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The End of EPDs?
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<blockquote data-quote="elkwc" data-source="post: 1850195" data-attributes="member: 22295"><p>As a commercial breeder we have learned the hard way to not put any merit in an low accuracy EPD. I start looking if they are 60% or above and put merit in them when they are 80% or above. We ask for actual numbers. We use them, visual appraisal and progeny data from the sire and dam's progeny. We also research the pedigree. We have found that the bulls we retain consistently sire our best sire groups. Most of the PB breeders I talk too and do business with are very similar. One stated they aren't even a reliable source for comparison on calves from different pastures. Then the numbers are adjusted. I was involved in the first weighing of calves in our county in the 60's. The only adjustment was a true adjustment for age to 205 days. Now they substract the BW and adjust for age of dam. This creates a manipulated number that is useless to me. Each breeder has to find out what selection criteria works best for them. </p><p>We tried one of the CE unproven sires with good numbers. Lost one calf out of 2. Glad no more settled. The best heifer bull we have doesn't have great numbers. His calves are shaped right. We want a bull that is good in all traits but not extreme in either area.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="elkwc, post: 1850195, member: 22295"] As a commercial breeder we have learned the hard way to not put any merit in an low accuracy EPD. I start looking if they are 60% or above and put merit in them when they are 80% or above. We ask for actual numbers. We use them, visual appraisal and progeny data from the sire and dam’s progeny. We also research the pedigree. We have found that the bulls we retain consistently sire our best sire groups. Most of the PB breeders I talk too and do business with are very similar. One stated they aren’t even a reliable source for comparison on calves from different pastures. Then the numbers are adjusted. I was involved in the first weighing of calves in our county in the 60’s. The only adjustment was a true adjustment for age to 205 days. Now they substract the BW and adjust for age of dam. This creates a manipulated number that is useless to me. Each breeder has to find out what selection criteria works best for them. We tried one of the CE unproven sires with good numbers. Lost one calf out of 2. Glad no more settled. The best heifer bull we have doesn’t have great numbers. His calves are shaped right. We want a bull that is good in all traits but not extreme in either area. [/QUOTE]
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