I hesitate to even comment here as there are so many excellent herds here in Canada. I am not going to start naming excellent herds as some would get missed and that simply isn't fair. You have named two excellent herds here in Canada, namely the Muridale and Saskvalley herds, but there are many others. I have found excellent females in some relatively unknown and/or remote places. i would also add that there are some excellent herds from coast to coast in Canada.
I think we all see cattle slightly differently which I think gives the breed diversity and that is a good thing. We all don't need to be producing the same product and as long as we can survive and breed what we feel are the best we can, then I think it is a very good thing. What I will never understand are breeders who aren't really happy with where their herd is going, but they continue to do the same thing and hope for the results to change. I think there is a saying about people who continue to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.
I am going to only mention two sire lines that I am a big believer in, and I want to say first of all, that there are several others that are also producing great cattle. I will also say here, that this thread is asking for sires that sire fabulous females. I will only say that I think the best sire lines not only sire great females, but great males as well.
The first I will comment on has already been mentioned and that is Saskvalley Navajo 153M. I am a believer in this bull for several reasons. First, he sires excellent offspring in both sexes. Secondly, and just as important, is that he possesses so many functional traits and qualities that are oftentimes forgotten about by many breeders today. When we purchased Saskvalley Pioneer 126P, his sire Navajo only further convinced us that Pioneer was going to be a breeding bull. Navajo has large testicles and his sons do as well. Pioneer measuerd 47cm at 23 months of age. Both bulls had large well formed feet and they were extremely sound structured ( ie feet and legs ). They were very masculine and you knew at first glance that you were looking at a male animal.I believe that the most fertile females come from very masculine sires. I think too many breeds have lost masculinity in the bulls. Navajo's mother was in our herd until a couple months ago. She was Saskvalley Marianne 36H and she was IMO a model female. She was moderate framed, ultra smooth, easy fleshuing, and perfect uddered. She was very fertile but she was a very poor donor. That happens once in awhile. She never gave us a heifer calf, and we spent a fair pile of money trying to get some embryos from her. Cyclone Trace purchased a flush from her a few years ago, and they flushed her to Saskvalley Primo 40P. They got 3 embryos , one of which produced a heifer calf that sold for $19,000 in their 2010 production sale.
The second sire I will mention is a bull prioduced by OKotoks of SP fame, named Diamond Captain Mark 27C. 27C was years ahead of his time, and while he lived to be 12 years old, he was dead before his true value was recognized. As late as a couple months ago, Okotoks tried to sell semen in the US and he finally brought it back to Canada. IMO, this bull sires outstandiing females, and also sires some excellent bulls. I can honestly say that I have never saw a poor female from 27C. We have 5 daughters in our herd and they are all the type of females I want to raise. We plan of flushing more females to him in the future. Our main herd bull, Major Leroy is out of a 27C daughter so we are infusing this bloodline through him as well.
I am attaching a few pictures of Navajo 153M as a mature herdsire, his dam saskvalley marianne 36H asa 12 year old cow, and some Captain Mark 27C daughters in our herd. I am sure Okotoks can provide much more info on him and his offspring.
