Page 4 - Zimmerman Ranch Gelbvieh & Balancer Production Sale – Jan. 20, 2024

SALE INFORMATION

EPD DEFINITIONS

MATERNAL TRAITS
Calving Ease Direct (CED): Percent of unassisted births of a bull’s calves when he is used on heifers. A higher number is
favorable, meaning better calving ease. This EPD can be vital to a rancher looking to decrease the amount of calves pulled in
his herd.
Milk (MK): The genetic ability of a sire’s daughters to produce milk expressed in pounds of weaning weight.
Calving Ease Maternal (CEM): Represented as percent of unassisted births in a sire’s first-calving daughters. A higher
number represents more favorable calving ease. This EPD is important to a rancher’s bottom line because it predicts which
animals produce daughters with a genetic pre-disposition to calve unassisted as heifers.

GROWTH TRAITS
Birth Weight (BW): Predicts the difference, in pounds, for birth weight of the calf.
Weaning Weight (WW): Predicts the difference, in pounds, for weaning weight (adjusted to age of dam and a standard 205
days of age). This is an indicator of growth from birth to weaning.
Yearling Weight (YW): Predicts the expected difference, in pounds, for yearling weight (adjusted to a standard 365 days of
age). This is an indicator of growth from birth to yearling.

CARCASS TRAITS
Carcass Weight (CW): Differences in pounds of hot carcass weight, adjusted to an industry standard age endpoint.
Ribeye Area (REA): Differences in ribeye area in inches between the 12th and 13th rib. Greater ribeye areas are preferable.
Marbling (MARB): Predicts the differences in the degree of marbling within the ribeye as expressed in marbling score units.
Greater marbling numbers are preferable and are an indicator of higher carcass quality grades.

INDEXES
Indexes are tools that allow producers to select for several EPDs at once, making selections more efficient than selecting on
one trait at a time. Indexes weigh traits based on their importance to a producer’s bottom line by using a trait’s economic and
genetic value. Indexes are a good way to put selection emphasis on traits that are economically relevant.

Total Maternal (tm): an index that combines growth and milk information as a prediction of the weaning weight performance
of calves from a sire’s daughters. As an index, this value is not reported with an accompanying accuracy. A greater tm value
means a mother that returns comparatively higher weaning weights on her calves. TM Index = MK EPD + ½ WW EPD.
FPI™ which stands for Feeder Profit Index: an economic selection index designed to aid producers in selecting sires
whose progeny will perform in the feedlot and are sold on a grade and yield standpoint. Well ranking sires for fpi have higher
marbling and carcass weight than their contemporaries. As a terminal index, little emphasis is put on maternal traits such as
stayability and calving ease.

GUIDE TO ABBREVIATIONS
PC- Percentage Gelbvieh
BA- Balancer & Percentage Gelbvieh
Homo-D – Homozygous Black
Not Homo – D – Heterozygous Black

2 Zimmerman Production Sale