Outreach, society, policy

Assessing Beef Producer Bull Selection Practices in the US to Inform Educational Programming

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Abstract

A national online survey was conducted to characterize bull selection practices among beef producers in the United States. These results are based on 721 respondents that include producers from 43 states. The respondent base included 76.8% with commercial cow/calf operations and 44.5% with seedstock operations. The operations averaged 136 cows (range = 1 - 4000 head) exposed for breeding annually. The foundational criterion for bull selection decisions is profitability, which averaged a score of 8.1 on a 10-point importance scale (1 = Minimal Importance; 10 = Maximum Importance), with 83.9% of producers scoring it between 7 and 10. Among respondents that identified as commercial cow/calf producers the level of crossbreeding rated 6.0 on a 10-point scale (1 = straightbred; 10 = Major focus on heterosis). Bull selection decisions are heavily reliant on EPD, but significant emphasis is placed on some phenotypic measurements. A combined 89.1% of producers utilize EPD as either their Primary (33%) or Important (56.1%) source of information when making bull selection decisions. When asked to allocate emphasis across various traits, Calving Ease Direct (CED) received the highest priority, averaging 26.4% of total emphasis and indicated as a trait of selection by 86.3% of respondents. This emphasis on calving risk management is further highlighted by the fact that 87.8% of producers use the CED EPD when specifically selecting for calving ease, however, only 9.9% use CED EPD alone when selecting for calving ease. Of concern is the fact that 71.2% of respondents utilize Birth Weight EPD and 38.5% utilize Actual Birth Weight when evaluating bulls for calving ease. Other highly emphasized traits include production metrics: Weaning Weight Direct (growth) averaged 21.1% emphasis and was selected by 71.6% of producers. Calving Ease Maternal and Stayability/Sustained Cow Fertility also received high average emphasis, at 13.8% and 15.5%, respectively. Mature Cow Weight is an important profitability driver in commercial cow/calf operations, when replacements are retained, however, only 25.1% of respondence select for it with an average emphasis of 9.8%. When purchasing young bulls, genomic testing is considered highly important, averaging a score of 7.6 out of 10 (1 = Not Important; 10 = Extremely Important). In summary, the selection practices of beef producers are governed by a focus on profitability, achieved through the strong application of EPD for economically relevant traits, however, they are countering the effectiveness of this practice by also utilizing phenotypic traits and indicator traits in their selection decisions. Educational programming is needed to assist producers in re-prioritizing their selection emphasis on traits having the greatest impact on profitability.

Keywords: 2026

How to Cite:

Bullock, D., Spangler, M., Van Eenennaam, A., Weaber, R., Rowan, T., Courter, J., Culbertson, M., Decker, J. & Rolf, M., (2026) “Assessing Beef Producer Bull Selection Practices in the US to Inform Educational Programming”, World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production Digital Archive 2026(1): 2287278. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/wcgalp.24254

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