red said:
see TJ- You're getting good at posting pictures!!!
Interesting bull. not into Lowlines but will be interested to see the reaction from those that are.
Red
Thanks for getting me all straightened out on the pictures!
I am going to assume that probably not too many on this site are going to be "into Lowlines". However, some of the most critical & sceptical cattle people have actually paid compliments when they 1st saw Doc Holliday. Also, my partner has expressed receiving similar reactions. She is also an Angus breeder, who wasn't even getting to 1st base with her "Angus friends", but I was told that all of that drastically changed when they 1st viewed Doc. So, I am hopeful that same thing will be the case hear on this board as well & maybe some minds will be changed.
FWIW, this past fall, I sold a "clubby guy" in Alabama, 10 straws of Doc Holliday to use on his 1st calf heifers. He is hoping to raise a few light weight show steers with excellent carcass qualities for their carcass contest. Doc is also VERY DOCILE & I had him 1/2 way leading the very 1st day that I haltered him. So, I am thinking that Doc Holliday's niche might be for producing light weight show steers, out of 1st calf heifers (extreme calving ease) & those steers will be mostly used by 1st time cattle exhibitors and/or very young/small cattle exhibitors. That's the vision the guy down in Alabama has also. It will be interesting to see how that works out. As a matter of fact, I am toying with the idea of getting some regular sized show quality heifers & giving this thing a whirl myself. We used to raise a few fairly successful steers (4H Grand Champ KY State Fair, numerous district & county fair champ steers & my sister won the light weight class at the KY State Fair 3 years in a row & we sold some into Southern IL that did OK too), so I think this has some potential, if used on the right females.
Another thing that I want to point out. Doc's 1/2 blood calves are probably going to be taller & bigger than what most people probably are imagining, especially if they have seen some of the extremely small Lowlines. Doc is a frame 1 & is one of the largest Lowlines in the U.S.. In theory, when a frame 1 is bred to a frame 6, the calves will be around a frame 3.5. However, when Doc has been bred to frame 6, Charolais, Angus, Tarentaise & commercial X heifers, most of those calves were at least a frame 4... I would assume that is due to hybrid vigor. The difference between a frame 6 & a frame 4, is only 4 inches & 4 inches is not a whole lot. Even a frame 3.5 animal is only 5 inches shorter than a 6 frame. (*** UPDATE... According to NDSU Dickinson research, the avg frame scores for 1/2 blood Lowline steers out of commercial heifers from 2004 - 2006, was 4.4, 4.7 & 4.8. Finishing weights avged 1220+ lbs. for the 3 year period.). Anyway, if someone has a few big, frame 7+ heifers that they want to downsize & stout-en up, Doc would work really well for that scenario, IMHO.
Plus, Doc & his full sister both were extremely hairy calves, so he should pass that on to his calves as well.
As far as interest among Lowline breeders, it has been excellent, despite the fact that I purposely haven't promoted him very much until just recently (I wanted to have 2 of my own calf crops on the ground 1st). However, I've already sold semen from the west coast (Washington State) to the east coast (South Carolina), so it is going good so far.
Thanks,
TJ