Sangamon Irish Plumber

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phillse

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Sep 19, 2014
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Anybody know anything about this old Shorthorn Bull?  If there is semen still floating around?
I have never used the bull but when I bought my first shorthorn heifers back in 1999 the lady I bought them from talked about this bull.  She said he made them red and thick.  After seeing some of the success of some of the older genetics being used recently, I have wondered about this bull.  Below is a link
http://tinyurl.com/hkvhwpfto the ASA data.
 

oakview

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May 29, 2008
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Red, polled, I believe ended up being owned by the Weedas in Iowa.  His sire, GX Spiro's Plumber, was one of the tallest, most extreme dual purpose type bulls used in that era.  He was purchased by Howard Snethen, Sangamon Farms, at the Polled Congress in Omaha.  Irish Plumber was a pretty good bull in his day, but I doubt if his calves would be considered deep and thick by today's standards.  He was a very attractive bull from the profile.  He might be useful today, depends on what you're looking for.  I think there would be "old" bulls more likely to make them deep and thick, though.
 

Dale

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Feb 13, 2007
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Wasn't he the sire of Woodland Myrtle 8419, the cow pictured as the ideal Shorthorn cow in Herman Purdy's book, Breeds of Cattle?  Was that cow about 61" tall?  She probably was thick for an animal with that much frame.  Joe Woods was humble about breeding her, and was she the one that sold for mega bucks to Nolan Ryan, baseball pitcher?
 

kiblercattle

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Mar 2, 2011
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He is the sire of 8419. We had a half brother to  8419 by the myrtle 213 cow he was a payoff son that was extreme and he sired some pretty good cattle for the time. I am guessing there had to be some cow power in myrtle 213 to produce good cattle out of the types of bulls like plumber and payoff.
 

oakview

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3W Payoff is still one of the easiest calving bulls I've used, females were pretty productive, too.  I've got semen in the tank I use occasionally on heifers.  No one would fault his calves for being too thick and early maturing, though.
 

kiblercattle

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I would be interested to see pictures of either of the woodland myrtle cows listed above and a picture of Irish plumber
 

oakview

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I've got photos in old Shorthorn Countries that I'll put on.  Have patience, though.
 

oakview

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May 29, 2008
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Found a photo of his sire, GX Sprio's Plumber, in the 1981 herd bull edition, no photo of irish Plumber in the 81 or 84 herd bull issue.  Getting closer!  I'll put on the Sprio's Plumber photo with the Irish Plumber one when I find it.
 

764wdchev

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May 15, 2016
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57
I know quite a bit about Plumber, as my father, Dan Weeda, purchased him and sold a lot of semen on him. Plumber makes very nice cows, but most his bulls aren't thick enough for most. Heifer safe, and I still use him on occasion. Plumber was a dehorner, cows milked good, and structurally sound. Dad also purchased GX Spiro, Plumber's sire. I don't have much semen on Spiro, but do have some on Plumber. I am always looking for semen if anyone has some in their tank.

I can try to work on pictures when I get to a computer.

Thanks for the thread, I know Dad would be smiling about it!
 

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