LIMOUSIN TODAY LimToday-April 2018-WEB | Page 53

Performance take risks with poor potential reproductive performance from a sire without a fertility check. Beef producers need to be concerned with a wide variety of production traits if they intend to be successful in this business. Weaning weights, yearling weights, milk, carcass traits, etc. should be prioritized to varying degrees depending on your marketing program. A person that sells feeder calves at weaning will be concerned about weaning weights while a marketer of freezer beef will be more concerned about carcass traits. However, regardless of your marketing program, the traits of supreme importance are fertility (percentage of females bred) and calving ease (percentage of live calves). While calving ease is extremely important, I believe there is a tendency for the typical Ohio herd owner to overemphasize calving ease across the entire herd. The average cow herd in Ohio numbers approximately 17 head with most herds retaining some number of replacement heifers to add to the herd. Herds of this size usually work with one herd sire to cover both mature cows and yearling heifers. If you choose a herd sire with the proper calving ease for the heifers, he should also possess enough quality in the traits of importance such as growth and carcass merit for the mature cows. There are bulls out there that can do many things G well, but they can be hard to find and more expensive to own. This brings us to the subject of price. It should be the goal of every cow-calf producer to purchase the best possible bull that fits within a determined budget. I realize that philosophy would result in a wide range of bull prices among producers. A rule of thumb that I have often heard for many years is that the value of a typical herd bull should be equal to the value of two Making His Mark LFLC Denver 857D Purebred • Homo Black (T) • Homo Polled (T) BW: 78 lbs. • Adj. WW: 778 lbs. • Adj. YW: 1,385 lbs. CED: 8 BW: 0.8 WW: 83 YW: 113 MK: 21 CEM: 9 SC: 1.40 ST: 13 Doc: 25 YG: -0.32 CW: 33 REA: 0.70 MB: -0.13 FT: -0.06 $MTI: 52.73 2017 Sale Day Stats Scrotal: 40 cm • Ribeye Area: 17.16 sq in. • IMF: 3.97 • F94L: 2 One of the most talked about bulls of the 2017 spring sale season, Denver ranks in the top 3% of the breed for scrotal EPD, top 5% for weaning, top 10% for ribeye and top 20% for yearling weight. His first calves have come easily with moderate birth weights. Semen Is Available For $40 Per Unit Contact LIMI Gene or Grassroots Genetics. GV - Hanson LIMOUSIN Gene Raymond: 785-448-8026 Arne Hanson: 785-448-8027 [email protected] Gordy Ludens: 605-661-6470 Michael Ludens: 605-360-1191 [email protected] LIMOUSIN Today | 51