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44 THE RURAL VOICE
NEWS
EPDs ARE IT IN BEEF BUSINESS, EXPERT SAYS
Henry Gardiner, a Kansas cattleman a guest speaker at the recent Dundalk Bull Test
Station Open House, buys all his bulls on paper. By using EPDs, he says, his income
has improved and yearling weight has increased dramatically. Shown left is Don Jack,
manager of the test station at Venbrooke Farms. (SRG photo)
EPDs all the way, says Kansas cat-
tleman Henry Gardiner, who spoke at
the Dundalk Bull Test Station Open
House last month.
Gardiner, part owner and manager
of the 13,000 -acre Gardiner Angus
Ranch near Ashland, Kansas, says that
EPDs (Expected Progeny Differences)
have improved his income and changed
the type of cattle he produces.
"With EPDs," he says, "I select all
my bulls on paper. I never see them."
Gardiner concentrates on three
traits: birth weight EPD, milk EPD, and
yearling weight EPD. He watches
heavy birth weight very closely to
thwart problems at calving time.
"For the past three years, I've stayed
with the same breed, the same manage-
ment, the same pasture, and used the
descendants of the same cow herd. The
EPD system is working because in
1980, my average weaned weight (at 10
months) was 526. There has been a
steady increase yearly with the average
weight at 786 in 1986."
Gardiner says that if you stack the
pedigree, the value is cumulative.
EPDs are in the initial stages of
development at the University of
Guelph. As traits and more data are
recorded, EPDs will be more accurate
and more useful. In Ontario, all bull test
stations will have post -weaning ADG
(Average Daily Gain) by January 1,
1989 and, by January 1, 1990, weaning -
weight EPD will be established.
"EPDs will take into account the sire
and dam and will be a more accurate
measure of evaluating bulls and provide
more predictability," says Don Jack,
who with wife Carolyn manages the
Dundalk Bull Test Station.
Jack told the more than 300 present
at the open house that the present group
of bulls at the test station, 101 in total,
have averaged 3.95 pounds a day gain
with very few health problems.
Eleven different breeds are repre-
sented in the group of June and July
1987 calved bulls. Information on each
bull is compiled on an Ontario Bull Test
Certificate issued to each owner.0
WORTH REPEATING
The speaker was moaning that there
are fewer than 5 million farmers. He
called us a "dispersed minority."
Don't let numbers fool you. There
are only a few thousand doctors in
America and look at their power.
There are only a hundred U.S. sena-
tors and only a half dozen TV evan-
gelists. Look at their influence!
Power is not how many you are, but
what you do. — Richard Krumme,
Editor, Successful Farming