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RFI tested Hereford bull

S

SMN Herf

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Joined
Dec 1, 2005
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602
Location
NC South Dakota
Here is a bull I raised that I sent to the University of MO for evaluation performance and RFI evaluation.

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He was top on the test with a RFI of -5.81. He gained 4.07 per day to rank 7th and was the highest feed Conversion bull in the test with a 1.81 lbs of feed to 1 lb of gain.

I had 2 other bulls that a FG ratio of 3.98 with an ADG of 4.21. I also had the highest ADG group of bulls there, with the lowest average RFI score and the best FG ratio.

His EPDs are BW .5 WW 44 YW 76 M 16 REA +.10 and IMF .07 and his REA/cwt was 1.28

My question is if the average FG ratio was 5.72, what is a bull worth that can convert and gain on 1/3 less feed than the average bull?

All comments are welcome.

Brian
 
I'm in the process of trying to figure out exactly what the RFI index is worth-I have a partner in crime who is infinetely sharper than me delving into it as we speak. Were getting various reports as to the heritability etc-the intetresting thing is that it doesn't seem to have a phenotypic type that is condusive to a high index. His ribeye/cwt is enormous for sure-wjhat was his bf and marbling score and his pedigree, birthweight etc. Is he dehorned or polled. The 1.81 lbs of feed to a lb of gain is a misprint isn't it.
 
The FG is not a misprint. When I first saw that too, I thought it was a mistake and it was bad data. I talked to Montey Kerley at U of MO and he said the grow safe data doesn't show any abnormal feedings by this bull so I have to beleive it is accurate. I think it is amazing that he could gain so much on less than a lb of feed while a lot of other bulls needed 3 lbs of feed to gain less weight.

As far as relavance of the RFI data, I think that the RFI data alone can be misleading since there are individuals that are high gainers on very little feed, those that gain less weight on little feed, and then there are those that gain little weight but still eat a lot. It looks like you need to combine the RFI number with ADG and FG in order to get fast gaining cattle that can do it on less feed.

The biological type issue is still being debated. It just so happens to be that the high RFI cattle in this test, at least top three that I see are very moderate framed 5 cattle with some rib and guts to them.

In analysing my data, the only thing I can see at this pointt appears that those cows who maintain excellent flesh while eating low quality forages appears to have an advantage in RFI. I stress that is my observation in my own herd only.

He is out of a first calf heifer with a 62 lb birth weight. He ratioed 103 on REA and 120 on marbling in my little group of bulls. 2.7 IMF and 11.35 REA with .25 BF.

Registration # is 42847300 sired by my Liberty bull.

Jigs, his mommy and his daddy told him he didn't need to have horns. :D The horned bulls couldn't keep up with him anyway.
 
So your saying he gained over 4lbs/day on less than 7.5lbs/day total ration. I'm gonna have to be from Missouri on this one I'm afraid. They have some growsafe data at CattleLand FeedYards in Strathmore, Alberta-it would be interesting if anything tested there has come anywhere close to that. You could feed those cattle $10 corn and make money!!!
 
Thats on a Dry matter basis NR.

I have always that if something was to good to be true, it probably is but in this case I am hoping that saying is wrong.

I visited with Dr Kerley this afternoon and he says the data is accurate and it is certainly possible that he is that much superior to the rest.

As for as heredity of RFI, it appears that it is fairly highly heritable trait.

Brian
 
I have some advertisement coming out on him pretty soon. It will be interesting on what response I get. I certainly have enough cows to keep him more than busy all summer, but if the right situation presented iteself, I am willing to use him AI.

Brian
 
I do not have a website yet. I have been accumalting pictures for such a venture. Probbly will have one up and runing by this fall though.

I have always said that high priced feed should be the best thing that ever happened to the Hereford breed
Click to expand...

Well, this may well be true in general terms, but I certainly don't think that the Hereford breed can rest on its laurels and think just because on average we are more efficient, they will use our product.

Within the Herford breed there are certainly wide ranges. For instance on this test the DM FG ranged from 1.81 to over 8.

If we don't have the other necessities like a trouble free mother cow, the old stereotypes of the Herford cow of yesteryear will continue to dog us.

Brian
 
Alot of breeders in Canada got caught up in trying to outdo the Simmental cattle-well they made the cattle similar-some even genetically lol. Thank God there's breeders in every breed that stay the course and don't follow the lemmings.
 

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