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Cattle
Page Links: Females & Donors : Bulls : AI
Sires : For Sale : Sold
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Our Breeding Program
In the
year’s we’ve been managing
the herd we’ve worked
to find the optimal mix of practices handed down from Grandad
combined with “book learning” from the colleges we’ve collectively
attended (Arkansas, Mississippi State and OSU). In addition, lessons learned
from friends, and our personal experience has been valuable in shaping
our vision of the ideal herd. To put it in a nutshell, we breed for good
cattle – those who do their job with minimal assistance,
calm dispositions, do-ability, superior fertility, and carcass
merit. Understanding the genotype that makes these cattle and selecting
for a consistent phenotype within this group is our goal.
Let there be no doubt,
we are believers in Hereford cattle. Grandad gave us all polled cattle,
but horned or polled doesn’t
make any difference to us as long as they are good ones. In a time when
the emphasis on black hide has had tremendous impact on the market and
thus many breeders’ preferences,
we choose to continue our focus on Herefords regardless of being
horned or polled. We have great appreciation for all the attributes
that come along with a white face and realize the only way the market
will recognize this value is for more folks like us to consistently
place the best Herefords they can raise into the marketplace.
In addition to the Herefords, we do
have a few other “ex-showgirls” in
our pastures. They are the ones who made the transition from the
show string to the pasture with ease, produced what we think are great
examples of their respective breeds and have made great females for
us. As a result we have a small group of Club Calf, Angus and Limousin
females; consequently are able to offer show cattle and a limited number
of breeding females in these breeds as well.
Females & Donors
There are currently 110 females in our breeding
program. Many are Victor bred Hereford females with their roots in the
Ogeechee herd from northeastern Oklahoma. In recent years we have selectively
added new genetics from various blood lines – usually arriving in the form of a show
heifer or embryo purchased from a fellow breeder here in Oklahoma. We are
so very fortunate to have many fellow breeders here who have been willing
to share not only their best genetics, but also their time, advice and
fellowship as we’ve
built upon the foundation we started with.
Our donor program continues to be a valuable tool in leveraging
the impact of the best genetics we have available to us. Each flush is
the culmination of a thoughtful selection process designed to produce cattle
with attributes that move our herd closer to our ideal in terms of genotype,
phenotype and performance. We are believers in reproducing success by repeating
the matings that have worked for us and by maximizing the impact of carefully
selected AI bulls.
Bulls
We currently use two herd bulls – both home raised – one
Hereford and one Angus.
AI Sires
Like everyone, we’ve kissed a few frogs to find the princes,
but suffice it to say we think our “bullometer” is getting better
all the time. We walk the yards in Denver and the barn aisles at all the
shows we attend looking to see what works on which kind of cows. We compare
the live bull to the EPD’s and write-ups, talk to fellow breeders,
look at sale and show results and then we distill all that into what we
think will work for our cows. We’re usually conservative in our selections
and wait to use a bull that has a track record rather than responding to
this year’s hot new bull and this seems to be working for us. We’re
careful about structure, pedigree, performance records and reports of problems.
With so many choices out there it’s always most difficult to sift
through and find just the right bulls, but in the end the selection process
and designing an optimal mating is what breeding cattle is all about. We’re
not about constant change, but we are about keeping up with progress made
in the breeds. Consequently we’re repeating the combinations that
work and moving to new ones as we think it best.
AI Sires we’re currently
using:
Hereford:
We are breeding syndicate members on two bulls; Victor Boomer P606 and H Ignite 6086.
In addition we use the following AI bulls: Odyssey, Online, Moler, Pure Gold, Reload, Wrangler 19D, Keymaster, Domino 146, Showtime, Diesel, GQ, Purple Milsap, and Manhattan.
Angus: WK Gunsmoke, Cowboy Troy, TC Dividend
Club Calf: Ace in the Hole, Who Made Who, Ali, Pale Face, About Time, Godfather, Johnny Walker Red, Witch Doctor, Habenero, Chill Factor, and others
Limousin: Limited
Edition, Blacque Rulon, Cookie Monster
For Sale
You won’t find pens and pens of cattle to sift through when
you come for a visit. We don’t have an annual production sale, and
we only consign a few cattle to public sales. However, each season we do
offer a group of cattle for sale by private treaty that are carefully selected,
sound, functional cattle that we stand behind. Please feel welcome to call or visit.
For junior exhibitors each show heifer
or steer comes with a promise of our help when you need it and a commitment
to call you when another one you may want becomes available. We are big believers
in paying forward the good things folks have done for us – kids who
take our calves and do well with them will have our support as they move
on to successive projects. The same goes for fellow breeders – we realize
the cattle industry can be a small world and success is best achieved by
friends working in collaboration.
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