I talked to a good friend that is a purebred breeder. He thinks the Diamond D cattle tend to be a bit inconsistent. He has used 21X and he definitely is a heifer bull. And the heifers out of him raise real good calves. His favorites there are Emblazon 27C and perhaps 706C (an Emblazon son). 21X he says has too long of pasterns and they can be short-backed. But again, he is very happy with the heifers and what they produced.
He likes the Pinebank bull, the calves are really thick. He looks like the calves would be puds, but they aren't. He is 4.5 or 5 frame bull. They would use him again. They will be calving heifers out of him this spring.
He likes a Wye bred bull named, "Manning of Volga" that is owned by Evergreen Angus in Minnesota.
Not all of Pharo's cattle are that small.
We have a customer that has used Pharo bulls, Diamond D bulls and Ohlde bulls and so far, he likes the Ohldes the best. But they are also the most expensive. The 'good buys' from all three of these breeders are history because of supply and demand. Everyone is wanting back to moderate, easy-fleshing, good doing cattle. I've always appreciated Diamond D for scoring their cattle on disposition and udder--things like that help determine what makes real cows for real ranchers.
Of course, what bothers me about Pharo cattle, is they don't (or at least didn't) get fed mineral when they are young and I think there is some problems down the road with these bulls that I attribute to mineral deficiency when they were growing. Maybe he has changed his ideas on this and feeds some mineral now; you'd have to ask Kit Pharo. I believe he would give you an honest answer.
Rick Hanson at Froid has some good cattle. The heifer bulls we bought from him are just right and have done an excellent job. I bought a cow bull for our neighbor from him and he thinks it is his best bull. They are priced reasonably and are sold private treaty starting on a day he designates in the early spring and sold on a first-come-first served basis.
His cattle have some Wye breeding and he has a bull he calls Cedar that he has used for years, he's that good of a bull. You could call him about what he does about AI'ing.
Hope this helps!!!
p.s. BMR, I know exactly what you mean. When we had those kind, we crossed them with Limousin...big mistake...