Steer Planet - Show Steers and Club Calves Forum

is he naturally just thick then?

Yes. Him and sons top sellers at jlg

http://www.jlgenterprises.com/

Jlg is awesome.  Anyone wanting entry into calif dairy should contact them. They have a few odd breeds/bulls as well as mainstream angus and Holstein.

I know there is plenty of thick shorthorns as well, but sometimes it is hard to tell just what is naturally thick and what is myostatin. Would all breeds not have similar issues with single carrier myostatin sires?
I've used quite a few carriers, sometimes because I didn't realise it and sometimes because other options were not available.
Have bred a myostatin free bull that I thought was good enough and reasonably thick and I used him this year.
He's a grandson of the Australian bull Broughton Park Thunder and his dam goes back to Ballyart Vantage. He's a 2 year old.
Hope I've got the pictures right!

Was Vantage as wide at the ground as he appeared? What was his hip and pin width like?

Was Vantage as wide at the ground as he appeared? What was his hip and pin width like?

I didn't see him when I was young (I would have been still in single figures myself when he was born) so just going by pictures. My cow is a grand-daughter and she is not the biggest (by our standards) but she is broad, smooth shouldered, good backed with 2 wide pin bones. Always calves herself. Has had four 36kg calves by four differently bred bulls, although she could easily calve bigger calves.
If I could get my hands on Vantage semen I would definitely use it.

Was Vantage as wide at the ground as he appeared? What was his hip and pin width like?
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I toured Ireland a number of years ago, probably early 2000's, to look at Shorthorns with the view to importing some genetics after hearing about the success in N. America.
I must have visited 5-10 herds, from 10 -lots of females, including the Uppermill herd in N. Ireland, and was amazed by the tremendous width and capacity of the cattle. Their size was also astounding.
I saw a Kilfrush Vantage bull that was an amazing, there were a number of them at the time and I don't recall which one I saw, son of Ballyart Vantage. He was roan, very wide over the shoulders and hips, and masculine in his build. Wedge shaped like a good mature bull should look!
I eventually settled on a bull called Deerpark Furty, after seeing some excellent progeny in the South Western part of Ireland at Limerick. Dovea Genetics would only allow me to take 50 doses as he was dead, so I took about 100 doses of Dovea Sir James 2nd as well, to make the importation economically viable.
I subsequently found out that Furty was a THC bull and slaughtered all the progeny I had as we didn't have the test available in South Africa at the time. The Sir James progeny has been mediocre, at best.
I should probably revisit these bulls as the TH test is now available. The Furty progeny was very hairy, not ideal for South African as we have heat as well as a tick challenge to contend with.