The latest winners from the University of Georgia are all
bulls and no dogs.
"These bulls are in the top 1 percent as compared to
their breeds on the national
level," said Robert Stewart, an animal scientist with the
UGA Extension Service.
Stewart runs the Tifton Bull Evaluation Center. The UGA
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences has run the test for 38 years. But this
is its first year in a new
Irwin County facility with space for about 100 more bulls than
the old site.
Georgia farmers consigned 237 bulls to the 1995-1996 Tifton
Bull Evaluation and Sale.
"We offer the best of these animals for sale to improve
Georgia beef genetics,"
Stewart said.
Cattlemen consign bulls to the program in October. Every bull
gets the same feed during
the test, which ends in mid-February.
Stewart and others use test results to cull the lowest-
scoring third of the bulls.
Farmers can buy the top bulls at a special sale when the testing
ends.
This year’s sale offered 146 bulls March 6 in Tifton.
By sale time, officials have records on the bulls’
performance and can predict how
their calves will perform in a number of key ways.
They calculate a performance index for each bull. Growers can
use this number and the
factors used to figure it to select bulls with the traits they
need.
Stewart said farmers use all of the data to choose a bull
that will complement the type
of cows on his farm.
For example, if he plans to breed a bull to heifers (young
cows that have never had a
calf), he would want fairly small calves.
Test records would show whether a bull’s calves would likely
be smaller than average,
so the heifers could deliver calves more easily.
Farmers used to look for the biggest bull. "But we’ve
found that’s not the best
way to evaluate a bull to really improve herd genetics,"
Stewart said.
But the average daily weight gain is still a key figure. This
year’s top bull gained
just over five pounds every day during the test.
"Our ADG-winning bull is owned by Lee Davis, an eighth-
grade 4-H’er from Dooly
County," Stewart said. "He’s done an excellent job of
selecting quality heifers
and a bull with the genetics to complement them. The result is
this young bull."
Davis’ bull set an all-time average weight gain record for
the Brangus breed.
The bulls are sold by their performance index, highest to
least. "That doesn’t
show that one is overall better than another," Stewart
said. "Each bull has its
genetic strong points that might serve one cattle producer
better than another."
Farmers always want to produce high-quality calves. But when
prices are low, as they
are now, it’s especially important. Improving genetics with
superior bulls can mean the
difference between a profit and a loss.
"These bulls are producing calves that are each worth
$25 to $50 more at the
market," Stewart said.
There is no specific amount a farmer should pay for a bull,
he said.
"But given the statistics we have on how improving herd
genetics with superior
bulls can increase profits," he said, "Georgia
producers can’t afford not to buy
the best bull they can that will complement the cows they have
at home."
