Charguy,
I have seen some Performer calves on the ground not just in North America. On a very long cow that lacks guts we works. The Australians like to use Performer on cattle out of many North American domestic bulls for this very reason. They are blending the advantages of full french with domestic breeding with out jacking birth weights through the roof. On the average Charolais cow that has plenty of guts, muscle, and performance he isn't the best choice.
I also don't mind horned cattle as I can get true outcross cattle much easier that way. Discounting a bull because he is horned limits your choices on a global scale. I try and think of how matings compliment each other. The bulls I suggested were also tempered with the idea of keeping birth weights down hence the idea of using Birmingham. Birmingham calves aren't flashy but they do grow with a reasonable birth EPD. I particularly want to improve this cows growth EPDs.
If Cigar semen is scarce why not use his sire LHD Mr Perfect? He doesn't have the EPDs of Cigar but he is a proven cow maker and has good customer acceptance. He is also a decent calving bull.
The Circle Cee bull VFF Time Out is a nice looking bull with a great pedigree but again I want better projected EPDs on an unproven bull since his yearling weight EPD is only +76 with a birth EPD of +3.4. He has great show record in Canada and he may prove to be great one but right now he needs clves on thee ground to show he is a performance improver.
Looking at the AB select sale I like the idea of KCM Prowler for calving ease-just too bad the semen offer is only Canadian approved. Here is link to the catalog:
http://issuu.com/pdrneepawa/docs/aca_catalogue_web?e=2717029/5293420
What other bulls would you use? Just asking your input is welcome.