January 2025 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN 13 by evaluating bulls on their phenotypic appraisal and what you’re looking for to complement your herd. Qualitative traits like color, horned/polled and defect carrier status may be important to consider. However, data in the form of expected progeny differences (EPDs) should be highly considered to improve upon traits your calves may be lacking. The difficult part is that EPDs can be confusing and overwhelming. It wasn’t long ago when EPDs were somewhat generic across breeds and uncomplicated with indexes including birthweight, weaning weight and yearling weight. With more data and research from breed associations, selection indexes have become breed specific, yet more difficult to convert to a common base. However, they can be useful tools for multiple-trait selection and genetic outcomes for your future progeny and profitability. Ratios and accuracy are important factors in EPDs today because they provide insights into the reliability and relevance of genetic data for making informed breeding decisions. Ratios help assess relative performance, and accuracy ensures that the EPDs used in breeding decisions are based on reliable, sound genetic data. Both are key to making effective, long-term improvements in cattle genetics. To simplify your herd-sire selection strategy, go back to the objectives you’ve defined in improving your cow herd, identify static EPD indexes that will help you reach your objectives and use that information to sort through data. Producers looking to buy bulls to use on heifers will still be looking at high calving ease, low birthweight bulls that work across breeds. Producers looking to add growth to their calves can look at weaning weight and yearling weight EPDs. Many seedstock producers will organize their catalog and sales with bulls categorized in sire groups or EPDs to make shopping straightforward. Referencing an article about returns on your bull investment, Matt Spangler, Extension beef genetics specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), said, “Using a bull without any known EPDs is risky, given that you have no idea what his genetic potential is. Using a bull that might be cheaper, but that does not excel in traits that are drivers of profit for THE ECONOMICS OF EPDS Matthew Melchor | NC Director of State Government A airs As seedstock producers make breeding decisions, cow-calf operators make purchasing decisions. With herd expansion constantly on the horizon, many producers will use estimated progeny differences (EPDs) for the best information to make these decisions. EPDs are categories that measure the animal’s performance in certain breed-specific categories against the breed’s average, estimating genetic transmitting ability and future offspring performance. An EPD can be seen as a standard deviation measurement away from the average, showing how much higher or lower an animal is compared to the rest of the breed. Generally, a higher positive EPD measurement is more desired, but can flip, depending on the variable and desired outcome. EPDs were standardized in 1993 to use not just physical and visual characteristics to compare animals, but estimate future genetics, carcass quality, breeding ability and desired traits. Even after their creation, most producers continue to say they rely on visual characteristics of bulls to make purchasing decisions, but that majority is shrinking as more EPDs are being calculated and listed in catalogs each year. Over time, more EPDs are created and calculated to show different characteristics and provide more value for the bull. Numbers are also updated as more data is provided from offspring or siblings, meaning that an animal’s EPDs are fluid as more is known about them over time. Younger producers have said they are more likely to use EPDs to measure performance, due to the method’s more thorough procedures, using blood, hair or tissue samples, and ultrasound data. Some producers are still hesitant to rely solely lose on EPDs to make purchasing decisions due to the lack of understanding in how these numbers are calculated and how they should be interpreted. EPDs are separated into three distinct categories: production traits, maternal traits and carcass traits. Production can include birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight and milk production; maternal traits are calving ease and maternal milk production; and carcass traits would include marbling and ribeye area. Operators feeding out their own animals will likely focus on carcass traits and yield grades, while cowcalf operators selling to feedlots will use production traits to generate more size and the largest return on the animals. Commercial producers can use indexes across breeds to compare bulls of a different breed; however, the specific category must remain the same. Economists have used EPDs and sale prices of bulls to determine which EPDs have the most influence on final purchase prices from across the country in both purebred and commercial sales and using both 1- and 2-year-old bulls. High carcass quality traits, such as marbling and ribeye area, generally show the highest premiums for bulls, following the supply chain demand for premium beef. Calving ease direct (CED) is almost always included in these results as well, likely due to two reasons: 1) cow-calf operators would desire more natural births, decreasing the need for labor; and 2) the average age of the rancher is continually increasing, making it more difficult for the available labor to help pull calves. EPDs may just be another number on a catalog page, but they can greatly influence the economic returns to an operation. It’s important to your cattle business to understand bloodlines, breeds and indexes to make informed decisions. CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 Matthew Melchor, NC director of state government affairs, earned his Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State in May 2024. Melchor’s research was largely interdisciplinary, looking at the intersection of economics and animal health/reproduction topics. His thesis analyzed the economics of EPDs for bulls sold at the on-campus K-State Legacy Sale and the annual Vollmer Angus Ranch Sale in Wing, N.D. He looked at how producers, either explicitly or implicitly, emphasize certain traits when purchasing bulls at sales and determined whether producers are willing to pay more at a school-sponsored sale compared to a privately sponsored sale.
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