Wow...People DO read these things! LOL
Yes...We have some Top Grade babies on the ground, and he has been very easy calving. I'll share a few thoughts and comments, and these are meant to be as helpful and as constructive AND AS OBJECTIVE as I can be...
1st of all, that Felt bull does not fit this scenario in any shape or form. Yes, he's a baldy and 3/4...after that, he misses the mark. His EPDs are a total miss across the board, and he's TraitTrac Yellow...that would be a no go.
I LOVED the picture of Top Grade the first time I saw him. I called about him and got good reviews, and I was anxious to use him, and we did. I got to see Top Grade at River Creek last summer during the Beef Profit Alliance meeting, and he didn't look like I expected him to, but in fairness, it was a tough summer and the bull had just come in off cows. He wasn't bad, but he didn't look like the bull in the picture. We also saw a few of his first calves...I thought they were pretty...very clean fronted, stylish profiling calves. They could have stood a little more bone and more ruggedness, but they were young, so I allowed them that.
Our first ones came this January, and birth weights have been small to moderate. They excel in terms of eye appeal, being very clean necked and fancy made. That's really all I can say about them at this point. We had a couple out of first-calf-heifers, and we never touched any of them. They seem to be growing and keeping up with the other calves, but we'll see how things look at weaning time. I think he'll work best on cows that have plenty of bone and body...heavy structured, rugged designed, broody type cows that need to be prettied up a little.
I would also say take a look at Long's Shear Pleasure. I think it's gonna be hard to completely get away from any Legacy, looking for a bull with performance and maternal AND calving ease. Shear Pleasure is a Shear Force son, so he's a Legacy grandson. I used this bull as a yearling and had a handful of calves that are now fall-spring yearlings. All besides one were very moderate at birth, came easily, and grew well. I had one wreck out of a Rookie heifer that had big growth numbers, and I accredited that to stacking high growth on high growth...it just didn't work. Everything else I had out of him was very realistic. He works best on Angus-influenced cattle that can stand a little frame and length. He won't add muscle or bone, but he won't take it away. They can get framey and flat if the females are high % Simmental or built that way, but I think he works well on the right kind, and 1/4 bloods should be OK. If you want a baldy, he's one to at least have on your list. He's a high growth bull with maternal and rib eye...his API really fell off this spring...I'm guessing because his calving ease and marbling didn't quite live up to expectations with his first proof.
Another 3/4 bull we're looking at this spring is GW-WBF Substance. Unless I'm mistaken, he was the high-selling bull at Gateway's last year at $28,000. I've heard good things about his first calves, but there's very little out there yet. I think he's one to watch based on his EPD profile, his pedigree, and what I've heard about him, but I don't know very much more to go on.
There aren't a lot of 3/4 blood bulls out there, but here are a few more ideas with a few comments:
GW Lucky Charm - Solid black 3/4 blood, proven calving ease bull; homozygous black / heterozygous polled...we've had a few of these, and frankly some are decent and some are really plain. I think there are better options, especially if eye appeal is a requirement. Some of them get kinda ugly.
AJE/PB Montecito - Homozygous black, blaze faced 3/4 blood Steel Force x Maximus...full brother to Optimus Prime...Nice looking bull in his pictures...relatively breed average EPDs across the board with a low API of only $89...ranks in the 80th % for API. I haven't seen any calves.
Hooks Titus - He's a half blood, not a 3/4, but he is a baldy, and he transmits the blaze face fairly well. Titus is a homozygous black and homozygous polled son of Mytty In Focus out of a Legacy dam, and the calves we've had have come very small and easy, and they've grown quite well. I've heard they'll be pretty, and I wouldn't argue there given the few we've had. I have half bloods out of SimAngus cows and a couple of 1/4 bloods out of Angus heifers, and I didn't touch any of them. He's a baldy bull I would recommend on heifers, and his EPDs are pretty decent.
I'm using another blaze faced 1/2 blood this year, but he's not really a calving ease bull. I'm only using him on 1/2 blood cows...no heifers. He's a Predestined son from Sunshine Farms...SSF Blk Predistined U221 (His name is misspelled in the database). Kind of a cool bull, and he is blaze faced, but nobody has recommended him to me for heifers. I haven't had any calves out of him yet. Should have a couple come this fall.
Not sure that helps much, but that's about all I got. There will be more 3/4 blood bulls out there soon, and there'll be more baldies all the time, so just keep your eyes and ears open and see what shows up.
Good luck!
