Agricultural News
Maternal Calving Ease Newest and Perhaps the Best EPD To Judge Daughters of a Bull in This Trait
Tue, 30 Nov 2010 6:17:14 CST
Ease of calving is a trait that all cow-calf producers strive for in their breeding programs. There's a generally under-utilized and fairly new tool available to help producers meet that objective. Kansas State University beef geneticist Dan Moser says that the conventional expected progeny difference, or E-P-D, values continue to serve cow-calf producers well in their genetic selection. The EPD that cow calf operators are probably most familiar with is the "birth weight" EPD. There is also a "Calving Ease" EPD that can help change your cow herd genetics when utilized.
However, a newer generation EPD that Dan Moser wants people to learn more about is the "Materal Calving Ease" EPD. This number gives you an indicator of how easily the daughters of a bull will be able to calve. Moser says that for producers who want to keep heifers out of a particular sire- this number will be very useful in revealing how well those heifers may perform at calving time.
We discuss these EPD choices on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the state on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the listen bar below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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