Sire Selection
Where Do I Get the Right Bulls for my Maternal Cowherd?
By Burke Teichert
Last month I wrote about heifer
development, suggesting methods
different from those typically used.
I have since been wondering about
the bulls used by most ranchers
who produce their own replacement
heifers. Are those bulls “undoing”
most of what the producer is
20 | FEBRUARY 2019
trying to accomplish with his heifer
development and selection practices?
Looking back into my own history
of cattle breeding, I have become
convinced that most of us ranchers
have been using terminal mating’s
across our entire herd, except for
heifers, since the early 70s when the
continental breeds started to arrive
in the U.S. It was an easy way to get
a nice increase in weaning weight.
At about the same time, progeny testing
was becoming popular and many of
us got caught up in a race for higher