Herd bulls for 2016

It has been a warm dry winter and spring but the cows have been cycling quickly and a lot are already bred. We are using Diamond Lord Belmore 56B again this year. We are also using two home bred sons of Herbourne B Manitoba Gus 13Z. The new bloodline this year is Crooked Post Drover 28C a bull we are using before he heads to Monty Thomson's Hatfield Shorthorns in Manitoba. Pretty excited to get a chance to use a bull out two great breeding pieces at Crooked Post. His sire is Crooked Post Stockman 4Z, one of the most impressive bulls I have seen. The dam, Waukaru Lassie 334 has always been one of my favourites and is still producing at 13 years of age. She has three daughters producing at Crooked Post including her first calf and another in Ontario. Waukaru Lassie 334's dam also produced Waukaru Carnegie and a maternal sister is the dam of Waukaru Coppertop 464.

Nice bulls.

I stumbled upon Stockman a couple weeks ago and was quite impressed. Do you know his frame score?

I would sure like to see some more pics of the drover bull he looks like a good one. His side looks about as good as you could make one. What's his age in this picture?

Medium Rare said:

Nice bulls.

I stumbled upon Stockman a couple weeks ago and was quite impressed. Do you know his frame score?

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According to the YouTube video of him, he's a Frame score 6. Just Google his name, there are also daughters in the video, I'd sure like to try him on one of my cows after watching the video.

kiblercattle said:

I would sure like to see some more pics of the drover bull he looks like a good one. His side looks about as good as you could make one. What's his age in this picture?

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Drover was born April 8, 2015 so is only 13 months 12 days in that photo taken yesterday! He just went out with those females so wasn't much into standing for photos!
Here is the video of his sire Crooked Post Stockman 4Z. We purchased some semen off him in the All Star Classic sale last fall. 4Z is sired by the Australian, Belmore Jackaroo Z109 and out of a really good daughter of Waukaru Gold Mine 2109. There is a video of Drover's dam but I don't know how to post it as it's not on Youtube. Stockman is an amazingling sound easy fleshing bull.

https://youtu.be/DNbnjcsBnpk

Bulls look good- Lord Belmore has really matured!  I like the Drover bull as well.  I've long held that a shot of 2109 would improve nearly anyone's herd. That's a bull that was ahead of his time and I'm glad we're starting to see his influence show up more and more. 

-XBAR- said:

Bulls look good- Lord Belmore has really matured!  I like the Drover bull as well.  I've long held that a shot of 2109 would improve nearly anyone's herd. That's a bull that was ahead of his time and I'm glad we're starting to see his influence show up more and more.

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2109 left some really nice females at Crooked Post. Here is a not so great photo of one of the Herbourne B Manitoba Gus 13Z sons we are using. This bull, Frimley Cowboy Logic 24C, had an 85 lb birth weight and his full sister this year was 82 lb. His dam is a daughter of Newbiggon Jumbo (Mandalong Super Elephant x Mandalong Roany 51st)

DLB is looking excellent. I like how he is maturing.
Drover looks good and has good figures, for my personal use I would like to have seen his fat figures at >85! I like fat as the progeny are easy doing and breed like clockwork!
JMO!

It appears that DLB has more heart girth than Drover.  That may change with maturity but right now it looks like more of a strength in DLB than Drover, am I correct?

Okotoks said:

kiblercattle said:

I would sure like to see some more pics of the drover bull he looks like a good one. His side looks about as good as you could make one. What's his age in this picture?

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Drover was born April 8, 2015 so is only 13 months 12 days in that photo taken yesterday! He just went out with those females so wasn't much into standing for photos!
Here is the video of his sire Crooked Post Stockman 4Z. We purchased some semen off him in the All Star Classic sale last fall. 4Z is sired by the Australian, Belmore Jackaroo Z109 and out of a really good daughter of Waukaru Gold Mine 2109. There is a video of Drover's dam but I don't know how to post it as it's not on Youtube. Stockman is an amazingling sound easy fleshing bull.

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B. Jackaroo Z109 has the best EMA figures in Australia and is a son of Shadybrook Scotty 83K, bred right under your noses! I have used, and collected, what I believe to be the best son I bred in my herd.
W. Goldmine 2109 has always been of great interest to me and is unavailable in South Africa. I believe he would have been an excellent addition to my herd!
Okotoks, you should have a winner here!
My focus has been shifted slightly towards lower frame scores and higher rib-, rump- and IM fats.
I am currently feeding a couple of heifers that didn't take the bull over summer, for the grass-fed market, and am battling! Cattle need to fatten without maize/corn to be profitable!
I counted nine warthogs on a 30 minute trip through my pastures today and my farm labourer reported four bushpigs in my feeding troughs yesterday. How can I make a profit by feeding cattle maize/corn-based rations!
Easy-doing cattle are making more and more sense to me!

[B. Jackaroo Z109 has the best EMA figures in Australia and is a son of Shadybrook Scotty 83K, bred right under your noses! I have used, and collected, what I believe to be the best son I bred in my herd.
W. Goldmine 2109 has always been of great interest to me and is unavailable in South Africa. I believe he would have been an excellent addition to my herd!
Okotoks, you should have a winner here!
My focus has been shifted slightly towards lower frame scores and higher rib-, rump- and IM fats.
I am currently feeding a couple of heifers that didn't take the bull over summer, for the grass-fed market, and am battling! Cattle need to fatten without maize/corn to be profitable!
I counted nine warthogs on a 30 minute trip through my pastures today and my farm labourer reported four bushpigs in my feeding troughs yesterday. How can I make a profit by feeding cattle maize/corn-based rations!
Easy-doing cattle are making more and more sense to me!
[/quote]
Bulls look good Dan will be interesting to see the results.

Duncraggan that is the direction we have breed the last 8 or so years and started with Kookaburra and he would still be the best bull we have used. With unpredictable seasons the flexability of marketing earlier maturing cattle give you off grass is a big advantage aswell as improved fertility.

2109 didn't do a lot for me. As a heifer bull option maybe but as a cow small hard doing and hard calving. looking at drovers mother though she looks nothing like the cows I saw so maybe how he crossed with my cows at the time.

Huntaway, thanks for some good news there, it gives me some satisfaction, hopefully not at the expense of fellow breeders though!
It has taken me about ten years to come to this position where I have come to the conclusion that pushing massive weaning weights comes at a price. It takes someone else to appraise your herd and tell you that your best cattle are from home-bred sires and that you need to shift your goals.
I have nearly eliminated a line from my most expensive purchase to date.
My herd certainly seems to be more uniform, and my conception rate has improved as well. (More)Time will tell!

I think this link will take you to a short video of Crooked Post Drover 28C's dam just after weaning him at 12 years of age. Both his sire and dam maintain condition year round.

https://www.facebook.com/kirk.seaborn/videos/266639400334801/

Okotoks said:

I think this link will take you to a short video of Crooked Post Drover 28C's dam just after weaning him at 12 years of age. Both his sire and dam maintain condition year round.

https://www.facebook.com/kirk.seaborn/videos/266639400334801/

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She looks to be holding up really well.  Very nice udder for being 13 years old! I think you're gonna really like those calves you get. 

huntaway said:

2109 didn't do a lot for me. As a heifer bull option maybe but as a cow small hard doing and hard calving. looking at drovers mother though she looks nothing like the cows I saw so maybe how he crossed with my cows at the time.

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Here's another 2109 daughter, Minnie 34W, from Crooked Post.  She is the dam of another Stockman son, Drover 22B, and also a 3/4 sib to my Forward 4003 bull. 

Okotoks said:

I think this link will take you to a short video of Crooked Post Drover 28C's dam just after weaning him at 12 years of age. Both his sire and dam maintain condition year round.

https://www.facebook.com/kirk.seaborn/videos/266639400334801/

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Both the dam and sire are excellent looking animals, he should mature beautifully!

28c dam looks great, I remember only seeing a handful of roan cows at crooked post and they were all very good cows and the stockman bull was as good as any Jackaroo son I had seen.

My comments about 2109 are what I saw in our environment and production system which I think does put different pressure on the animals. His ebv's show perfectly what I saw. Good birth and ok growth but bottom 1% calving maternal, the combination of top 1% milk and Leanest 1% fats left cows that had 2 fantastic calves but  then left the herd.

http://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-bin/i4.dll?1=313021&2=242D&3=56&5=2B3C2B3C3A&6=5C255B5A2321262324&10=1D021D160F1D192D151C1E151B1E181034010101173F06E4EFEB3AF4F5E60D050CF309