Jesse James

I've been to 50 farms this year and the I-80 calves and Monopolys are far and away the best. The best two I've seen we're I-80s x Cookie Monsters at Garwoods

Zach said:

I've been to 50 farms this year and the I-80 calves and Monopolys are far and away the best. The best two I've seen we're I-80s x Cookie Monsters at Garwoods

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I saw Justin's too, those i80 heifers are guna be awesome. But yes, best 2 bulls out there right now for making winners...and I mean show heifers for i80.

Zach said:

I've been to 50 farms this year and the I-80 calves and Monopolys are far and away the best. The best two I've seen we're I-80s x Cookie Monsters at Garwoods

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The problems with this is there's no control group.  I would expect Garwood's have some great cows as well as some great management practices.  Now if they bred an equal set of cows to I-80 and to Jesse James, then we could compare.

Last hear there was more hype about I-80.  They sold a lot, I mean a lot more semen.  And problem bred a lot more of your better cows.  Given the same opportunity, I bet you'd like the Jesse James calves as well.im not arguing that he's necessarily better, but if given the chance that some of the other bulls were given, he'd prove that he's the real deal, too.

Oh, and none of the I-80 or Monopoly heifers, unless out of Chi cows will be eligible for Louisville, Fort Worth, Jr. Nationals...

I guess I do not understand how his chi % is so high as jesse james himself is out of a commercial cow that in itself seems a little shady to me

Have a JJ steer calf out of a Heatwave heifer, born unassisted at 75lbs. Little dude is stout and hairy! We are breeding several heifers to him this spring. I will be ordering 2 more racks of JJ before he goes up. I think he is going to make a big showing this year with I80 semen at its current price.

I think both bulls are VERY good bulls and have their place. Jesse James is a bull I trust more for CE and I think he will make a more powerful show calf, the back hip he puts on the calves I have seen is very respectable. I-80 is a bull who's heifers are some of the best breeding heifers/momma prospects out there. Both bulls are registered in their respective breeds so that is an advantage over other bulls. Although I have only had Jesse James calves so far (of which I am VERY happy), I think both bulls will be used for quite some time with popularity.

I guess my point is if you have a powerful female, I-80 will work better than JJ all day. For a calving ease bull that will throw you a sellable calf out of a moderate heifer, I'd use JJ. In fact I've bred all my heifers to JJ and got along great the past two years. Very good calves. With that said I'm breeding my heat wave cows to I80. Not only does Garwood have powerhouse I80's (the cookie monster bull is the stoutest biggest boned calf I've ever seen) but I've seen Brandon Sniders I-80 and all of her flush mates in southern Ohio and they are flat out awesome.

Here's a JJ out of a My Turn/Who heifer I had last year

Very good looking heifer there Zach!!

I personally like I80 more but that's just me

Zach said:

I guess my point is if you have a powerful female, I-80 will work better than JJ all day. For a calving ease bull that will throw you a sellable calf out of a moderate heifer, I'd use JJ. In fact I've bred all my heifers to JJ and got along great the past two years. Very good calves. With that said I'm breeding my heat wave cows to I80. Not only does Garwood have powerhouse I80's (the cookie monster bull is the stoutest biggest boned calf I've ever seen) but I've seen Brandon Sniders I-80 and all of her flush mates in southern Ohio and they are flat out awesome.

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You're starting to get the picture.  Again, it the cows.  Breed them all the Jesse James, or Monopoly Money, or Who Da Man, and you'd say those were the best looking set of calves you've seen.  It the cow power boys.  If it were the bulls, we could all go to the local sale barn, buy up some commercial cattle, fill them with Heat Wave, Monopoly, and I-80 semen and all be selling high dollar steers.  No, don't think so.  I learned that in the horse business 25 years ago.  You have to have a good producing set of similar type mamas. Then you can breed them to any hot sire and have a nice set of babies.  It's no coincendence that the best breeders, clubby or PB produce the best calves year after year even though the sires they use changes over time.  Because they've got the cows that will put a good set of calves on the ground year after year.

Nice calf ZACH ,AND ESPECIALLY OUT OF HEIFER ....Just listening to the posts and what ZACH said ,should you be using JJ on your heifers having first calf and use
I-80 ON some of the cows you might breed to MONOPOLY ....

Here's my question. If we're breeding 1st calf heifers, and especially clubbie bred heifers, why not choose a CE PB bull or @ least an F1 instead of using a super crossed up bull?  I never used Total Solution for this very same reason. I will say that I have seen some very good Total Solution calves over the years & that I think that JJ will have better calves than TS. As far as I80 for me, it seems that I have to see 5 head to find one good one. Wonder what PPL thoughts are to my questions?

I agree CAB.

We are going back to a purebred bull CE bull on heifers this year. I want something more predictable and consistent on heifers. 

I know I am in the minority for most on this board but if I had any I80 left in the tank I would happily hand it out.  Or toss it.  We've lost 4 calves this year and 3 of them were I80s .  Structural issues on good, sound cows, no will to live, especially just no grow compared to other calves out of similarly bred cows born on the same day.

I've seen more than a few other places and I'm not seeing the overwhelming amount of good ones I keep hearing about. 

Feeder calves might be down some but the price on a live, healthy calf with a cow that is able to breed back is still worth more than the dead pile.

@Freddy , thanks she was a good one and brought me a decent chunk of change. I bred the cow back but we had bad luck with abortions last season. IMO I-80 is the go-to bull for your Heatwave, Monopoly, and Walks cattle that need styled up and maintain your footsize and power. A lot of people are saying the i80 calves they've had arent the right kind. You have breed him to a stout cow with some middle to her. Used on a common cow you'll likely get a common calf. Then again the same may be true for Jesse. I don't know. Ive used him on my heifers and got along great but I didn't use him on my powerhouse cows and don't plan to.

@CAB I've had Total Solutions and JJ's and you're right, the JJ's just carry more depth and rib shape than my TS calves ever did. Both come small too

Freddy & ejoe326 - I bred to Jesse James to get a nice live calf that was marketable.  And I think I did pretty well.  I'm breeding my cow right back the same way for her second calf.  I am also breeding a PB Angus yearling heifer to Jesse James.  I don't have the numbers of cows to gamble with.  I need live, good structured, good looking calves that are high enough %Chi to make them eligible for Fort Worth and the Jr. Nationals.  And IMO, your going to see more and more shows go in that direction.  Simply put, the other bulls come up short (in several ways).

And again with a few head, I'm up every few hours checking them during calving season.  Heck, I learned that from my dad growing up.  We had 150 reg. Simmental cows that got checked every couple of hours every night for the duration of calving season.  If they really are worth something to you then it really is worth your time to do it right.

And they have they money to fit and present them how most don't.

Our cows calving and the newborn calves are under cameras 24 hours a day and are checked every few hours too. 

Those I80 calves did not die at birth or from lack of effort.  The one calf had over 350.00 in vet bills and meds in him alone.  I don't normally have to call the vet on calves after 30 plus years but this group was as bad as I have battled.  As of today I have 86 cows and down to a handful left to calve. We vaccinate religiously, have a strong mineral program, and no other group of calves acted like this. We don't breed one or two of a bull because that doesn't tell me much on our cows.

I did not breed I80 to just anything.  On one cow all I wanted I80 to do was add some length to a super stout, sound, very deep cow.  Everyone that has been through scratches their head because she is suppose to be the ideal to breed to I80.  Instead he managed to take away from what the cow had and threw in some back legs that almost scrape together when he walks.  That is just one of them. 

I know I80 works on some cows.  But I will disagree he is a solid answer on Heatwaves and Monopolys.  I much prefer the results of Ali and will let you know what I think of the other options I have used.

Why would you expect any type of predictability out of these mongrelized bulls, ejoe?

We bred two first calf heifers to Jesse james last spring, both stuck and now have very nice calves.  Our Bojo hfr had a 55-60# bull calf and our THC shorthorn a 65-70# Hfr.  Both are clean necked, structurally sound, have decent bone and lots and lots of hair. They seem to be growing just as good as calves out of our cows that were bred to non-calving ease bulls and have the best dispositions out of the group.  We will be using him again this year on our hfrs.

crzyrockinT, I like hearing that you had a good experience.  It similar to my experience.  How about temperament?  My JJ heifer is calm and curious.  She mimics what the cows do.  Then again when you only have a few and you are able to spend time with them it doesn't hurt.  My heifer is 6 weeks today.  I can scratch her head or comb her while standing out in the pasture.  Course, my cows all line up to be curried this time of year as they're shedding.  LOL. And with 3 sessions under our belt, she'll be broke to lead in another couple of sessions.

ejoe326, I hope I didn't offend you.  I was not questioning you management practices.  I had no idea about your problems with the calves.  Sorry that you had to deal with all of that.  I was just stating that I'm going to be there for my heifers and did not see the need to breed a nice, winning, Heat Wave heifer to a Red Angus bull her first year as so many people urged we to do. 

Again, I am also stating that I'm breeding Reg. Chianina cattle.  They need to be able to show at Fort Worth being that I live only an hour away.  I want my calves to be higher % whether I keep them or sell them.  Just my preference for my program.  JJ allows me to do that.