WHPR New Stock Bull Finder

GiantPencil

https://webapp.icbf.com/bull-finder 
Anyone have any thoughts on it so far? I used it there at lunchtime today and found it pretty useful for finding pedigree bulls in my locality.

Mac Taylor

Haven't joined myself....yet. Another cost to try to recoup when selling a bull that the majority of buyers couldn't give a crap about.


As it is at the moment, you need to have 5* across all categories both within and across the breeds, easy calving but producing show quality animals, genotyped, AI bred, Pedigree cert, fertility tested and luck money all for a price of an average weanling.


For some reason I can't add smilies.

J.O. Farmer

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Haven't joined myself....yet. Another cost to try to recoup when selling a bull that the majority of buyers couldn't give a crap about.


As it is at the moment, you need to have 5* across all categories both within and across the breeds, easy calving but producing show quality animals, genotyped, AI bred, Pedigree cert, fertility tested and luck money all for a price of an average weanling.


For some reason I can't add smilies.

Have you got any of those bulls because when you go out to buy a bull you'll get a 3 star bull that'll drop to 2 stars and maybe even 1 in some categories before calves hit the ground,
he'll be a plain looking animal yet you'll need the vet on speed dial for c sections,
he might not even be genotyped,
he's probably out of a long line of unknown stockbulls,
the pedigree cert will probably be a photocopy of a photocopy of what he swears is the full brother from 2 years previous,
the fertility test will be if a cow goes in calf sometime in the next decade
and you'd swear that the buyer is supposed to give the luck penny for being so lucky as to purchasethis fine specimen
and all for a price approaching the top price at the breeds premier sale.


It won't let me add smilies either from the phone.

Mac Taylor

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

Have you got any of those bulls because when you go out to buy a bull you'll get a 3 star bull that'll drop to 2 stars and maybe even 1 in some categories before calves hit the ground,
he'll be a plain looking animal yet you'll need the vet on speed dial for c sections,
he might not even be genotyped,
he's probably out of a long line of unknown stockbulls,
the pedigree cert will probably be a photocopy of a photocopy of what he swears is the full brother from 2 years previous,
the fertility test will be if a cow goes in calf sometime in the next decade
and you'd swear that the buyer is supposed to give the luck penny for being so lucky as to purchasethis fine specimen
and all for a price approaching the top price at the breeds premier sale.


It won't let me add smilies either from the phone.

Same coin.....different sides:D at least you've given me a laugh.

Bellview

Didn't join either as not a practical scheme. The folks that are high risk of messing with dates are the show boys who try to take a few months out if age of their calves.
The maternal bull program run by icbf was a mess and when folks were found messing there was no penalty or name or shame as some of those folks have bulls in the gene Ireland program..so these boys are up 5k and don't care.
If there was weighing at show as is done with the angus all Ireland and Iverk it would help remove some of this messing.
Won't join as little value for me as spending a part of day weighing cattle even heavy in calf ones and paying for it and no return is a waste of time

patsy_mccabe

I'm a member of the Limousin Society, but I'm not in that 'Whole Health' programme. I'm not in the Johnes programme either so I can't sell at a premier sale. The society seem to keep bringing out new programmes that keep that inner circle of breeders protected. Fine to do all these tests but they add more and more cost to the breeder. Fine if you are a Vet like a few well known breeders, but a lot of cost for a mere mortal like me.


A few interesting facts you wont see on the Limousin Society webpage;

For 2016
No. Of Breeders - 1623
No. Of limousin pedigree calves registered - 9046

Bellview

patsy_mccabe wrote:

I'm a member of the Limousin Society, but I'm not in that 'Whole Health' programme. I'm not in the Johnes programme either so I can't sell at a premier sale. The society seem to keep bringing out new programmes that keep that inner circle of breeders protected. Fine to do all these tests but they add more and more cost to the breeder. Fine if you are a Vet like a few well known breeders, but a lot of cost for a mere mortal like me.

I sat in an angus meeting..one member gave 15mins complaining about the scheme etc etc...then I notice he has joined..

wiggy123

bellview
do hear that myself, folk complaint about a scheme, etc.. then low and behold, there 1st to sign up!

Bellview

wiggy123 wrote:

bellview do hear that myself, folk complaint about a scheme, etc.. then low and behold, there 1st to sign up!

Not too many angus folks signed up.

wiggy123

true--wonder why? unsure if it be worth signing up to it--if herd is small,etc

blue5000

GiantPencil wrote: »

https://webapp.icbf.com/bull-finder 
Anyone have any thoughts on it so far? I used it there at lunchtime today and found it pretty useful for finding pedigree bulls in my locality.

Just had a quick look, it's useful up to a point. But the couple I looked at the reliability was low, so basically it's useless, and one of them wasn't even linear assessed. Why not? I think it would be simpler to contact a breeder and just ask for a list of tag numbers of bulls they have for sale, and look them up myself.

I'm on J O farmer's side of the fence for this one:p

I've spent a bit more time on it, I'm on the look out for another aubrac bull. There's only 9 bulls on the list with a better maternal ebi figure than my own bull, so I have to admit it has helped narrow down the search a bit.
Now I haven't compared all those 9 to the pedigree of my own bull yet. I'm looking for a couple of particular traits, one of them is milk. When it comes to the crunch there might be none of the 9 not related to my bull and have the traits I'm looking for.
Look, it's another handy tool to have in the box, but it's not the be-all to end-all either. It's a classic example of the stars narrowing the gene pool as we all chase 5 stars.

patsy_mccabe

blue5000 wrote: »

.....

Blue you're on 7,777 posts now. Thats some going.

blue5000

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Blue you're on 7,777 posts now. Thats some going.

I'm only trottin after reggie, look at my join up date though.

How much do breeders pay to sign up to this though?

wiggy123

250 ish? I thought

Hard Knocks

wiggy123 wrote: »

250 ish? I thought

Is it a per herd or per animal?

wiggy123

I am unsure,.. thought was a fee-then so much per head.. say on icbf--rules/fees etc