Here is the thing about carrier cattle, and trying to build a herd at the same time...
I have 4 Shorthorns (only carrier cattle ever owned) now that are carriers for one thing or another- or both in one case. 3 of them are a mother and her two (yearling and baby) daughters. They are Double Stuff and X-Ray Vision (D.S. grandson) bred. Due to my disliking of the two most popular bulls in the Shorthorn breed- Trump and Jake's Proud Jazz, and they're (my cow's) carrier status'= I cannot find anything to mate them to- literally.
It is my plan to select these 4 females (they are the clubbiest and least real world) out of the herd that is at my parent's place- to bring to my new place. I like the cattle, for everything they offer, plus to give me something different than our pretty nationally competitive sheep flock. I'm thinking that with as fet up as I am with the sheep showing world right now (and the cattle is much better ???), when the time comes for my kids (God help the world if I have young-uns as I hear that the children are always twice as bad as the parents were) I'm thinking that we might take a more serious thought towards showing cattle- you know hitting jackpots, expos, etc... I think the club calf circuits, and junior clubs take much more care towards the younger generation whereas our breed of sheep could care less about juniors and just view them as potential customers and/or competition.
Back to my findings... Because of the circumstances mentioned above, lack of gene pool diversity, and the magnitude of carrier bulls- coupled with the lack of 'clean' ones-- I cannot find a Shorthorn bull to breed with- pure or appendix- that I think will do what I want to do. What I am looking for is a double clean bull that traces back to Double Stuff, but also has a shot of Steermaker, Wildside, or Gizmo (those 3 are options, but they're all plus 10 in age; heck Steermaker is just a few months younger than I am). I don't really care what else is in there, as long as the big 2 are out- and it's not a pedigree jam packed with more 'commercial' type cattle= which in my head is the right thing to do... but that's not really what I'm wanting to do. I've had this extensive search going on now, for about a month, going on two- and I have found TWO potential prospects-- one is a bull that is not available on the open market (so semen may not be collected, or for sale/ in process of checking with the owners) and the other is a May (7 month old) calf owned by a fellow S-planeteer. I've searched through old books, websites, and every semen directory that I know of online. I did find a couple of bulls that might work- but one was only a frame 4- and the other was an older hit and miss kinda deal that was almost proven to NOT work on this type of cow- why reinvent the wheel?
I am to the point, I've even started looking at club calf or Maine type red bulls-- just to inject the red factor; hoping my roan cows can do the rest. That search is a little more forgiving, but not much... I think I'm up to about 3 or 4 potential deals to try out- but I want to use only one. The thing holding me back is the lack of consistency on composite bulls- and the fact that most of the candidates are owned by one particular organization that I'd rather not purchase semen from-- although have in the past, and I'm sure will continue to in the future. With the little bit of option I have found.. I've begun to think that I'm going to have to make my own deal (but have to have a place to start). It's my plan to mate him to all of the females I bring up here- plus the remaining Shorthorns at home to try and make a herd bull that I; as well as others who feel the same way I do can use while the other 98% of the breed sits in their box making real world, functional cattle (where we all need to be) or tossing around breeding their midgets (JPJ) to monsters (Trump)...
I guess what I'm saying is... is if you are wanting to build a herd for your kids-- don't get yourself or them in the situation I am in with carrier cattle and trying to match them up... I'm too hard headed to follow the popular trend, and don't like taking stupid risks of mating carriers to carriers...
I'd also at this point, like to get a Herf- and not have the worries of defects and just sit back breeding to the best bulls that I can afford a plastic straw of juice on...
Best of luck in your search...