Selecting Bulls to Meet Marketing Goals
K-State beef cattle geneticist explains how marketing end points influence purchasing decisions.
March 5, 2025
When selecting a bull, knowing the marketing plan for the calves will help in prioritizing traits, K-State beef cattle geneticist Bob Weaber said. [Photo by Shauna Hermel.]
by Lisa Moser, K-State Research and Extension
When assembling a product, it is important to have the right tool to make the building process go smoothly.
Similarly, cattle producers can make the calving process go smoothly by selecting the right bull to mate with the cows, said the experts at Kansas State University’s (K-State) Beef Cattle Institute.
Speaking on a recent Cattle Chat podcast, Bob Weaber, K-State beef cattle geneticist and head of the Eastern Kansas Research-Extension Centers, said it is important to know how a bull’s offspring will be marketed before making a bull purchase.
“Understanding the marketing end point of the calves will help identify the important traits for the bull selection,” Weaber said. “I recommend producers separate the maternal and terminal mating decisions wherever possible in the herd.”
For example, for sires that will be used to create replacement heifers, Weaber recommends producers prioritize a selection index focused on cow productivity.
For bulls mated to heifers, he said it is important to look at the calving-ease traits, but the lowest calving-ease sire may not be the best for heifers that are making females that will be retained in the herd long-term.
“Light-birth-weight calves born on the range in a blizzard may not survive, so our goal in making those matings is to create a calf with adequate body weight at birth with a low dystocia rate.” — Bob Weaber
“The relationship between calving ease direct (CED) and maternal calving ease (CEM) is negative, which means that easy-calving heifers can have, over time, sequentially lower maternal calving ease,” Weaber said.
He said that calves sired by high-calving-ease bulls will have light birth weights, which can create a management-induced challenge.
“Light-birth-weight calves born on the range in a blizzard may not survive, so our goal in making those matings is to create a calf with adequate body weight at birth with a low dystocia rate,” Weaber said. “To do that, we need to manage and develop our replacement heifers correctly so they have an adequate size and stamina to get through the calving process.”
He recommends producers select bulls that are adequate CED, but not extreme.
In addition, Weaber said artificial insemination (AI) is one way for producers to create both maternal and terminal matings in the herd.
“Using gender-sorted semen through AI can be an effective way to build targeted replacement heifers and then let the bull sire the calves that will be marketed at weaning,” Weaber said. “That way you used technology to manage your breeding strategy to achieve that separation of maternal and terminal matings.”
To hear the full discussion, listen to Cattle Chat on your preferred streaming platform.
Editor’s note: Lisa Moser is a K-State Research and Extension news service writer.
Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 17, No. 3-A
Topics: Genetics , EPDs , Management
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
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