Search results

Pulling some of our old Simmental semen out of the tank and using it on our modern Simmental females is tempting; especially on homozygous horned and homozygous black cows however, it's easy to lose track of just how much the phenotype of the breed has shifted over the decades. I raised this...

I never had the opportunity to personally witness any of these original import sires much less handle them or manage them. Wow....hard to imagine an employer these days taking risks with employees like they did back then. Having multiple people murdered on the job by animals that are well known...

Ueli was a little shorter bodied than most but as JT confirms, he was a great sire. He did have a great son...Longview Ueli that may even be a better choice. I may know someone who still has a few ampules of Bar 11 Ueli. And yeah....they didn't call him Lacombe "A-Kill-Ya" for nothing! I...

If I had to pick an old import Simmental sire to use today it would probably be Abricot despite his hair colour. In my opinion, he had less structural concerns than the others and, he really improved udders as I recall. All of those original bulls had conformation, colour or personality issues...

We had both Abricot and Galant daughters back in the early 80's and they were very useful females; very docile also. Galant could produce poor, small footed progeny. You had to watch that. Galant along with Extra, Ueli and others came directly from Switzerland. Galant was probably the most...

Some really impressive calves.....love the eye appeal.

"I fully expect that this topic will still be being discussed 40 years from now, and there will still be a wide array of opinions. I think the key is every person who wants to raise cattle, has to make the following decisions: 1) identify what your environment is like 2) identify how much...

Best investment you could ever make. The system is generally paid for on the very first calf you save. What I really like about camera surveillance is that you don't have to get out of bed in the middle of the night to do calving checks. You only get out of bed to do an actual calving. And, you...

We are in southern Ontario and have co-existed with coyotes for many years with no problems thus far. Others have not been nearly as fortunate. I admit that it always concerned me though. Not uncommon to see coyotes trotting right past the herd with no response from the cows. We are loaded up...

XBAR....against my better judgement......It would appear we agree on something. Yes, people who are known to be dishonest and exhibit all of the clinical signs, are indeed untrustworthy. As for having no skin in the game; my partner and I have travelled thousands of miles since the summer and...

Chap....agree totally. Making sure we invest in the right females for ET is so important. I can still hear Rodney James from the block saying "more money is made or lost in ET than any other aspect of the purebred industry". I do believe he was very correct. I won't flush a female unless I am...

Just thinking here....one thing I would definitely do differently is ensure that I have semen tested before using it for ET purposes.

XBAR....I didn't "form THE conclusion".  I expressed my personal opinion. Having a preference to do business with individuals, organizations or corporate entities that possess compatible core values isn't arrogant or judgemental. It's SMART. I created this thread so as to engage many of the...

Badgerfan.....couldn't agree more. Oakview is precisely the kind of person you really want to do business with if he can meet your needs. XBAR has his own opinions and they are controversial. However, I personally think it is essential to share the same core values as the people you choose to...

One thing that really frustrated me; and still does to this day, is that some of the most decent, honest and kind people we all know as fellow breeders have seed stock that you simply can't justify buying. It's just not compatible with the quality you need in your program etc. And conversely...

JIT....I knew Rodney very well. He was respected on the auction block because everyone understood when he started his speech and pushed hard for another bid he was not only trying to get more money for the consignor; he was also letting the crowd know they were under valuing the animal. He was...

I think it's our drive to continously improve that sometimes makes us look back and wish we had done this or that differently. Human nature! But it's our eternal optimism that keeps up going. It sure isn't the profit we all make. Looking back I learned that there are no 'bad" breeds of cattle...

Wise to pick your partners in a private treaty purchase than to literally invite the whole world in a public auction. I have previously shared ET rights on females but only via private purchase. I won't bid on anything that has strings attached. We only want the best foundation stock for our...

JIT.....how many times have we witnessed females with young heifer calves at side sell for less money than the breds of equal age and quality? If defies logic and good business sense. Bidders and buyers deliberately choose the path of added risk.

Steve123 & Savaged.....I think you make some excellent points. My opinion is that borrowing money to buy cattle is unwise unless you can afford to lose it all. But, if you respect your investment as a business decision with a clear set of time sensitive goals and spend the borrowed funds...