Calving Ease Direct (CED), is expressed as a difference in percentage of unassisted births, with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first-calf heifers.it predicts the average difference in ease with which an sire’s calves will be born when he is bred to first-calf heifers. Birth Weight EPD (BW), expressed in pounds, is a predictor of a sire’s ability to transmit birth weight to his progeny compared to that of other sires. Weaning Weight EPD (WW), expressed in pounds, is a predictor of a sire’s ability to transmit weaning growth to his progeny compared to that of other sires. Yearling Weight EPD (YW), expressed in pounds, is a predictor of a sire’s ability to transmit yearling growth to his progeny compared to that of other sires. Calving Ease Maternal (CEM or MCE), is expressed as a difference in percentage of unassisted births with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first-calf daughters.it predicts the average ease with which a sire’s daughters will calve as first-calf heifers when compared to daughters of other sires. Maternal Milk EPD (Milk), is a predictor of a sire’s genetic merit for milk and mothering ability as expressed in his daughters compared to daughters of othersires.in other words, it is that part of a calf’s weaning weight attributed to milk and mothering ability. Cow Energy Value ($EN), expressed in dollar savings per cow per year, assesses differences in cow energy requirements as an expected dollar savings difference in daughters of sires. A larger value is more favorable when comparing two animals (more dollars saved on feed energy expenses). Components for computing the cow $eN savings difference include lactation energy requirements and energy costs associated with differences in mature cow size. Stayability (STAY), expressed as a difference in percentage of daughters remaining in the cowherd at 6 years of age, with a higher value indication greater fertility and longevity. Carcass Weight EPD (CW), expressed in pounds is a predictor of the differences in hot carcass weight of a sire’s progeny compared to progeny of other sires. Explanation of Terms CAUTION : EPD’s on Angus Bulls CANNOT be directly compared to EPD’s on SimAngus Bulls. They are calculated separately by each association.
A Word on Indexes You may be wondering why we do not print highly publicized indexes such as API (All Purpose Index), TI (Terminal Index) or $B (Beef Value). We do not believe that these selection tools are a bad thing, however we do feel that they are overly simplistic. For example the API assumes that every bull is mated to first calf heifers, therefore it is heavily weighted on calving ease. Most of our customers have large enough herds that they do not mate heifers and cows in the same pasture, so API is a flawed index for them to use. Selecting bulls for high API across your entire cow herd will sacrifice a lot of payweight on your steer calves if done for multiple generations. Terminal Index and $Beef are simple terminal indexes, and we feel that it is best to let everyone determine what levels of performance and carcass traits suit them best. We have paid, and continue to pay, plenty of tuition feeding cattle and think the TI and $B weight marbling too heavily without enough emphasis on carcass weight – keep in mind that is just our opinion, but we do sell every head of our fat cattle on a grid. EPD’s - How We Use Them EPDs are available for making informed selection decisions. By definition they are EXPECTED differences, not KNOWN differences. They are not a guarantee of results. We place more confidence in the EPDs on high accuracy progeny proven bulls that we consider and eventually use. We seek out A.I. sires that are proven by actual carcass data to sire high carcass weight relative to mature daughter weight. You will see bulls that fit these criteria stacked in our pedigrees including EXT, Power Alliance, Emblazon, Black Cedar (sire of Full Bore), Open Range, Dash, Tanker, and Trinity among others. Beyond that we look for cattle that will offer good ribeye and muscling relative to carcass weight. Fat and light muscled carcasses (YG 4’s and 5’s) have become a real problem and we want our genetics to become part of the solution. Of course calving ease and marbling also receive careful consideration, but to a little lesser extent, because Angus cattle already do this really well. After we have identified the proven A.I. sire lines we want to utilize we then move forward by using sons of those bulls out of our best cows that are older and proven in our systems. As a result of the age of dam, the EPD’s are usually much less than that of a young unproven cow. Most of the industry has let EPD selection become the “Holy Grail” of supposed genetic improvement without even realizing it has stacked several generations of young and unproven bulls and cows. We have much more confidence in bulls out of our proven problem-free cows regardless of EPD numbers. When making your selections consider all of the available information, trust your eyes, trust your head and buy a good bull from a breeder who manages a cowherd like you manage yours.
Marbling EPD (Marb), expressed as a fraction of the difference in USDA marbling score of a sire’s progeny compared to progeny of other sires.
Ribeye Area EPD (REA), expressed in square inches, is a predictor of the difference in ribeye area of a sire’s progeny compared to progeny of other sires. Fat Thickness EPD (Fat), expressed in inches, is a predictor of the differences in external fat thickness at the 12th rib (as measured between the 12th and 13th ribs) of a sire’s progeny compared to progeny of other sires. We realize there are additional EPDs and indexes available, and would be glad to share this information with you for any of the bulls. The traits listed in the catalog are the individual traits most economically important to the majority of our customers
Breed Average EPD’s SimAngus
CED BW WW YW 6 1.2 62 110 CE Score MCE Milk $EN 8 26 -14 CW Marb. RE Fat 46 .58 .59 .014 Angus
Note: Dam ratios may be a combination of records kept by the AAA andASA as we used the AAA to calculate ratios on our
CED BW WW YW 12 .2 76 117 CE Score MCE Milk STAY 6.8 24 14.6 CW Marb. RE Fat 32 .36 .67 -.040
SimAngus bulls from2013-2015 BR- Birth Weight Ratio | NR- Nursing (weaning weight) Ratio | YR - Yearling Weight Ratio
3 2025 Open House Bull Sale
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