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Kit Pharo's sale

Thanks, Denny. He cuts up a little too much in the flank, but what the heck...none are perfect. I bought him sight unseen on pedigree. He is F0203 and Papa Durabull.

We are wayyyy strong to heifers this year. Like we don't have many steer calves. That's okay with me, we do well with the heifers since that is
what we breed for. Good replacement heifers...the steer calves are a byproduct.

We have several asking about our bull calves out of our heifers. I can't even think what they are...ABS bull, son of Emblazon. Starts with an M...

I hate it when my mind does that. I think there are some calves there that
will definitely make good bulls. But we don't sell bulls...unless someone stands over them at branding and says, "I want this one; don't cut him." :shock:
 
Years ago my neighbor's Dad bought him a polled Hereford 4H heifer-well he got her bred to a bull that had topped the bull test a few years back and had a rip of a calf-well my buddy ran to the house to get more vaccine at their branding and they cut his bull calf by accident while he was gone. That old Hereford cow was a good one-he age culled at 17 and she had a 7 weioght calf running beside her-you could of bred her to a weak billy goat and got a good calf.
 
Faster Horses-Dave Nichols put it best when it comes to cattle-'Pretty is as pretty does'. I tripped up a Gerald Fry disciple the other day-he was giving me the spiel about how it helped him so much after he measured his herd. I asked him how many good old cows he had that didn't measure right-that would of got culled-did I get a look-well he said yeah there were a few of those lol.
 
Faster Horses-Dave Nichols put it best when it comes to cattle-'Pretty is as pretty does'. I tripped up a Gerald Fry disciple the other day-he was giving me the spiel about how it helped him so much after he measured his herd. I asked him how many good old cows he had that didn't measure right-that would of got culled-did I get a look-well he said yeah there were a few of those lol.
 
Northern Rancher said:
'Pretty is as pretty does'.
Click to expand...

I agree with that statement 100% NR.

I have always said what a cow or bull throws as offspring is what matters.

Remember an ad years back that said; " A bull's pedigree is what he should be. His phenotype is what he appears to be. What his calves are is what he really is."
 
Northern Rancher said:
Years ago my neighbor's Dad bought him a polled Hereford 4H heifer-well he got her bred to a bull that had topped the bull test a few years back and had a rip of a calf-well my buddy ran to the house to get more vaccine at their branding and they cut his bull calf by accident while he was gone. That old Hereford cow was a good one-he age culled at 17 and she had a 7 weioght calf running beside her-you could of bred her to a weak billy goat and got a good calf.
Click to expand...


NR- Maybe they could have sewed him back together :wink: :shock:
 
Would of probably had to thump the blue heeler on thje back to cough the nuts back up lol. We always have things in and sorted before the main crew comes-cuts down on the mixups lol.
 
maybe it is seeing my smaller cows breeding back quicker and weaning a calf of comparable size to my larger ones, I don't know. Actually, I wish I had more 1100# cows, as it is I have too many that are 1500#+ at calving.
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"Breeding back quicker and weaning a calf of comparable size" - THAT is an example of the "little things" which make a difference in the PROFIT box at the end of the year! If a 'farmer' looses 25 - 30 chickens in a year to a fox, 15 or 20 calves get scours, his good bull gets a foot cut with a wire and is "Out Of Service" for a month or so - thereby delaying his breeding 'window' and throwing his uniform calving program into a cocked hat - - - these are the "little things" that make his tax attorney ask him, "What the heck happened this year to show that difference in gross income from last year??" 1100# cows is a correct goal to aim for with your cow herd. Unpampered beef cattle are the one's who will make you a profit year in and year out - and so will their replacement heifers!

DOC HARRIS
 
Was just visiting with Fraser's on the phone and was going over the pedigree of the 137Y Horned Hereford bull that Kit uses-turns out they owned his maternal grandsire-seems great minds think alike. I sure like the looks of that old bull.
 
I just bought a couple more from the last sale on Thursday and jsut pulle din with them after picking them up in Iowa from one of his coop producers... Haven't seen the results, just a few of them here and tehre when i picke dup the two... I was told the Herefords did VERY well this time. I'm sure he will have all his prices posted on his webpage within a week... Always does.

Now it is time to ship the last of the crazy arse maine bulls from here... And than maybe I can hang up the calving jack next year, yeah right.
 
Now it is time to ship the last of the crazy arse maine bulls from here... And than maybe I can hang up the calving jack next year, yeah right.
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IL Rancher - Could you go into a little more detail regarding the Maine bulls you referred to above? Are you talking about their docility (or lack therof) or their production traits? Do they produce acceptable calves? Of what does your cow herd consist?

DOC HARRIS
 
Of the two left here right now one is a bit crazy.. Not aggressive but a bit highstrung... The other one is very mellow, as were 2 of the 4 that I sold this past fall. The other two were borderline. They were not aggressive but not exactly mellow either.. They always gave interesting looks when you were around them that made me wonder what was going on between the ears (Mine and theirs). The biggest problem I had with them was there feet/legs. These were bulls out of a club calf program, 3/4 maine, 1/4 Angus and were a bit too upright in the back hips.

I will say the heifers that I kept out of 1/2 blood maines have much, much better udders than the straight Angus do.. much tighter to the body and smaller teated.

Did the calves preform? For the most part they were nice but the birth weight on the calves was just way to high. They had calves that seemed to weigh as much as me sometimes... Okay, not that much but they were big. I didn't retain ownership on any but they tended to sel well at sale barns around here.

These bulls did work VERY well on the AngusXSimmiXMaine cows that we had . There were 20 of them (A couple with Chi in them as well) and always had very stout calves... Problem was that every year there were three or four percent of the calves that were buck legged or worse... Most o the buck legged were out of the Commercial Angus cows that we had/have. our cow herd now is roughly 100 Black Angus Heifers, 80 3/4 red Angus 1/4 Hereford heifers, 39 3 year old red baldies, 30 3 year old Angus and 120, give or take 5 4-7 year old Angus.. Not a single cow is registered.

Doc, in the end it boils down to the simple fact that they had to go because I am so sick of pulling calves that I would do just about anything to never have to do it again. That, and I decided that raising my own replacements was not a bad idea and these bulls were not going to be the type to reproduce the replacement types that I would want.. The only thing I regret in getting rid of them is loosing hybrid vigor and it is something I am looking at. and will have to consider once I move closer to my frame size goals.
 
IL Rancher-Do you think that the buck-kneed problems were caused by the Commercial Angus cows - or the Sires of the calves? What breed bulls are you considering using now? Have you considered Gellbvieh? or Composits as per Chuck Miller (Miller/Lawman Farms) of Columbia, MO - or - Leachman of Colorado? They would compliment your cow herd, and the Hybrid Vigor is built-in, precluding your losing what you have achieved so far. PM me if you need any further information on either supplier. Hybrid vigor is precious, and it would be a shame to lose several year's accomplishments by overlooking an opportunity.


DOC HARRIS
 
The person I bought the bulls (And most of my orignial cows from or through) basically told me it was a risk you took when using some of the fancier Maine bulls. The buck legs wee not the worse thigns in the world as far as feeder calves went but there were some who also were born with extreme tendon problems as well to the point opf looking like lupine poisoning... Talkd with the vet about it and he siad he saw it from time to time with those type of Maine bulls. Was it for sure? I don't know but when we ran heifers with Angus bulls we never had that problem.

I have two young compsoite bulls that I am going to test this year as well as Two Tarentaise bulls that I used last year and am liking what I am seeing so far but it is stll early. AFter dropping my herd frame size down to a more acceptable size to me I will be using composite bulls. Might happen sooner rather than later as we are still looking at expanding further in the next few years. Gelbvieh and Balancers have always been on the radar screen however and the next time I go bull shopping I will be looking at those. NOt to mention that AI is a terriifc thing to use in a situation like this.

WE have Angus and Red Angus bulls now along with those others I talked about.
 
You have done some excellent thinking and planning in your management program. Let us know what the ultimate results turn out to be, and keep up the forward thinking!

DOC HARRIS
 

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