Page 11 - Red Hill Farms Red Angus and Simmental Annual Bull Sale 2017

Red Angus Guide to EPDs

HB ...... HerdBuilder Index – Need bulls for developing CEM .... Calving Ease Maternal – Another number to
a profi table cowherd and maximizing the value of pay attention to if you are retaining heifers. Selecting
marketed progeny? Select a bull with a high HB value. bulls with a high CEM will increase the probability of
those daughters calving unassisted.
GM ...... GridMaster Index – If you market all of your
calf crop and want to increase the value of that calf STAY.... Stayability – The most important trait if your
crop, select a bull with a high GM value to maximize goal is developing cows that stay productive, thus
your profi t. increasing your profi tability. Bulls that have a high
Stay EPD are expected to sire daughters that remain
CED ..... Calving Ease Direct – Breeding Heifers? Select productive in the herd until at least 6 years of age.
bulls with a high CED to increase the probability that
the heifers will calve unassisted. MARB .. Marbling Score – Select bulls with high MARB
EPD to increase the number of progeny that grade
BW...... Birth Weight – Predicts differences in birth Choice or Prime.
weight. BW is included in the CED EPD, so simplify
your decisions by selecting bulls based on CED instead YG ...... Yield Grade – Marketing calves on a grid?
of BW. Placing selection pressure on YG EPD will decrease
the number of YG discounts on grid-marketed
WW ..... Weaning Weight and YW ....Yearling Weight – progeny.
Predicts differences in weight at weaning and yearling.
While selection based on these growth measures can CW...... Carcasss Weight – Selecting bulls with a
increase your payweight, be cautious what the bull’s high CW EPD will increase the weight of the hanging
other EPDs are. carcass, which directly impacts revenue.
Milk .... Milk – Predicts differences in weaning weight REA ..... Rib Eye Area – Need to add muscle? Select
of daughter’s progeny due to milk production. bulls with a high REA EPD to increase rib eye area,
which favorably increases Yield Grade.
ME ...... Maintenance Energy – Selecting bulls with a
lower ME EPD will decrease the amount of feed his FAT ..... Backfat – Need to reduce waste in carcasses?
daughters will require to maintain body weight. Select bulls with a low FAT EPD to reduce backfat,
which favorably increases Yield Grade.
HPG..... Heifer Pregnancy – Retaining heifers? Select
bulls with a high HPG to increase the percentage of
exposures that result in a calving observation.

FRAME SCORES: Frame size in cattle is an extremely important trait, and deciding on the
frame size needed in the next herd bull should be one of the major criteria for selection.
Unfortunately, frame scoring is NOT an exact science. If cattle are on halter and easy to
handle, frame scoring can be quite repeatable. However, when measuring frame score in
the chute while collecting other yearling data, the measurements are not as repeatable
as desired. We have decided to break the frame scores into thirds for the bulls this year.
For example, a 4 frame score would have been between 4.33 and 4.66 in the past while a
4 - would have been between 4.0 and 4.33 and a 4 + would have been between 4.67 and
4.99. Stated another way a 4 – is a low 4, 4 is an average 4 and 4 + is a high 4.

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