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Just curious what bulls have and have not worked for you.

BRG

Well-known member
I was thinking the other day about bloodlines, what works and what doesn't for us. We have used certain bulls and quit because the bull calves just weren't up to snuff,(since we sell bulls, they need to be real good) and then once his daughters are cows, we kind of wished we would have used a bit more of him. I know that this is real typical. But I was just curious what other bulls everyone has used that has turned out to bit wrecks or has worked real good for you. For us, we never really cared for the Logan 210 and Buf Crk Canyon sons but the daughters are pretty good. A bull that did ok with his sons but the daughters are great is the old Barney bull. I have actaually been thinking about going back and flushing a cow or 2 to him again.

Just curious what everyone else has experienced.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
I've really liked the Nichols cattle we've used L56,Performa etc-kind of plain looking but they get the job done-The Horned Hereford bull OXH Mark Domino 8020 has worked pretty good here too-I think that's his proper name. The old BC Hobo 1961 bull leaves daughters that last a long time and are pretty useful. When we were performance crazy-January calving nutjobs the old Hoff Valedictorian bull really rung the bell sold lots of 8 weight calves right off the cow with him and GT Max was ok if you wanted growth and lots of daughters to throw away. I think we all know the Angus bull I'm not real fond of.
 

elwapo

Well-known member
BRG
We have used Bodacious with great succes on our Gelbvieh cows.The F1 females are second to none.Another Red Angus bull that has really clicked for us is Cherokee Canyon. On the Gelbvieh side Freedom is a no fail bet for commercial cattlemen.
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
In my Grandad's herd, purebred Red Angus, he used a Leachman Heavenly son for alot longer than he should have. His daughters and sons all had big long horse-heads on 'em, the likes of which I haven't seen since the days of Lone Star. They were big, long-legged, raw-boned buggers, too. Nothing but performance in them - all growth and heavy milkers, definitely a fossil-fuel animal.

He's using a son of TC Dividend right now that's lower to the ground, really deep and thick. He's got some better looking calves from him, but unfortunately, the cowherd still has a lot of them damn race-horse Heavenly's in it. If I could do the culling around there the landscape would change in a hurry.

As for my herd, you folks probably wouldn't know the Galloway bloodlines, but the herd bull I got from Rkaiser is a son of Brass Ring Kingston, who came from Russ and Susan Waples of Montana(where exactly I'm not sure). He's easily the best bull I've ever owned. Great thickness and depth from his rear to his front, with the best feet I've seen on any bull. His disposition is great, our kids can get on his back standing out in pasture, and he just switches his tail like some old saddle horse. Here's a pic:

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elwapo

Well-known member
I have heard that heavenly was homozygous for bad feet as well. It is amazing how many A.I sires have heavenly in the pedegree though?
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
elwapo said:
BRG
We have used Bodacious with great succes on our Gelbvieh cows.The F1 females are second to none.Another Red Angus bull that has really clicked for us is Cherokee Canyon. On the Gelbvieh side Freedom is a no fail bet for commercial cattlemen.
How were the bw's on bodacious?
 

elwapo

Well-known member
I typically have a low birth weight and moderate framed pb gelbvieh herd. My average birth weights on purebred calves is 87 lbs. It is interesting that the bodacious calves have not varied significantly from that average. I have had that concern raised before with his high birth weight epd's. I calved out a few of his f1 daughters this year with good results bred to a calving ease gelbvieh sire.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
I'm not a big epd believer but the bull himself was stout, sound and big ribbed. I liked him a lot. I'm much more enthused by him than I am your other choice. The CC's don't set records on fescue for milk production, actually, maybe they do but not the good kind of records.
 

elwapo

Well-known member
I live in a semi arid climate that does not support high milk production and , truth be told, some gelbvieh lines have more milk than my environment will allow. I may have spoken too soon on the CC, s because we only have this years calves on the ground from him, but they are real stand-outs. Time will prove him for me. My biggest concern in the cross is maintaining the good feet that I demand as my cows have to walk long distances for water.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
I ran a couple for a neighbor once that were show heifers so it's hard to say. The CC's were nice from theirspine into their hooks and were smooth behind the shoulder with ample spring of rib, which I like. Their pins were too close and they didn't have enough heel on their back feet. They were too strait shouldered (just a little). I've seen some others at shows and bull sales that followed the same phenotype. He makes around a 5-6 frame animal which I'd assume you'd like. Are the Bodacious not bigger? I'd assume he'd sire offspring in the 6.25 to 7.25 range.
 

elwapo

Well-known member
I tend to A.I bodacious to smaller framed cows for exactly that reason, to ad a little size. I do believe the cc calves are a touch smaller framed at this time, but I like to wait until weaning to judge that because the summer on grass makes some good calves poorer and vice versa.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
The CC's that were on my place almost starved their calves to death in the hot summer months on fescue. My other heifers sucked down but the calves were fat and one of the CC's bred back , the other was open. Mine bred back. The CC's had big beautiful udders that were level and teats were perfect, just couldn't do the job. That Bodacious was impressive to me though. I like my 3m better than CC all the way around but I liked Bodacious better than my 3m bull. Keep me posted on his calves. If you get any pictures, I'd like to see them. Bodacious could wreck a home grown bulls set of epd's though. If he breeds smaller than his bw epd, he wouldn't help the contemporary group. :mad: Stupid epd's anyway.
 

BRG

Well-known member
The Dakota Copper calves I have seen from both owners have been real good. They seem to be the right size as well. They seem to all have real good body, length, and muscle. The daughters seem to be easy fleshing, and have beautiful udders. I have not seen any feet problems either. His dam is a nice cow and does a real good job with her calves. She isn't a 1 hit hero. I think he is one of those bulls that should be used pretty hard throughout the industry. The only concern I have with him is his milking ability. His daughters will probably milk harder than what alot of ranchers want or need.

We purchased a son of his, I have been watching DC for several years now and I feel likethat we have the best one, but time will tell as his first calves will start to come at our ranch in a couple weeks.
 

Shortgrass

Well-known member
A Char bull called "Avalanche" is one of the best I ever used. "JBJ AJ" was one of the most dissappointing. Char is all I know much about though, so maybe I don't have much to offer in this discussion.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
elwapo said:
Red Robin
I bought some grand slam semen on a whim , but have yet to use him. What is your opinion on him?
I didn't see this question yesterday elwapo. I like grand slam. I've seen some good calves out of him. They are pretty stylish. I don't know how the cows preform. Maybe someone else here has used him or seen more stock than I have. My neighbors used him some and had a really nice bull calf they took to the pen show at denver this year.

About the Dakot Copper calves. I used him because I like his owners. :wink: Having said that, I have two calves by him this year. They are both similiar in kind. The one pictured is out of a real good cow and the other is a lesser cow. From what I can tell (they're just babies) I really like the calves. They look like they have enough room in them which is important to me. They are pretty wide based. I hear the fertility on his heifers is real good which I could always use more of. I look forward to some extra milk as well. They are both real gentle too which is also important to me.
 
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