It’s not one thing or some of the things, IT’S ALL OF THE THINGS.
status. In these top 100 sires, one in four ranks in the bottom 25% of the breed for one or more of the following traits: claw set, hoof angle, teat size or udder suspension. Blown-out teats, pendulous udders or unsound hooves are anything but maternal in the real-world where labor is limited, inputs are high and margins are tight. Optimum rather than Maximum Even though we primarily focus on maternal productivity/efficiency, we are certainly not anti-data, anti-performance nor anti-EPD. In fact, we are a performance breeder and regularly utilize EPDs and in-herd ratios to keep traits in the optimum range rather than selecting for maximums which are always limited by environment and genetic antagonisms.
What does maternal mean to us? Maternal is elegant and beautiful. Sometimes it’s observed and measured. Quite often, the most maternal cows are the ones no one notices. It is a cow working to get her newborn calf up and nursed. It is the instinct of a cow protecting her calf from the blistering sun or raging wind with her own body. It is the cow that keeps her young calf within her view at all times. It is the cow taking her calf away from perceived danger. It is the intelligence of the cow that knows the difference between predator and caretaker. Ultimately, maternal is the simplicity of the cow breeding on time year after year, all while raising and weaning a high percentage of her own weight with no human assistance to birth, nurse or raise her calf.
Maternal: What it’s not While our breed organization attempts to quantify and extrapolate the basic fundamental maternal function of cattle into an easy-to-use, one size fits all index, they fail to recognize that a shortcoming in one trait spells failure in the real world in which we and our commercial cow-calf customers operate. The traits used in this index are calving ease direct, calving ease maternal, weaning weight, milk, heifer pregnancy, teat size, udder suspension, functional longevity, docility, mature cow weight, claw set and foot angle. A review of the top 100 proven sires for $Maternal provides a great illustration of how an animal can completely fail for a basic fundamental trait, yet still qualify for $Maternal “breed-leader”
At the Ranch, Bigfork, MT
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different by design
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