Team Sales Presentation - who to breed her to?

[bobwire]

My son currently has a Shorthorn (we think) heifer that we've had since December.  She was purchased as a very young calf with her dam from a local salebarn last fall, so she has no papers and we have no idea what her breeding is.  The dam was an older large-framed red roan Shorthorn and was sent off as a weigh-cow in December.  She was definately a "diamond in the rough" when we brought her home - weighed about 350 and was hairy and loud colored and that's about all we could say about her.  Once she learned to eat, she really blossomed into a beautiful heifer.  We've had a great time showing her in local junior shows and fairs this spring and summer and this season will culminate with her showing in the Commercial Heifer division at the Gold Buckle Extravaganza in Springfield, MO this weekend.
Seth will be using her in his Team Sales presentation and will be discussing breeding options: Shorthorn calving ease bulls, "Clubby" calving ease bulls, and commercial type calving ease bulls.
She could use a tick more bone, a little more muscle expression, and hair.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  We have easy access to any bulls marketed by Genex or collected at the Strafford Custom Collection Facility in Missouri if that helps.
Thanks for the input.  I've posted a pic taken in February and two taken at her first show in May.  We've managed to put more "guts" on her since then.

 

[goodnight]

Not knowing her ancestry, and that she is sharp heifer with some obvious Shorthorn influence, I would stick with a calving ease bull to start. I like Mercedez Benz if you want a clubby bull. For Angus, I would go with Final Answer out of Genex's lineup. Good luck! Assuming you can get her bred and she develops into a nice cow, you made a really nice find.

 

[oldwood]

If you want to stick with a shorthorn bull Jakes Proud jazz.

 

[rackranch]

What our your goals or what do what do you want to achieve with this heifer or her breeding...

 

[bobwire]

Our plans are to breed her in December.  Our foremost goal is a live healthy calf and cow.  As far as future plans, she will be a fall calver, so her bull calves would be the wrong age to show as steers in our part of the country.  We like showing in the commercial/crossbred heifer divisions, but still need fuctional females that can go home after we are done showing them and be good cows.  As you can tell, we focus mainly on Boer Goats, but his year we've branched out and the kids have Hereford steers, a Hereford heifer, and our daughter had two market lambs, so we are fairly diversified.  We do everything a a really tight budget, so we don't expect to have any "big wins".  As with our goats, we really enjoy raising something that can be somewhat competitive in the showring, but can also go home and do her job without "living with her head in the feedpan".  I grew up showing Angus, but have since learned to appreciate good cattle, regardless of the breed.  We don't have any plans to concentrate on any one breed.

 

[rackranch]

Then I would go with The Withch Doctor... he is an older bull but has proven himself as a calving ease bull and like you stated a healthy cow/calve pair is what your after... This bull will also throw some color and could work well with the painted heifer...Since your looking for power to put back into your commercial heard I would stay away from the Shorthorn and lean more towards the maine/chi influenced kind of bulls... BK lifeline would be my second choice... G-Luck and let us know how it turns out

 

[garybob]

Call Genex, and, see if they still have any semen left on a Red Angus bull, NEO-SHO Millenium. Keep 'em red. For her second calf, call Genex-Hawkeye West up in Billings, MT. They have semen on REAL BEEF bulls mostly in custom collections, that many of us on here have never heard of. Too bad those bulls won't get marketed in the Midwest and Southeast. Not ''showy''enough.

GB

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Elbees Wymore bull would really work the way that hiefer is made-hes calving ease-roan,great looking-and 15 per straw-cattlevisions and gen horizens (i believe) have him.Captain Obvious would be another good stout choice. O0

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

Then I would go with The Withch Doctor... he is an older bull but has proven himself as a calving ease bull and like you stated a healthy cow/calve pair is what your after... This bull will also throw some color and could work well with the painted heifer...Since your looking for power to put back into your commercial heard I would stay away from the Shorthorn and lean more towards the maine/chi influenced kind of bulls... BK lifeline would be my second choice... G-Luck and let us know how it turns out

What shorthorns have you used in the past? There are some good shorties out there that would do this heifer justice. Capt Obvious like Mark said would work well. 7026 sons work well tho not loud colored. Not sure if American Muscle is safe on heifers but Scott is on here and could tell you. JPJ is a proven heifer bull that makes good mamas. Capiche may work better than JPJ, time will tell. The Big Sky bull (RA) at genex is a sure bet heifer bull that makes good mamas as well.

 

[OH Breeder]

For shorthorn- Gizmo is tough to beat. His son Wymore is attached in photo. I didn't have any luck with Jazz but that doesn't mean anything. Some bulls work for some and don't for others. We want to take a stab at Captain Obvious his offspring look great that Sue has posted.
Witch Doctor is not going to add bone or a ton of power but will give you calving ease and pretty calf. The first go around goal is live calf healthy heifer. Surf was another calving ease bull that was extrememly consistent. I would suggest a TH and PH test and then down the road you can evaulate your options on carrier genetics. A bull like Double Vision would add a ton of bone but not for a heifer. Calf three and four is when the cow should be able to handle a little larger calf. You can always use Angus bulls that are consistent for a heifer- OCC Legend might be a good match and Northern Improvement. If you want grow and performance SS Traveler T510 6807 would work too.
Second picture is a Planteer's Crimson Tide x Shorthorn. Plenty of power there.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Then I would go with The Withch Doctor... he is an older bull but has proven himself as a calving ease bull and like you stated a healthy cow/calve pair is what your after... This bull will also throw some color and could work well with the painted heifer...Since your looking for power to put back into your commercial heard I would stay away from the Shorthorn and lean more towards the maine/chi influenced kind of bulls... BK lifeline would be my second choice... G-Luck and let us know how it turns out

What shorthorns have you used in the past? There are some good shorties out there that would do this heifer justice. Capt Obvious like Mark said would work well. 7026 sons work well tho not loud colored. Not sure if American Muscle is safe on heifers but Scott is on here and could tell you. JPJ is a proven heifer bull that makes good mamas. Capiche may work better than JPJ, time will tell. The Big Sky bull (RA) at genex is a sure bet heifer bull that makes good mamas as well.///Wymore is a gizmo son  pictured below-I wouldnt use muscle on a hiefer-Capiche has some pretty big cattle in his background-id be carefull there,there are some really good older bulls like perfect image,golddust etc-and red angus right now are way good.

 

[ploughshare]

I would approcach the presentation very much like the dairy guys do with type scoring.  I would really forcus on analysing the heifer, both good and bad points, relative to the perfect animal,  Next, I would discuss bulls that would inprove her calf to become the perfect animal keeping in mind the unknown genetics, first calf heifer issues, etc.

As far as the Genex lineup goes, I would certainly want to include MCC Cupid for his oustanding phenotype, track record,  ease of calving but also note  his maternal issues of  low milk and low maternal caving ease.  Mention that it is more improtant to get a live calf and have a reproductively sound heifer after the first parturition and focus on the economics of the situtation as well.

Just my 2 cents, which is what this advice is worth.

Nice salebarn find btw.