe more than todays cattle but the numbers sure don't represent that. The older animals are much lower in terms of many EPD's.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ky hills, post: 1849878, member: 24816"] How did we ever manage to breed cattle before EPD's? I believe most folks had some idea of what worked for them and tried to select for and replicate that. Today we have a lot of people that live by numbers. A lot of money is to be made from superior numbers. Apparently the solution to correcting problems brought in by single strait selection and or numbers is to come up with more numbers. We now have numbers for feet issues, heifer pregnancy, etc. I remember years ago with Charolais, the number everybody was concerned with was milk, the higher the better. A popular bull of the month came out with good numbers across the board including milk. Great outcross pedigree for most folks, The movers and shakers were all in and so everybody else was too. Bull was heavily used via AI, he sold for a big amount at the time through a dispersal sale. By the time most folks down on the level were getting calves on the ground his milk numbers plummeted to the negatives, and move on nothing more to see here. Have seen other situations in other breeds to that were on the same scale. Then there's the argument of using only proven bulls with high accuracy. To me there's still a range and different management and environments are going to get different results. The EPD’s for growth have climbed significantly and like somebody already commented the actual growth of calves has not followed in reality. It is a marketing tool that is being promoted and it makes money for some, but the reality as far and tangible results is just not there that I can see. I agree with the statement that EPD’s are a guard rail. BW and CE are traits that can be first recorded and a pattern figured fairly quickly if there is a less than desired issue. I’ll pay more attention to some traits than others. I have spent literally many hours studying semen catalogs trying to pick bulls to use. Taking each EPD into account and comparing them and trying to weigh out the importance of whatever against something else. Honestly, my opinion is that is nothing more than fools gold to believe that an obscure number is going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things. Obviously, if it’s a real low number with accuracy of a higher percent then it might be noteworthy, but then again the cattle of the eighties and nineties had tremendous growth, maybe more than todays cattle but the numbers sure don’t represent that. The older animals are much lower in terms of many EPD’s. [/QUOTE]
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