Winston Churchill’s words; “never was so much owed by so many to so few”, rings a bell when we think about bull selection today. Churchill was referring to the Royal Air Force after they successfully defended Britain from the Germans in 1940.

In farming terms, picking bulls must occupy the least amount of time by farmers but it has such massive importance it reminds me of Churchill’s words.

Genetics is said to be responsible for about 50% of all on-farm results, with the rest down to management. To think that half of the output from a farm is down to genetics, yet farmers spend very little time on it, is hard to believe.

Yet, that is the reality. For many farmers, it is left up to the AI technician or AI salesperson to choose the bulls used on the farm. Such trust and loyalty are admirable, but the question needs to be asked is it delivering for the farmer?

The best assessment of this is probably from the co-op performance report as put together by ICBF.

The herd performance is judged against the co-op average and the top 10% within the co-op. The EBI of the herd is also detailed in this report.

Genetics

Many farmers are just not that into genetics. While they may be excellent stock people and excellent farmers in their own right, they pay less attention to genetics because it doesn’t excite them.

This is fully understandable, but if going through the effort of heat detection and using AI, it makes far more sense to use a good bull versus an average or poor bull.

High EBI cows are available in all shapes and sizes. Using high EBI sires doesn’t preclude a farmer from having a herd of cows that they will like looking at.

My advice for farmers that aren’t that into breeding – copy the bull selection of someone who is really into it and has a herd that is delivering.