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How a Modern Operation Uses the Numbers
You are standing at the pen with the sale book open. The bull’s page is in front of you: his EPDs down one column, his dollar indexes down another, an accuracy beside each one. You…
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Figuring a Mating on Paper
You have a bull picked out and a cow in mind. Before you ever turn them out together, you want to know what the calf will be, on paper. Not the color, not the look.…
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From a sale book to a short list
The sale book landed in your mailbox this week. A hundred bulls in it, maybe more. The sale starts at one o’clock Monday, and your coffee is already cold. You cannot lay eyes on a…
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What Is Inside a $Value
You have seen these in a sale catalog. A dollar sign, a couple of letters, and a number. $M 72. $W 58. $C 210. They sit next to the EPDs and they look like a…
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The Milk Number on a Bull That Will Never Give Milk
You are standing at the sale looking at a bull. His page has a row of numbers, and one of them is labeled Milk. Stop on that for a second. That bull will never give…
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Why You Cannot Push One Number Without Moving Another
Say you decide growth is what you want. Bigger calves, more pounds to sell. So you go through the sale book and buy the highest yearling-weight bulls you can find, year after year, and you…
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Where These Numbers Live
You know what an EPD is now. You can read a +25 next to a +15 and say which bull should throw the heavier calves. But there is a wall in front of you that…
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Understanding Angus Genetic Selection: How the Numbers Are Built and How to Read Them
Most people who buy a registered Angus bull look at a row of EPDs and a handful of dollar figures and make a decision. Fewer understand what those numbers actually are, how they are produced,…
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The Bull That Looked Great on Paper
You have seen it happen, maybe to you. A young bull comes up for sale with a set of numbers that stop you cold. His growth figures sit near the top of the breed. His…
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The Coffee-Counter Complaints About EPDs, Answered
Stand at the sale barn coffee counter long enough and you will hear every complaint there is about EPDs. Some are sharp and worth listening to. Some are a misunderstanding wearing work boots. The honest…
