Page 7 - MWC 3-31-2022s

The Midwest Cattleman · March 31, 2022 · P7
SELECTING YOUR NEXT HERD SIRE

By Brooks Warner, OSU Extension Educator

We are in bull sale season Calving Ease Direct be born unassisted than
and many of you are look- (CED) Example Bull 1.
ing for a new herd sire. Comparatively, higher
Before making sire se- Bull CED EPDs numbers mean more calv-
lections, I encourage you 1 +10 ing ease.
to ask yourself, “What are 2 +18
Difference +8
my operation’s goals?” and Birth Weight (BW) EPD
select your next herd sires Bull 1 should sire calves Bull BW EPDs
with your operation goals 1 +1
in mind. Operations should that are 8% less likely to be 2 -4.5
born unassisted than Bull
buy the bulls you need and Difference -5.5
not the bulls you want. 2. Bull 2 should sire calves
Wanting to go for the styl- continued on page 13
ish bull, the thickest bull that are 8% more likely to
and/or the biggest wean-
ing and yearling weights
is easy. However, beauty is
(sometimes) only hide deep,
and single-trait selection is
never a good idea.
For most operations, the
main goal is profitability,
and a few different aspects
come together to help you
achieve a profitable beef
herd. Some of the most im-
portant aspects of the prof-
itable beef herd equation
are:
•Live calves
•Fertile, easy keeping,
productive cows 19th Annual
•Optimal performance at
the farm and ranch, in the
feed yard, on the rail and on
the consumer’s plate SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2022
Sire selection should be a
combination of visual eval-
uation and expected prog-
eny difference (EPD) data. 40 18-MONTH-OLD HYBRID & BRAUNVIEH BULLS
A deep understanding of 45 PB BRAUNVIEH, HYBRID & BU INFLUENCE BRED HEIFERS
EPDs can help you deter-
mine which bull is best for
your operation.
Live Calves
Typically, calves born
with assistance, such as
hard pulls, have a high-
er death and sickness rate
than calves that are born
unassisted. Three prima-
ry EPDs predict the ability
of a sire’s calves to be born
with unassisted delivery:
calving ease direct (CED),
birth weight (BW) and calv-
ing ease maternal (CEM).
Calving ease direct (CED
EPD) predicts the percent-
age of a sire’s calves that
will be born unassisted, BW
predicts the difference in
weight of a sire’s calves and
CEM predicts the percent-
age of a sire’s daughters
who will calve unassisted.