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I think you need to write a book Grant. Rodney James did....it is excellent. You need to document your life story and the people, places and events along the way.

407L was perhaps the best female Bar 5 ever produced. She was really something.....a flush mate to General.  If I recall correctly, Brundish Prosperus was a fleck from Britain? Some outcross genetics for Bar 5 to work with. RFG Tosca 1G was the star of the show. A French import female that...

This is a bred heifer we bought from Heinz Erb 25-26 years ago....she had some Montbeliarde influence. Lighter structured but wonderful maternal qualities and amazing udder quality also. Certainly the Montbeliarde cattle today are much more extreme and dairy influenced.

I still have a number of fullblood eggs (Swiss and French) genetics that were harvested 25 years ago. The bull calf I posted is gone.....he was very sound and good quality but there is no market for an off age fullblood simmie bull calf. He was full French....no fleckvieh. And, that doesn't...

I agree AJ....it's just unfortunate that buyers discount or, pay premiums based on hair coat color. As long as the cattle industry has existed, both at commercial and purebred levels, emotion has been applied in decision making. I suppose the people who really benefit are the ones who can...

AJ.....not sure about the ASA but in Canada the national association prohibits the registration of black shorthorns. They are not permitted. I had a beautiful red neck roan female of purebred status and her nose was black pigmented. It certainly didn't matter to me...probably got less sunburn! ...

I've never really understood the devotion to specific hair coat colors apart from the few, exceptional environmental arguments that might support it. Broken colored or solid colored....not sure why it should impact values at either the commercial or purebred level. Purebred breeding takes on an...

Now at 4 mos of age and starting to show potential.

Saw her in Toronto on Saturday; she's a good one. She's the kind to come back as a two year old and compete hard.

I'm not sure it's an issue of how many or how few carrier animals are actually shown or not shown. It's the perception of the breed in general that's evolved. And, I believe that as long as the association leaders and managers avoid implementing a plan designed to slowly eradicate these genes...

At one week of age.

I have been working quietly on resurrecting some of the old fullblood genetics however my focus is very limited to only the very best, proven cow families and matings. This is a one month old ET bull calf born in early September.....his dam and sire are from the 70's....almost entirely French...

AJ.....I have to agree. I suspect history will not reflect favourably on how genetic defect issues were handled in this present era. Time will tell. It's interesting that the shorthorn associations have no problem creating strict rules denying registration around hair coat colour but take a...

AJ....I believe you are absolutely correct.  In my opinion, there are some issues that simply should never be deferred to the individual member/breeder to manage as they each see fit. And, at the top of that list is known fatal defect genes. There is a time when the breed association rulers...

It is the personal attacks that keeps many people from participating in some of the very interesting topics posted here. Unfortunate to see such intolerance and bad behavior projected while hiding behind the anonymity of the internet.

I agree that there are essentially two factions......show ring and non-show ring. However, it's not all black and white. When investing in Shorthorns many years ago I knew full well that my chances of having success selling breeding Bulls to the commercial sector for a fair price or selling...

MR.....are you suggesting that all future carriers be relegated to the Plus registry? It has some interesting aspects.

AJ....you make a good point. The breeds with open herd books such as Simmental could certainly take on these fatal defect genes if they wanted too. I can't speak for others but something tells me they would reject the attempt to do so if they were aware. Perhaps the answer is embedded in their...

Librarian.....I have to conclude that while we both understand and respect each others viewpoints we cannot find much common ground to agree upon. Perhaps we can agree that all of us will one day, some day, cease to be breeders. The breed will outlive us all; we are simply participants in a very...

Librarian....I see your point. So the logic is to genetically preserve these defect carrier genes for some future potential benefit to the breed? That should be quite easy, the ASA can preserve them (semen, embryos) in nitrogen indefinitely; create a Shorthorn bank and then sit on it until the...