calving ease shorthorn bull

[Biomurph]

I recently picked up a shorthorn plus heifer and I have been thinking about what bull to use.  I know very little about the shorthorn breed.  I would love to hear any and all suggestions and for each bull recommendation, why you like that bull.  Thanks in advance. 

 

[Biomurph]

and the bull I keep coming back to is SULL Payday.  Thoughts on him?

 

[Dozer45]

http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/the-big-show/ace-of-diamonds-heifer-how-to-breed/

I just asked how to breed my new heifer. Got some great suggestions for bulls hope it helps

 

[Doc]

KOLT Kane Nitro. You will get calving ease without having a throwaway calf. Lakeside Nitro will work. We're having good luck with Hot Commodity this year.

 

[OH Breeder]

I recently picked up a shorthorn plus heifer and I have been thinking about what bull to use.  I know very little about the shorthorn breed.  I would love to hear any and all suggestions and for each bull recommendation, why you like that bull.  Thanks in advance.

What's the breeding on your heifer? What's the "plus" in the shorthorn.

 

[kiblercattle]

A bull I really like and have had good luck with is hillside leader. Good calving ease and nice cattle all around only had two so far but both out of heifers. One was sold as a bull and the other is in the feed pen to be butchered. Messed up and sold him as a show steer he is super fancy. They seem to be good cattle with good calving ease without sacrificing width and performance

 

[Spencer10218]

I like fsf bulls but they arnt calving ease so you will have to wait a few to use them
jakes proud jazz is
There is also damn proud
Ghost rider and white jazz are calving ease
Along with millpond exile, jsf broker,
Read white and roan, and gas monkey have low BW

 

[Lucky_P]

There's a LONG (80 something pages) thread on here somewhere...Shorty Heifer Bulls... or something like that.  You can learn a lot about the breed - and bulls - from it; I sure did.

Commercial herd here - no showring stuff, and no inclination to breed for that;  Waukaru Goldmine 2109 has proven 'sleep-all-night' heifer safe.  I've used him enough that I'm comfortable breeding him to almost any heifer of any breed.  They come slender and easy, grow well, daughters make nice cows, steers are not throwaways.

 

[Okotoks]

There's a LONG (80 something pages) thread on here somewhere...Shorty Heifer Bulls... or something like that.  You can learn a lot about the breed - and bulls - from it; I sure did.

Commercial herd here - no showring stuff, and no inclination to breed for that;  Waukaru Goldmine 2109 has proven 'sleep-all-night' heifer safe.  I've used him enough that I'm comfortable breeding him to almost any heifer of any breed.  They come slender and easy, grow well, daughters make nice cows, steers are not throwaways.

http://www.steerplanet.com/bb/the-big-show/shorty-hf-bulls/1305/
Most of the info is in the EPD's prior to last fall's change to the new multi breed EPD's

 

[Lucky_P]

True dat, Okotoks.
From the OPs name, I'm guessing they're familiar with Simmental epds, and since the Shorthorns are now on the same base as the Simmentals and Red Angus... the learning curve may not be as steep as it was for me 5-6 years ago.

 

[Will]

I am going to do a little self promotion.  We own and have used Elbee Throwback for our heifers the last few years. His calves come very small and easy.  We calved out his first set of females this fall and they are going to make great cows.  Just this year we sold a bull half interest for $7500 3 heifers for $5500,$4000 and $4000, then Customer sold one for $7500 on line. Then the bull we are showing is out of Throwback.  He weighed 63 pounds at birth had a 700 pound weaning. Plus he has had been popular everywere.

 

[wjmcattle]

I like fsf bulls but they arnt calving ease so you will have to wait a few to use them
jakes proud jazz is
There is also damn proud
Ghost rider and white jazz are calving ease
Along with millpond exile, jsf broker,
Read white and roan, and gas monkey have low BW

Not sure if I agree. While proud jazz and probably white jazz are OK, I disagree with exile,  damn proud, rwr and ghost rider. While I admit to their quality, I certainly wouldntbtry them on my shorty heifers. I'd use either jpj, or if you would prefer something else try patriot from Fischer's, payday or paymaster from sullivan.

 

[Spencer10218]

I like fsf bulls but they arnt calving ease so you will have to wait a few to use them
jakes proud jazz is
There is also damn proud
Ghost rider and white jazz are calving ease
Along with millpond exile, jsf broker,
Read white and roan, and gas monkey have low BW

Not sure if I agree. While proud jazz and probably white jazz are OK, I disagree with exile,  damn proud, rwr and ghost rider. While I admit to their quality, I certainly wouldntbtry them on my shorty heifers. I'd use either jpj, or if you would prefer something else try patriot from Fischer's, payday or paymaster from sullivan.

Calving ease was probably the wrong term but they all have low BW
And I was going off the SEK catalog

 

[Okotoks]

I think the selection for calving ease should encompass more than just birth weight. If you select for maternal calving ease you will almost always be selecting for birth weight and calving ease direct but at the same time actually covering the maternal calving ease down the road. Below are the search results for the top 15 maternal calving ease bulls in the breed.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

I am going to do a little self promotion.  We own and have used Elbee Throwback for our heifers the last few years. His calves come very small and easy.  We calved out his first set of females this fall and they are going to make great cows.  Just this year we sold a bull half interest for $7500 3 heifers for $5500,$4000 and $4000, then Customer sold one for $7500 on line. Then the bull we are showing is out of Throwback.  He weighed 63 pounds at birth had a 700 pound weaning. Plus he has had been popular everywere.///// Im gonna second this promotion and add a few other ideas- AS FOR THROWBACK-THERE REALLY ARE NO OTHER CATTLE that have that Elbee hip and look-coolest most marketable calving ease going-and if you want to soften up the hiefers,deepen rib etc-next come the Canadian bulls-OKOTOKS , JITS, and the newer ones out. Not knocking the whole capt obvious line-Im sure they will be mentioned=The bulls trickling down from Sullivans Red Rewards et-al-like Payday,and Bollums bull : and Stumps bull etc.are usefull on paper havent seen the calves-and last but certainly not least are the Loving cattle (he sells semen on some of them) The most impressive picture of anything Ive seen there wasn the 2014 sale The GARY KAPER bull on one of his linebred way back Lauer Enticer etc breeding -That one needs to be collected O0

 

[Biomurph]

Thank you for all of the thoughts and replies.  Much appreciated!  I will check out the 80+ thread from earlier this year. 

The breeding on the heifer is a commercial shorthorn/simmental dam and a shorthorn herd bull out of JSF Sir Patrick 42Y.  I'm hoping to add a little color to our herd while also having a second breed around (maybe some simmi/shorthorn crosses down the road???) 

Anyway, if you have a thought on the SULL Payday bull, please let me know.  I'll start checking out the previous posting when I get a sec.  Thanks again everyone. 

 

[JTM]

A&T Renegade 124 is carried by Cattle Visions. All I can say is that I would be very careful in your selection and choose a bull that you know has been used on heifers very successfully. Ask questions like what percentage of the births out of heifers were unassisted? Many in the show arena today believe if you get a live calf out of a heifer that the bull is calving ease. Unfortunately that has become the standard. I wouldn't even put Jake's Proud Jazz in the category of a calving ease bull. Too big of bone when born. You need a bull that will sire calves with small bone and correct head and shoulder shape when born. Then the calf takes off and gets stouter and grows well. Don't take a chance on a fancier bull that may ruin your heifer or leave you with a dead calf. I agree that you should look through that thread on shorthorn bulls although it may become overwhelming with a lot of info. Lastly, contact the owner of the bull and ask them straight up if the bull can be used "confidently" and with little risk on heifers. Welcome to the great breed of Shorthorns!