‘Fertility traits in males (eg. scrotal size) are correlated to key fertility traits in females. Focusing on bull selection for improved fertility will result in improvements in both male and female fertility and therefore overall herd reproductive performance. It was found scrotal size needs to be evaluated not so much as ‘how big’ but ‘how big and how soon’. Bulls achieving large scrotal size by 18 months are not nearly as valuable as those that achieve large scrotal size by 12 or 14 months, ie when you want your heifers to be cycling. It is therefore important that seedstock breeders are taking yearling scrotal measurements of bulls, not just the later ones. One clear outcome of other research in the north is that smaller framed females reach puberty earlier and as cows they find it easier to maintain condition and get back in calf within the 12 month cycle. The pursuit of frame size by many of those in the beef seedstock industry is therefore at least partly responsible for the problem of lower fertility in commercial herds today.’