Charolais heifer- is she worth hauling around?

People say in the long run those are the types you want for raising show babies so I'm not complaining! That's a good looking heifer, I guess I'm a sucker for one with alittle overkill power

Here's an updated "feed bunk" picture

Show stopper 95 said:

People say in the long run those are the types you want for raising show babies so I'm not complaining! That's a good looking heifer, I guess I'm a sucker for one with alittle overkill power

Here's an updated "feed bunk" picture

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Now THAT'S a shocker.......Her at the feed bunk!  HAHAHAHAHA!!!

  I have to mention that I love that you are telling just exactly how you did with this heifer. So many PPL would just never mention that they stood first or "last". That is great to see & hear for all of the youngsters and show families that frequent this board. There are way too many PPL out there that put too much emphasis on "winning". It drives me crazy listening to these parents talking about a project and all they want to know is "how will she do in the ring". It's like well tell me what else will show up and how dedicated are you to do what you can to help the project along. So thanks Show Stopper for being real about your project and appreciating what she is.

Great comment CAB ,and good luck Braden ,she is definitely the type of heifer some people would have different opinions and that comes from what different people will do with her ...Nice job and good luck ...

Hey guys here is a little update on the entire operation that Braden has not disclosed. WE (himself, his dad, and myself-Kevin Doonan) were what we considered the "a" team, basically a joke. If you have been around the texas majors, you would have noticed that a few breeds have now started to be controlled by steer jocks and big checks. (Not politics just extremely good cattle) Well by falling in love with the charolais breed. My love was with my char heifer that I showed in 2010 my senior year and now braden has followed the same path and started with a super cow prospect. The road was fun with this female as she was truly a "Crowd Favorite". She is 8 months bred to wrangler. In addition, Braden purchased a couple cows from M6 and has some super females highlighted by a cow out of M6s famous Mammie cow. I won't say much as we are a set of brothers bound by cattle and don't want to steal the spotlight because he can tell you about his direction. But what I can tell you is the fact that Big House Cattle Company and Doonan Cattle company are working as hard as we can to bring you the absolute best Charolais, Charolais cross, and American bred cattle that we can! Let us know if we can help in any way. Braden has a super summer bred heifer and I have multiple great winter and spring born females on the ground!

This heifer reminds of the type of high percentage french or full french female that was very common in Canada prior to the race horse fad in the 1980's.  It will be intereting to see how the wrangler calf turns out.  What are your plans to breed her after this calf?

Thanks guys I haven't been checking on this topic but all those comments mean a lot to me! More than y'all know and I appreciate them immensely.

Mark H- what do you know about the wrangler calves? Or anyone else. She is heavy heavy bred as said before and we are excited but still not totally sure what to expect on how he works on a heifer like her

Future breeding options are wide open- only one guarentee is HEAT WAVE., she will have the hell flushed out of her and the king himself

As far as purebred I'm not going to lie I like wrangler a lot, I like the hoodoo stuff, I love m6 cool rep, and a couple more bulls id like to try but I am NOWHERE near settled on a bull

So we can reshape this topic from opinions to breeding suggestions- purebred preferred because there's no point in breeding clubby and trying to replicate a heatwave when I can go straight to the source in all honesty

I need the "freak" factor, she's a hair coat and rocket neck away from throwing a great one

Plenty of gas in the tank when it comes to stoutness

Show stopper 95 said:

So we can reshape this topic from opinions to breeding suggestions- purebred preferred because there's no point in breeding clubby and trying to replicate a heatwave when I can go straight to the source in all honesty

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You're catching on grasshopper

Your flattering me  <cowboy>

It's just when it comes to that clubby deal there is nothing there, they all want to be heatwave. And nothing can do it like him, so why explore other options. I'm am 100% heatwave band wagon.

Before the monopoly chants come: he doesn't work. Notice how many monopoly Charolais sell vs how many monopoly Charolais have won a major in texas (zero)... Angelo isn't a major. They don't get it done

It ain't about how many win a major - it's how many are good enough to make sales.  You are splitting hairs to fine if that's all you are judging "good" by.

Our show heifer (purebred show) is with a Wr Wrangler 601W female calf this year. Her birthweight is 90 pounds. The mother have a CE of 54 with BW EPD of 4.5 (CCA average CE 56.2 and BW 1.9). The mother current birthweight is 118 pounds so she is a heavy one and fat. We were there so we help a bit the calving but I don't remember any problems.

chambero said:

It ain't about how many win a major - it's how many are good enough to make sales.  You are splitting hairs to fine if that's all you are judging "good" by.

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i was referring to the amount that sell as babies not at the majors-

I just don't see enough monopoly x Charolais calves in the end when the hair comes off that are good enoigh to compare to a heatwave when he works, when it comes to that comparison over heatwave and monopoly on a Charolais cow for a slick steer I don't feel like there is any comparison

Charo thanks for the response! How do you like the looks of that calf?

Wr Wrangler daughter at 2 months on the picture. She is developing well, will see more this fall when compare with other pairs. We have 8 calves from Wr Wrangler the other weight on heifers 75,78,75 for males and 70 for a female. A cow 87 pounds and a female with mix twins at 87, 77 pounds. Nordic climate and it was cold this winter. Our average birthweight on 115 cows so far is 97 pounds. (5 pairs and 19 heifers).

Show stopper 95 said:

chambero said:

It ain't about how many win a major - it's how many are good enough to make sales.  You are splitting hairs to fine if that's all you are judging "good" by.

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i was referring to the amount that sell as babies not at the majors-

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I knew what you were referring to.  I was advising you to not worry about grand overalls, figure out what combinations are raising calves that are making the sale. 

I used a bunch of Heat Wave over the years and never really got diddledy.  I would stick a toe in that water before I jumped in all the way.  HW x char combinations worked a few years ago till better, more consistent things came along.  In my opinion, your heifer will need something that creates a little more balance and smoothness.  She's got all the "umph" you could ever need.  That ain't Heat Wave.  The calving ease and cripple problems associated with Heat Wave is getting corrected with his descendants.  As good as he was, it was a real issue with him.  Much less so with his sons and grandsons.  Contrary what so many people like to pretend, the club calf bull business is moving forward.

Sires I know of that are working on Char cows:

Solid Gold is getting it done on PBs.  If you want highest probability combination, this might be the way to go.

He has his faults, but Walks Alone is infinitely more consistent than Heat Wave for me.  Might not smooth that cow up enough.  BIM is smoother, but don't personally know what he's doing on PB Char cows.

There are more than a few really good Smokin Bob calves out there this spring out of PB cows - mostly HooDoos.  I bought one.  We'll know more a year from now on how they turn out.

Final advice - are you going to try to sell baby show steers or show them?  Your first reaction is that it shouldn't matter, but it very much does.  Calves that are good enough to win a major are accidents.  You won't make money and stay in the game by waiting for an accident to happen.  You stay in it by raising good calves consistently that can be sold, and then just get lucky every once in a while for a true ringer.  Long term, worry about making your average calf as good as possible.

Great post, Chambero, (thumbsup)

I am by NO means an expert, but this is my observation with Heatwave steers I have looked at in the pasture where I could see their mothers next to them (or could see the donor pen).

It seemed that more often than not, the cows really weren't all that stout or powerful. Now don't get me wrong, they were NOT frail either!  Just nice fronted feminine looking cows...pretty angular and good shouldered. Nothing "overwhelming".

I believe that your heifer is going to be a show steer making machine, but I honestly don't remember PERSONALLY seeing a top 20% HW show steer prospect out of a cow even CLOSE to as powerful as her!

When I look at her (and I LOVE her), I think of bulls with a freaky long neck, and sound sound sound, and TH but that goes without saying. BIM is the first bull I thought of, BEFORE you even asked for input.  I-80 was second but I'd be afraid of no hair.  A couple others were Yellowjacket (but I don't know how tall your heifer is), and also Monopoly Money (a LOT more natural power than Monopoly).

Now...with that said, I have NO idea how HW will click on her. He is just not the first one I thought of. 

My biggest concern with Heat Wave with my use of him is ratails ...My opinion is that your cow has to much power for HW .... I thought of BIM instantly when you talked about them ....

The few Wrangler claves i have seen are good.  They calve more like their grand sires (Oakdale Duke and Baldridge Fasttrack than the Birth weight EPDs suggest.  I would talk to Thomas Ranches to see what this cross is doing for them.  They can give you some guidance.  Where i would take this heifer would have to wait as to how things go for her and the calf she produces.  I am thinking Gerrard Montezuma, Sparrows Sanchez or if you can get it CML Diablo.  For fun I would like to see what a red factor bull like HEJ Ripped would do when bred to her for a buckskin that would likely work first rate.

I also like how you have been showing us the progress of this heifer. Wish more would do this.

This heifer appears to be unique with her over all dimension along with having good angle in her skeletal structure. Extremely soggy made. I would like to make her a little more refined through her neck and head and perhaps flatten her bone-work a bit more but is a good part of the puzzle with a lot of good breeding options. Really nice breeding piece. Don't get her too fat.