Better female maker ( Old Simmy Bulls )

leanbeef said:

vcsf said:

I was always intrigued by the Fortune 500 bull but never actually used him.  The main reason I never used him is that he is heterozygous polled and I did not want to risk getting horns.  I know  leanbeef said  both Joker and Fortune 500 are homozygous polled but I was was sure Fortune 500 was heterozygous so I went back to look in an old Genex catalog and that is how they had him listed.  I never saw many Fortune 500 calves as he saw limited use in Canada and in fact has less than 30 daughters registered here.  I did have a friend who used him a little and was quite satisfied with the calves and the did look good.  I do think that overall Fortune 500 was probably used in programs with more of a commercial focus than where Joker was used heavily.  There are some very good cattle showing up with him on the bottom side of the pedigree.  I found it interesting that when Ankony was getting into Simmentals and spending a fair bit of money that Fortune 500 was the black bull that they sourced and went out and bought as a mature herdbull.  If you wanted to know more about the bull I would not hesitate to give Nelsons in Montana a call as they ran him for a number of years.

Joker has definitely sired some excellent daughters and I believe that has to be considered his strong suit.

I don't think anyone can argue the influence and impact of Legacy on the breed.  If he had only sired his three sons in Dream On, Shear Force, and Ellingson Legacy M229 'Olie' he would still be one of the most influential bulls today.  I have never seen that many direct Legacy progeny as he is another bull that only saw limited use in Canada but most of the ones I did see seem to be lacking in depth of body and bone.  To me they seemed to be too refined and hard doing and I wondered if other people saw this also or if it was just the few that I have seen.  Just wondering and not trying to cut the bull down at all.

I really liked the Nichols Blk Destiny D12 calves that I had and the ones I kept turned into excellent cows for me with lots of milk and good udders.  I felt that they had more rib and bone than the offspring of his son Legacy that I saw.  My only complaint about a few of the Destiny's was that they were a little bit heads up.  They were not wild and would not try to take you but some did not take well to tight spaces and just wanted to keep a bit of distance from people.  He is definitely a bull that I have considered going back and using again.

I also have used Bold Future on a couple of black cows fairly recently hoping to get some moderate blaze faced daughters.  He is a non diluter but once again heterozygous polled.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Pleasant Grove Farms said:

Has anyone mentioned Powerdrive females?  Kind of out of the Joker era, Powerdrive females have been very successful;

I tell you guys, I am so excited; I had a Bold Future grandson born here in
December.....years ago my dad who was one of the first pioneers of the Simmental breed in the United States bought a Bold Future son (Sir Nick 5Y) out of the dispersal sale of Nickeson Simmentals in South Dakota.  That bull's daughters
were way before their time; heavy milking, very moderate framed; Nick 5Y was homo polled and very traditionally colored red and white...lots of white!  But we used that bull for a number of years and he could throw solids, he was a homo non dilutor and so I had just a couple straws of it left; used it on a solid black Powerline cow and got a bull calf last month; he is a solid black blaze face with a little white on his underline.  So far so good; he looks great but hoping he continues to develop he will be a herdbull.  His daughters will most for sure milk; he will sire some growth too.

Click to expand...

leanbeef said:

Pleasant Grove Farms said:

Has anyone mentioned Powerdrive females?  Kind of out of the Joker era, Powerdrive females have been very successful;

I tell you guys, I am so excited; I had a Bold Future grandson born here in
December.....years ago my dad who was one of the first pioneers of the Simmental breed in the United States bought a Bold Future son (Sir Nick 5Y) out of the dispersal sale of Nickeson Simmentals in South Dakota.  That bull's daughters
were way before their time; heavy milking, very moderate framed; Nick 5Y was homo polled and very traditionally colored red and white...lots of white!  But we used that bull for a number of years and he could throw solids, he was a homo non dilutor and so I had just a couple straws of it left; used it on a solid black Powerline cow and got a bull calf last month; he is a solid black blaze face with a little white on his underline.  So far so good; he looks great but hoping he continues to develop he will be a herdbull.  His daughters will most for sure milk; he will sire some growth too.

Click to expand...

The Power Drives are good cows if you can find em. I saw that bull sell at the TN Agribition as a yearling and liked him then. They had trouble getting his semen to freeze for a while, so there was never a lot of semen for use out of herd. The daughters at the Triple C dispersal were definitely a commodity! I wanted one and couldn't touch em.

I had one M model I bought as an embryo long ago...a guy came to the farm last fall and picked her out, so I priced her and he bought her. I still have a couple daughters, but I still miss her. We do own one more that's young...just raising her first calf now, but she needs to pick up her game to measure up with ol' "Sweet Pea". I guess we'll see...

I'm really intrigued by this homozygous polled non diluted Bold Future son you mentioned... I wish we had used Bold Future back in the day, but we were concentrating on homozygous polled cattle at the time and never used any at all. He's one of those bulls I started noticing in pedigrees of good ones and went back to, and I've used him on some Angus cows in a building up herd I manage. The semen is hard to find now, though. I wouldn't mind making some more of those.

Click to expand...

dixieland cattle co said:

leanbeef said:

Pleasant Grove Farms said:

Has anyone mentioned Powerdrive females?  Kind of out of the Joker era, Powerdrive females have been very successful;

I tell you guys, I am so excited; I had a Bold Future grandson born here in
December.....years ago my dad who was one of the first pioneers of the Simmental breed in the United States bought a Bold Future son (Sir Nick 5Y) out of the dispersal sale of Nickeson Simmentals in South Dakota.  That bull's daughters
were way before their time; heavy milking, very moderate framed; Nick 5Y was homo polled and very traditionally colored red and white...lots of white!  But we used that bull for a number of years and he could throw solids, he was a homo non dilutor and so I had just a couple straws of it left; used it on a solid black Powerline cow and got a bull calf last month; he is a solid black blaze face with a little white on his underline.  So far so good; he looks great but hoping he continues to develop he will be a herdbull.  His daughters will most for sure milk; he will sire some growth too.

Click to expand...

The Power Drives are good cows if you can find em. I saw that bull sell at the TN Agribition as a yearling and liked him then. They had trouble getting his semen to freeze for a while, so there was never a lot of semen for use out of herd. The daughters at the Triple C dispersal were definitely a commodity! I wanted one and couldn't touch em.

I had one M model I bought as an embryo long ago...a guy came to the farm last fall and picked her out, so I priced her and he bought her. I still have a couple daughters, but I still miss her. We do own one more that's young...just raising her first calf now, but she needs to pick up her game to measure up with ol' "Sweet Pea". I guess we'll see...

I'm really intrigued by this homozygous polled non diluted Bold Future son you mentioned... I wish we had used Bold Future back in the day, but we were concentrating on homozygous polled cattle at the time and never used any at all. He's one of those bulls I started noticing in pedigrees of good ones and went back to, and I've used him on some Angus cows in a building up herd I manage. The semen is hard to find now, though. I wouldn't mind making some more of those.

Click to expand...

It's pretty amazing how many AI bulls that have sold through the TN Agribition over the years. I used Power Drive to flush with shortly after Hugh Henry sold him at the TN Agribition. That flushed produced the show heifer of the year with Black Chyna. Not a bad way to start his first calf crop. Power Drive cows are some of the best in the breed.

Click to expand...

vcsf said:

Leanbeef you are right Fortune 500 and Franchise actually both sold through the same sale with Fortune bringing $20,000 and Franchise $6500.  Some of the Franchise daughters also made pretty good cows IF BIG BIG IF you got one that milked good.

I am also a big fan of the Power Drive cows but his semen is virtually non existent now in Canada and the clones are not available.  I also like his son Powerline quite a bit and don't really know why he never got more popular.  I realize he can be a bit harder calving at times but never thought he was a problem and his carcass numbers are not the best.

Click to expand...

dixieland cattle co said:

You better remember The Black Chyna. What was that brother to PD? Triple C had him.

Click to expand...