Cow family names

Picking up from another thread I would like some opinions. I am a great believer in cow families and family names. If I buy an animal the some has changed the family name I always go back to the original name for her progeny. But what if cow does not have a name ? I start a new family name starting in the the letter the calf was born eg A  = Abigail and from then on all Abigail's the next B = Bright and so on. What does every one else do. Also with a flush do all the calves get the same name or if you have a few good ones do you start a sub family with at sightly different name. eg call one Jane the original name and one Janet. Any ideas.

I agree with you that cow families are extremelt important. It actually bothers me to see people change the names on females from weell established cow lines. I do the same as you do, in that if I purchase a female from a cow family who has had her name changed, all the females she produces are changed back to the original cow family. I have, on occasion, purchased a female who has no established cow family in their extended pedigree. In these cases, if I  cannot find a cow family to go back to, I start a new cow line and I have a couple of these lines in my herd. I name all females from flushes with the same name along with their respective tattoos. eg: HC Secret Maid 5P, Secret Maiid 7P, Secret Maid 9P, Secret Maid 11P, and Secret Maid 12P  are all flushmate sisters. HC Secret Maid 9N and Secret Maid 14N are also flushmates. HC Secret Maid 7S, 11S, 18S and 21S are also flushmates.

I believe cow families have proven themselves through generations of breeding and in many cases, the great cow families of the past are still some of the great cow families of the present. Their identity needs to be recorded and respected.

I can see the value of keeping a cow family name going. But after 3 generations how much of the same old cow is left? I always thought some of the cow family stuff was for marketing mainly.....for show ring people.......kind of we live in ivory towers kinda deal. Shouldn't the sire be the focus? Where I live people talk more in "sire groups" rather than the "the lucy ducey cow families.jmo

Maybe the beef should name like the dairy..  MarKut ( herd prefix) Kent (sire) 7M46 (tattoo) Chip (cow family name)..  Mar Kut Kent 7M46 Chip....  (clapping)

I usually name after a sire and when I get an extraordinary one I make a cow family name for her and her progeny.  One example is MS Rebel Roundup Lass, ms for miss, rebel for rebel ranch, roundup is the sire, and ms rebel lass is the dam, that way I know her immediate pedigree directly from her name