Fullblood Simmental Project

Looking to start an unique, different project involving old fullblood Simmie genetics. We have approximately 15 embryos to work with;some of which we harvested ourselves almost 25 years ago.
This was back in a time when broken coloured, horned genetics were acceptable.
The genetics we are working with is very interesting and predominantly French or Swiss. Very little Fleckvieh.
The end game is to establish some high quality fullblood females to then breed to proven homo polled and homo red modern simmental sires.
We start implanting tomorrow morning. I hope these eggs are still viable after all these years.....we shall see.
Many of these eggs are from the imported French RFG Tosca cow family; direct maternal genetics.
I highly doubt that any Simmental female has come close to matching the revenue generated both directly and indirectly through her sons and daughters. Especially Bar 5 General and his flushmate sister 407L.
Tosca had about 100 sons and daughters registered.
We also have embryos from some of the great foundation matrons from Bar 11 Ranch in Nanton AB. I personally selected those females back in the 80's. The late Gerry Kaumeyer was a great man and was willing to share his best with us.

Could you expound a little on why you want to produce cattle that were en vogue in the 80's? I was under the impression that most of the cattle produced in that era would not be well received nowadays.  Do you have any pictures of the dam or sire of these embryos? I'm genuinely curious.

I wouldn't do this if I didn't have some great cow families to work with. These were tremendous donor females for us and others.
The resultant progeny will admittedly be out of fashion and bigger framed, higher performance than modern Simmies. But, they will represent new, out cross cow families.
To be honest, I'm not entirely certain how this will play out but it should be an interesting, fun project.
I do have some pictures I can share with you.

Olson Family Shorthorns said:

Could you expound a little on why you want to produce cattle that were en vogue in the 80's? I was under the impression that most of the cattle produced in that era would not be well received nowadays.  Do you have any pictures of the dam or sire of these embryos? I'm genuinely curious.

Click to expand...

Most of the show cattle en vogue in the 80s would not be well received today. Most cattle, in general, of the 80s would be.

I think it's a pretty cool idea.  Not being shortsighted and focusing solely on the first generation but rather taking the second and third into consideration is the key for long-term success.  In three generations, you can take cattle as far in any direction as you want-

This is a picture of Pioneer Azell 11X at 5 months of age. Taken in July 88 at the Bar 11 Ranch in Nanton AB on the day we purchased her by private treaty. She is a Bold Marvel x Swiss background.
She developed into a tremendous female and produced a number of show champions for us. I'm not sure we have any eggs remaining from her in the tank. Hope so.
Just an amazing disposition which was typical of most of the fullbloods we selected back in the 80's.

This is one of the most interesting fullblood donor females I have ever come across. She is Danueli Ana 19R. A Longview Ueli daughter going back to German genetics. Gerry considered her his best female. Picture taken at Alta Genetics in 89.
A massive female that could really produce high performance progeny that bred on.
We owned two daughters and have a few eggs in the tank to work with.
She is also the Dam of Danueli Topper.

LFE 75X
A Big John daughter we purchased as a calf in 88. She is out of Miss Galant 148N.

Miss Galant 148N. 

Great see a project like this.
Wish success to you!

Im not  fullblood simm knowledgeble-but I see those coool looking thick big mooses working with the red blaze faced simm "Homeboy"-JMO-He is clubby stout-pretty clean 'joweled'-and seems to be pretty moderate. O0

Mark, that's the end goal! Generate some of these old proven cow families and then outcross them with precisely the kind of bull you describe. The results could be spectacular and, some new cow families may emerge which would contribute to the industry I hope.

This is a funky picture of RS and T Homeboy

If he's homo red and homo polled then he's exactly what I would need. Wonder if he's available in canada? Impressive bull.

I don't know anything about Simmental pedigrees but I would get in touch with the breeder of this heifer- I don't know what in her pedigree brought this look forth but I sureeee like it

The breeder of that heifer would be Billy and Juanita Elmhirst of eastern Canada.  They've also got fantastic Herefords.  I could put you in touch with them if you'd like.

Thanks! I have known Billy and Juanita for many years. I was at their place last year and saw the dam of Younique.
They have a very good herd.

still a lot of traditional type simmentals around the world which could expand the outcross goal.

Some pretty impressive powerful females here.
http://www.woonalleesimmentals.com/page.php?id=11

Huntaway.....thanks for sharing the link! And yes.....some really appealing females from what I can see. I'm impressed that some of them are a combination of genetics and not all Fleckvieh. Good cattle are good cattle no matter where they originate and there are some impressive full Fleckvieh animals available but that's not the direction I want to take.
I've seen some terrific females from Switzerland, France and Germany/Austria but if my preference is to focus on the Swiss and/or French aspect. I have owned some very good cows with 25% Fleckvieh genetics and for me, that's enough.

Those are some really beautiful cows. I like it!
In addition to homo red and homo polled, you might want to put extra pressure on traits that the Simmental breed has made the most progress in the last 25 years. My guess is this would be calving ease and marbling. Nice website showing the trends: https://herdbook.org/simmapp/template/trends,TrendIndex.vm

Hereford Guy.....couldn't agree more.
I don't miss those 135 lb bull calves that came 12 days overdue and were too heavy and dopey to stand up without assistance to nurse. I have no fond memories of contracted tendons that made some calves completely knuckle over on their pasterns....or, the hard calvings either. 
What I do recall are the many great attributes those old fullbloods delivered.
Yes, they were bigger cows than what the industry finds acceptable today. But, no real talent is required to reduce size, performance and frame score. It's going in the other direction that can really be painful.
The proven cow families I am focusing on were some of the best. A cross on a homo red, polled modern purebred sire could be really something. It's a fun project and worth pursuing I think.