Top 10 Shorthorn Cow Families

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HSV

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In Hilltop's post about the future of the seedstock business, Redwing gave Hilltop advice to use the top 10 cow families in the Shorthorn breed. I have never really stopped to think about that before. Just wondering what people think the top 10 Shorthorn cow families are?
 

justintime

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To me, the great cow families are the ones that have stood the test of time for many decades and many generations. Several of the cow families listed in this thread so far, are relatively new in breed history. The Rose cow family was virtually unknown until Ka'Ba Rose T90 came alone. T90 was born in 1990.The Mattis line descended from T90 as well.

The Picture Perfect cow family was all established from HS Picture Perfect 549, who was born in 1985. Her dam was Rexlaine Lassie Dawn.HS Picture Perfect 549 is still one of my favorite females of all time. I was sitting beside Mr Pathy from Shadybrook Farm when he purchased her in the Hoyt Central dispersal for $10,000. I congratulated him for purchasing a really great female. Mr. Pathy said he was really thought he would have to pay triple this amount or more for a female of her quality.

The Augusta Pride cow family is one of the few listed so far that has history for many decades. The Augusta cow family has been well known for many years and can be traced back to Scottish importations in the 1940s. The Augusta cow family is a very important family in breed history. Another very important branch of the Augusta cow family is the Scotsdale Augusta line from one of the legendary herds in the breed, the Scotsdale herd in Ontario. Just two days ago, I added two Salute daughters that are out of a cow named Scotsdale Augusta Rose, who is another of the great cows I have ever seen. I don't think I have ever seen a thicker female that had as much smoothness along with a great udder as Scotsdale Augusta Rose.

The Myrtle cow family was established in the Kenmar herd of Harvey Fulton, Birtle, Manitoba. The first Myrtle female was Kenmar Myrtle, who was born about 1960. If I spent a little time looking through my Canadian herd books I could probably find an exact date. I have a complete set of Canadian Shorthorn herd books which go back to 1887.

The Jealousy Par cow family originated from a female named Cedar Curve Jealousy Par who was bred by Arden Preheim in SD. This original Jealousy Par was sired by Cherry L Par 69, who was a son of Lilac Par 18th who was one of the greatest sires in the Haumont herd. Like the Augusta Pride line, the Jealousy Par cow family came to prominence in the Schrag herd in South Dakota. I am very thankful that the Schrag's believed that the great cow lines in the breed needed to be maintained by carrying on the family names.
I can think of nothing that drives me almost crazy, as seeing someone change the name of a female born from a famous cow family. To me, the great cow lines are extremely important to any breed.

A few other cow families that I can think of that have stood the test of time, are the Secret's, Eliza's,Raggedy Ann's, Isobels. They may not be as well known as some of todays popular show winners, but they have been the seedstock from which many of the great herds in history have been developed.
 

OH Breeder

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Cow Families for me
the Cherri, Byland Cindy Beauty and Velvet, Green Ridge Mary line (Una), Orange Girl, Anndelle,  and Prima Donna.
I am sure many of these go back to others.
 

sue

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My dad who is 82 would go nuts if he saw this thread:

He sees the cow familiy names disappear/change but NONPAREIL has to be on the list. The family behind leader 21st, the lakesdie jane mary was renamed years ago but is Nonpareil. Our pasture sale high selling female was a nonpareil at age 9.

I think every breeder should have a different answer for what is working?  Rob Sneed would probably pick GIRL- 5 of the seven herd sires are sons of GIRL. SULL's pick was a Girl. Our second high seller was a Girl.  Dont confuse this family with my girl-

I love the T-90 story- I heard a interesting version last fall over dinner. Steinke is  great example of what young breeders should study believing in one cow family and sticking to it.
 

r.n.reed

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I am sorry that cow family identity has been lost for the most part in this breed and agree that the top ten families would depend on the direction of your breeding program.I own a bull Rosa's Commands 05 who is from the Rose Of Sharon cow family.The fountain head of this family was purchased in the Renick importation sale of 1836 by Abram Renick of Ky.who developed this line.
 

kane1598

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Myrtle Bo, Augusta Pride, Sable, Mona Lisa, 10 Queens. But Obviously Im partial to the Picture Perfects! I cannot say enough good about ours, and I cant wait to get my hands on another. Talk about quiet, perfectly sound, great haired, deep bodied, and super flashly females.
 

justintime

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I would agree with Sue that the Nonpareil cow family has to be on this list. This is one of the great cow family lines for more than a century of breed history. Many chapters could be written about great Nonpareil's.

Another line is the Queen of Beauty's. We have a Beauty who is presently being flushed. She is a daughter of SRCC Gunsmoke and was bred by Schrag's. Her dam is SS Queen of Beauty who goes back to the Queen of Beauty's at Thieman's. It is kinda neat to be able to trace a cow family right back to their importation from Scotland in the 1800s. I guess it could be considered cow Geneology. The top selling pair in Huberdale's 2008 sale at $10,000 was a daughter and granddaughter of this cow.
 

Jacob B

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To me the best cow in the breed right now would have to be Sable '01, so the T-90 family has to be there even without a long history.  Closely followed by the Cherri 205 cow, she is my favorite phenoetype, but she is second only because she doesn't have the family background like Sable '01, time will probably change that.  The Mona Lisa 35L cow has to be on the list.  I find very few cows on this breed that can produce sires aat that high of a consistancy that are that good.  It takes a truely great cow to make a good bull, an even better cow to do it over and over again.  I would have to put the Betty's and the Easter Lily's on this list from the experiences I have had, granpa has sure had some truely impressive looking cows out of those two families. 
 

r.n.reed

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Trevor, the Missie Ruth family came from NevrIdle farm here in Illinois the Baxters.They were a dual herd and were very sound red cattle.They had a lot of Tyfarms breeding behind them I believe  which were also noted for their structure.
 

trevorgreycattleco

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Thanks r n. Once again another history lesson is unfolding for me. I got a Missie Ruth son from Leveldale. Same cow just had a heifer sell in Denver for Les.


Sue , you should ask your dad what he would say to this. would be interesting to hear his thoughts.
 

NHR

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The Rose of Sharon cow family and the Duchess cow family are 2 of my favorites. Of course I like the Augusta Prides also.
 

r.n.reed

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I confess I am guilty of changing a cow family name.The founding member of my Princess cow family was named Maple Lane Hopeless!
 

mark tenenbaum

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Davis pretty well covered the bases-what about the Margies-cant forget the influence of  Irish cattle-(shes not the only one-and really was already a cross being sired by Duke of Swisher and the original Shannon Margie ) But there were several families that had a huge influence: Kimmillhlls-Dear Park Tulip-(Leggs Dam)-Deerpark Scarlet-and a bunch of others  Arguably-the most influential in numbers would be the Kaba Rose-deal-who went back (many times)to Dividend Improver-fullblood maine-and a bunch of thick Canadian breeding(looked like Louada influence) Farrers Main Doner is a sow with that broad head and muzzle-that reminds me of those Louada  cattle when I saw them at the eastern National in 1962-I believe it was.
 

Hilltop

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A couple cow families that come to mind first to me are the Joans, and the Vera's from the Crestdale herd in SK. If i remember correct JIT, did the Vera's come from Fox's at Lloyd?
There would be many cow families that a person could build a herd around but if I could pick just one to start with it would be" New Beginnings Elsie Jade"
The first time I saw her I was probably drooling! We were able to get one embryo from her and Sonny and when the recip was bred 13 days after she was implanted I was close to shedding tears.
We were able to get some Baroness females from Diamond Shorthorns in AB and we are hoping to build a family around them. Easy keeping, and moderate framed, and very good udders.
I know if my wife were posting this now shw would pick the first cow we have on our web site and I would not argue with her either. The Dawnvue herd has had many excellent females.
I really like the Mary Jane's,Silver Maisie's, and also have admired the Picture Perfect cows. I can't argue about Sable being the best in the Breed.
It really comes down to what works for a specific operation.
 

HSV

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I have seen the CF Myrtle Bo 93 cow at V8 Ranch a few years ago and was quite impressed. My best cow family is likely the Jane family that has had success for the Pimmet's, Hunt Farms and Crawfdown Farms. I purchased a Scarlet a few years ago from Shadybrook Farms  and have had a couple of good calves from her.
 

sue

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trevorgreycattleco said:
Thanks r n. Once again another history lesson is unfolding for me. I got a Missie Ruth son from Leveldale. Same cow just had a heifer sell in Denver for Les.

I think the granddam to your bull, Leveldale's sale topper (Denver) bred until she was 16. My favorite son of Trump was MF Check mate- let's not forget the year Mantua had an entire offering from Missie Ruth.

You have to add the Clara's - the cow family behind HUBs IMPACT TWO- what a foundation
 

justintime

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SS Missie Ruth 2B3 is another cow that makes my top 10 list of cows. She was a daughter of AF Dividend Impact and is from another famous cow family, the Missie's. This is another cow family that goes back for decades. The first Missie female I fell in love with was at the Edmonton International show in 1961, and this female was named Missie of Eldak 72nd. She was shown by Tup Elken,from ND and she sold for $4100 in the sale there to Melbourne Farms in IL.She was Reserve Grand that day in Edmonton, and she went on to be Reserve Grand at the Chicago International later that fall.  I was not very old, but I think it was this female that really gave me the cow bug.

Hilltop, you are right about the cows at Crestdale. The Joans and the Veras were outstanding females. The Vera cow family was started by Jonathon Fox of Justamere Farms, and his brother Frank Fox ( Nupar Polled Shorthorns).In 1981, I took a well known American Shorthorn breeder(  who is still in business today),to see the Crestdale herd. He picked out 3 females and he offered the Schulhauser's $25,000 for the 3 cows. They turned this offer down. When we left that day, he told me that he considered these 3 cows to be in the best 5 cows he had ever seen. Two or three years later, the Schulhauser's turned a Salers bull into their herd, and many incredible females were lost to the breed. I tried my best to buy some of them a couple years later, even though they were bred Salers, but Harvey Schulhauser would not sell them.

I also agree about the Baroness cow family as being another outstanding cow family. Another of the greatest cows I ever saw was a cow named Ball Dee Silver Baroness. She was bred in one of the very early Polled Shorthorn herds in Canada or the US, which was the Ball Dee herd close to Edmonton, AB. My mother was raised about 3 miles from where the Ball Dee herd was located so we stopped in to see them when we attended the 1961 International show in Edmonton. I remember Dave Ball telling my dad that he was having some health problems and he wanted to sell his herd of 200+ polled Shorthorn cows. He wanted to sell the herd as a group, and he said he would sell the herd for $300 per cow calf pair. Ball Dee Silver Baroness was in this group, along with some other tremendous cows. My dad said that $60 - 70,000 was more than our farm was worth. How I wish we had tried to get some of these cows!!  A few cows like Silver Baroness were purchased by breeders, but the majority of this great polled herd was shipped to market. The Baroness cow family at Saskvalley originated from a cow they purchased from us, named HC Roan Baroness 136M and she was a grand daughter of Ball Dee Silver Baroness. The Glenford Lass cow family was started from a daughter of 136M named HC Baroness Lass 38T. 38T produced two Canadian National Champion females and a Canadian National Champion bull. One of these females was also Grand Champion at Denver. Two of these offspring of 38T sold to Scotland.
 
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