Steer Planet - Show Steers and Club Calves Forum

Here is a picture of HC Bar Code 16X ET who was used on all our heifers in 2011. Of 28 heifers that calved here, 27 calved unassisted at birth and 1 was a malpresentation ( upside down, backwards and breach).

Bar Code had a 74 lb BW himself and he seems to be passing on his low BW to his calves. He is sired by Pheasant Creek Leader 4th x( by Kinnaber Leader 6th x) who was born in 1968. Leader 4th was the Grand Champion bull at the 1970 Regina Bull Sale and sold for $7300 to Remitall Cattle Co, Olds, AB. IMO, Leader 4th was the best sire of the Leader line. Bar Code's dam is B Good Red Sue 1P* ( CCS Equity's Charmer X CF Roan Sue 644 TP *x). Bar Code combines popular genetics from the past as well as from the present, and it seems to have worked. We had 5 bulls and 2 heifers from this flush and it was one of the most interesting sets of calves we have ever had from ET. Bar Code weighed 2020 lbs  two weeks after his second birthday . He had bred 30 females when he was pictured here, and I think he had gained weight while breeding on grass.

From his first calf crop, I think he has indicated he is a calving ease sire, and he is breeding all our heifers again this year as well as some cows.  He also has a deep rich red color and he stamps his calves with this color. We only have 2 roans and they are very nice even roans. The reds are red with no white markings.

Where may we purchase these genetics?

Where may we purchase these genetics?

He will be collected for Canada, USA, Australia, South America and hopefully Europe ( provided he is IBR negative) this fall. He will go to stud as soon as he is done breeding.

Like to see the calves in your travels-its a feat to lineup the cow side,and have low BW genetics-lotta poster cows on her end-and the kinda maine in the woodpile I like.

I don't mind the sire one bit. He is kinda cool. When I look at the dam side I think higher bw's so the 4th bull must be the ticket. I'd like to see a cow like that bred to a A@T bull.(jmo) Good luck with your bull JIT. I'll say you for sure have the widest variety of shorthorn genetics in one place. How many bulls you have semen for sale on now? Keep it up

 How many bulls you have semen for sale on now?


Thanks for your comments.  I have semen for sale from 10 sires that I have used here,(EDIT: I forgot two bulls when I was counting them up, so I have semen available of 12 of my own bulls) as well as a few others that I never owned.

Sometimes you have to accept that there is some birthweight in a bulls background and make a breeding decision based on his own birthweight as well as his phenotype. Bar Code had the smallest birthweight of the calves born from this flush, and he also was the smallest BW bull born here in his calf crop ( except for a twin). But more than that, I was betting he would be an easy calving sire because of his exceptionally well laid in shoulder and head shape.

Sometimes pedigree doesn't tell you everything. Sometimes EPDs don't tell you everything. I believe both have to be used with a big dose of common sense.  An excellent example of this is another of our herd sires, HC Timeline 17T ET *x. Timeline has been bashed on here by several who think he will be a cow killer based on his pedigree and EPDs. Timeline has a Calving Ease EPD of -7.5. He has a BW EPD of 5.6. Based on these numbers alone I would think he would produce some monster calves.If I had only looked at his pedigree and his EPDS, I may have not used him. My common sense told me that he had a pile of useful traits and I have never felt he was going to be a hard calving bull. His phenotype just did not suggest that.  I used Timeline last year here and this spring we had 100% unassisted births from him. He is, in fact, one of the easiest calving sires I have used in quite a while on females that have had at least one calf previously. Not only did all of his calves come easily but they are one of the best sets of calves I have ever raised. Timeline has had 100% unassisted births for the past 3 years, in 3 different herds where he was used. I used him on a set of females with a wide variety of genetics and the results were the same... that being, calves that are born easily that are extremely vigourous at birth. The heaviest callf I had this year from Timeline was 104 lbs from a mature Saskvalley Pioneer 126P cow. His entire calf crop averaged 93.8 lbs at birth. One of Timeline's owners recently said that he is one of the easiest calving sires he has ever used. I would have to agree with him.

Here is a picture of Timeline taken a couple days ago on pasture. He has been running with 32 cows since May 7th and I think he has bred most of them by now. Take a look at his shoulder and the angle of his shoulder and I think that tells me more about how he is going to calve than his EPDs  and pedigree do.

For a trump line bull I'd say timeline has matured with more rear quarter then most I have seen. And let's be honest here. If he is proving to be a nice calving bull then so be it.  I'm tired of folks arguing about him. Me included.  I'm assuming the mature cows he is being used on have good pelvic scores and therefor have the calves just fine. Me personally I like a roan bull. He still scares the hell out of me to use but that's just me. Nothing personal. A salute son anywhere makes me nervous. I'm glad some folks have found the ones that work from him. Good for you.

Has a bull ever vaccinated for IBR been tested clean?

Do you have to keep them separated from vaccinated cattle?

Does breeding Ibr vaccinated cattle expose bull?

Is there an accepted protocol for "cleaning" them?