Page 32 - PMB-2018-Catalog-WEB-3

Herefords

Heterosis

the Only Free Lunch in
the Cattle Business

HETEROSIS
As the commercial cow herds have become increasingly influenced
by Angus genetics, it seems that the opportunity is growing to take Good Hereford Bulls
advantage of the potential profitability enhancement that might
be obtained through increasing HETEROSIS.
Aside from the perceived increases in potential calf weights
from the “heterosis factor” created by crossbreeding programs,
there are several other opportunities. Studies conducted at the
M A R C in Clay City, NE as well as numerous other places have
indicated that advantages can be found in the healthfulness of
calves and in the longevity of crossbred cows in the herds. These
are significant profitability factors.
Our Mission Statement from our inception has been “To Help
Cattlemen Achieve Their Full Economic Potential.” We thought
that another way of supporting our mission might be to support
the creation of Heterosis in our customer’s cattle. Bred to Black Hided Cows
The Angus X Hereford cross is well proven and is well accepted
by your calf buyers. Good Black Baldy steers are a premium
product and the heifer mates can make excellent cows.
With this in mind, we asked PMB Co-Founder and Partner, Bill
Wilson, who has had Hereford cattle as well as Angus for the
past 20 years if he could send some Hereford bulls to us. The
Hereford sale offering consists of Embryo Transfer Calves from
Wilson along with bulls from his neighbor Andrew Beck and a
nice group of bulls from Grant McCay in KS. All 3 breeders want
to use the Feed Intake test info in their breeding programs as
this data has not generally been available to Hereford breeders.
Note that their EPDs are generally higher than the Hereford
breed average. They have been tested for Feed Intake with Produce Market Topping Calves
Angus – we are all interested in the breed comparison. They
seemed to be pretty competitive. The RFI Data is the phenotypic
data from the test as it was calculated with the Angus. (We do not
have RFI EPDs for the Herefords). These are the only Hereford
Bulls that I am aware of that are offered under our exclusive
“Buy Them or Lease Them – You Decide” format.
Remember that the Hereford and Angus EPDs are not directly
comparable to each other. Instead, compare the Herefords to
their breed average and the Angus to their breed percentile.

And Replacements with Heterosis and Longevity

- 30 -