Buy a twin bull?

[sdsu rancher]

I'm looking for a bull to use on my heifers this summer. I got a local breeder's flier that has a bull with good calving ease EPD's. Only thing is, he weighed 50 lbs at birth and is about 100-150lbs lighter than most of the rest of the bulls on the sale. So I asked the hired man over there what the story was, he says it was a twin. He's also got marginal ADG numbers (ratio of 82). I wonder how much of that is tied to his size and getting pushed around by bigger calves?

Two questions:
Would his progeny have a better chance of throwing twins?
Would there be any drawbacks to using a bull that was born a twin?

I'm just trying to think of pros and cons to using him...
Smaller bull = easier on the heifers
Smaller bull = might get beat up when he's with the rest of the bulls in the off season
Smaller bull might cost less to purchase?

On a different note...yesterday we set a record high (50 deg. F). This morning we have a -43F windchill...

 

[BlackCattleRancher]

His low bw gave him a low BW epd. What his calves will be is in his DNA. Look at his sire and dam, him being a small twin will have no bearing on his progeny. I'd pass on him myself, a few hundred dollars now will cost you thousands later on.

BCR

 

[Faster horses]

It would be good to look at the other bulls out of the same sire and see if it is a low bw family. Check out the dam's side as well.

A really good Angus breeder told me to be safe chosing a heifer bull to look at the families.
Example: The individual calf that you are interested in might post a BW of 70 lbs. But when you look at the contemporaries out of the sire, you see most are 90 lb. calves, the calf with the 70 lb. bw, was most likely a fluke and that the chances of getting 90 lb. calves is high.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a heifer bull and find one made right, that has a 90 lb. bw, but the other calves out of that bull has 70 lb. avergage bw, he will probably throw closer to 70 lb. calves.

One of the great heifer bulls, Rainmaker 340 himself had a 90 lb. bw.

Now, with that being said, please know that BW is more heritable from the cow than from the bull. So if you have big BW in your cattle, the bull you choose isn't going to totally help that. Once the BW is in your cattle, it can be hard to get back out; not to say it is impossible, but it takes several years.

I have followed this Angus breeders advice through the years and it has served us well. Using this theory I have picked heifer bulls that have truly been 'heifer bulls.'

Hope this helps!

 

[Kato]

I wouldn't put a lot of faith in the birthweight of a twin being an indicator of calving ease. We've found that just being a twin will drop pounds off the birthweight of calves from cows that usually have bigger calves.

You've gotten some good advice to check out the families. I'd follow that.

 

[cedardell]

His offspring will have at least a 10% increased chance of throwing twins. We used him enough that our herd got to throwing about 10% twins. It took awhile though. We also had twins out of first calf heifers which our vet said was highly unlikely. I think I-d pass on him unless you see 100% of those cows drop their calves.

 

[alabama]

Check his EPD'S. Those numbers are you best indication.

 

[BLACKHAWK]

Heifer Bulls--If you know your cows or families you will have some that produce calves say in 70 lb weight no matter what they are bred too also we like to really look the calves over when born wieght isn't as important as the shape it can be long with a little heavier wt still calve easy. I can always calve a long body -- than a brick. Some people like the bull calves looking like a mature bull when born I don't they will grow into their own.
Our best bulls usally are in the 85-100lbs that make herd bulls shaped right. ( there are exceptions)We use our own bulls on heifers and sell heifer bulls we would use ourseves birth wise.WE don't follow A I fads.
Use semen off bulls we have seen old or new. Blackhawk