Using EPDs in Commercial Herds

Commercial herds do not need to chase every number in a bull catalog. A handful of EPDs, matched to your cows, your pasture and your market, will do most of the work.

Key points

Match EPD targets to the bull's job and your cow herd.
Choose calving ease first for heifer bulls.
Avoid pushing growth and milk beyond what your feed supports.
Compare EPDs only within a breed.
Genetic change builds over generations, so stay consistent.

Define the job of the bull

In a commercial herd the bull is a tool. Decide what you need him to do. A bull bred to first-calf heifers has a different job than a bull used on mature cows, and a terminal sire has a different job than one whose daughters will stay in the herd.

Write that job down. It narrows the catalog from hundreds of bulls to a manageable few.

Spend an hour with your records before sale season. List the traits you need, the traits you will not compromise on and the range you will accept. That list keeps you from buying on impulse when the sale ring gets exciting.

Pick a short list of traits

Most commercial herds get the best return from focusing on fertility, calving ease, growth and maternal ability, with carcass traits added if calves are sold on value. Trying to improve everything at once leads to compromise on all of it.

Look at the EPDs for those traits and ask your extension specialist what ranges suit your cows. Cow size, forage and calving labor all shift the answer.

Calving ease for heifer bulls
Weaning and yearling growth for marketing
Maternal traits if you keep daughters
Carcass traits if you sell on grid or retain ownership

Match bulls to the cow herd you have

A bull that adds a lot of growth and milk may be a good fit for cows on abundant feed and a poor one for cows on thin pasture. Heavy milking daughters need more feed to rebreed, and big mature cows cost more to maintain.

Look honestly at your cows. If they are already large and heavy milking, pushing those traits higher can hurt fertility. If they are small and light, a modest push in growth may help.

Heifers that calve first with a bull they were not suited for can be hurt for life. Use extra care on that first mating.

Protect your heifers

Heifers calve with less margin for error, so calving ease matters most when choosing bulls for them. Pay attention to calving ease and birth weight EPDs, and also to the bull's actual calving history if the seller can supply it.

A bull with strong growth numbers is not automatically the right choice for heifers. Keep growth-heavy sires for mature cows.

Selling calves and keeping daughters

If you sell every calf at weaning, growth and calf quality drive most of your return, but remember that the cows still have to rebreed on your feed. If you keep daughters, maternal traits, fertility and mature size deserve far more weight.

A herd that does both needs two kinds of bulls, or a clear plan for which cows are bred to which sire. Write the plan before the breeding season so it is not decided in the pasture.

Fitting EPDs into a crossbreeding plan

If you use more than one breed, EPDs are only comparable within each breed. Choose the breed for the role it plays in your system, then choose the individual bull using EPDs from his own association.

Crossbreeding adds hybrid vigor that no EPD captures, so do not discount a bull from another breed simply because his numbers look different from your usual breed.

After calving and weaning, compare calves by sire. Look at calving ease, weaning weight adjusted to 205 days and how calves from each bull performed against herdmates. Ask which bull's daughters you want to keep.

Common mistakes and what to ask

Buying the highest growth bull every year, ignoring maternal traits when keeping daughters and skipping soundness checks are common. Another is expecting immediate herd change when genetics work over generations.

Ask your seedstock supplier for data on the bull and his relatives, and ask whether bulls were developed on a high-energy ration that does not match your pasture.

Does his data fit my heifer or cow program?
Is his accuracy high enough for my comfort?
Was he developed in conditions like mine?
Has he passed a breeding soundness exam?

When to get help: Talk with your extension beef specialist about EPD targets for your region and cow type. Your veterinarian can handle breeding soundness exams, and a seedstock producer can supply performance records on the bulls you are considering.

Sources and further reading

Organization homepages are linked so you can search them for current guidance on this topic.

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