some more pictures

[justintime]

I have been trying to get some pictures taken of some of our sale heifers at Agribition in November. I posted the L21 bull calf yesterday. Here are three heifers that are also selling:

1) HC Red Lady 11U - sired by Wolf Willow Major Leroy 1M  -polled  Late Feb hfr

2) HC Fairest Faye 14U - sired by Saskvalley Pioneer 126P  polled late Feb hfr.

3) HC Melba Niam 19T - sired by K-Kim Last Call 159N ET - polled ET heifer out of our Melba Niam 67J donor. She sells safe to the Australian Spry's True Blue Y033

 

[knabe]

even though i'm partial to leroy, i really like #3 and find her front end volume and depth rather unique.  it may make her look shorter hipped, but she probably isn't.

what's the age diff in 1 and 3?

 

[Bawndoh]

Knabe, 1 is a late Feb '08 calf.  Three is an '07 bred heifer.  Also would be born in the spring.

 

[ROMAX]

Hows wolf willow major leroy for calving? would he be reccomended for heifers.

 

[justintime]

Sorry for not responding earlier to your question. I was away for a few days to a sale.

I n regards to Major Leroy calving ease, I know that several people have used him on heifers but I am reluctant to call him a heifer bull. I have not heard of any problems from using Leroy on heifers but my thoughts are there are probably better choices for heifers out there. We have had zero issues when using him on mature cows. Most calves ( under our conditions) are in the 90 to 105 lb range. Occasionally we will get a 110 lb calf from a cow with lots of BW behind her in her pedigree. I would say that most of ours in in the mid 90s. His calves from mature cows are born easily and are very vigorous at birth. I know some people have used him on heifers and if there has been problems, you usually hear about them .... bad news usually travels fast. I have heard nothing.

 

[ROMAX]

Thanks for the info i'm trying to find a good low birthweight bull to breed to my shorty x market heifer i mentioned in my other thread,Semex andGencor don't have alot of shorthorn bull selection.

 

[justintime]

Check the Semex inventory, and see if they still carry a bull named Shadybrook Optimum 75F. I think this may be the most underrated Shorthorn bull and I maintain he is one of the best bulls out there for moderating frame, and adding muscle shape. He was never promoted in purebred circles by Semex, as they purchased him to provide semen to their South American markets and for use in dairy herds in Eastern Canada.He is one of the easiest calving bulls I have used as well. I have used him on heifers for years, and I have never had a " throw away" calf. In fact, I have never castrated a bull calf from a heifer and they all have been good enough to be kept for a bull. Most of mine sold to commercial producers who used them on heifers. His dam is still at Shadybrook and is now 14 years old, and still producing the right kind. Optimum daughters make awesome cows- moderate framed, deep sided, good udders with lots of milk.

I have attached a yearling picture of Optimum. He certainly would be a bull that would be popular today.

 

[justintime]

Forgot to mention that Optimum is homozygous polled and he sires very dark colors even on spotted and white cows.

 

[bcosu]

i really like him!

" I have used him on heifers for years, and I have never had a " throw away" calf. In fact, I have never castrated a bull calf from a heifer and they all have been good enough to be kept for a bull."

i really like that too!

 

[Shorthorn_Junkie]

Hi JIT,

Nice set of calves as always!

You mentioned the Niam heifer.  I have an interesting story for you. 

There was a feller down here in Georgia who use to have a cow that I believe was an ancestor to your Niam females.  The cow was, "Weston Melba Niam" and she was sired by Deerpark Leader 18th".   I believe Spring Place Shorthorns owned her at one time, however I'm not for sure who the owner of her was when she died several years ago. 

I did manage to see her one time, and I must say that a lot of the Niam daughters at your place hold a very strong resemblance to her. 

 

[uluru]

Hey JIT

67 does it again

True Blue eh!!  hmmmmm    ?????

 

[justintime]

You are right SH junkie, our Melba Niam family are all descendants of Weston Melba Niam.  Going back further, The original Weston Melba Niam originated at the Brandon research Station, Brandon, MB. The Brandon Research herd was closed for over 50 years with no new blood ever added.

Uluru, we lost our Melba Niam 98H donor at the transplant center a couple days ago. Turns out she had an abcess in her stomach( probably from an old hardware type of injury) and it ruptured. They said she probably died within seconds of this entering her blood and hitting her heart. She was 11 and I was planning on retiring her here for that one or two last calves. She has calves in 6 countries and produced over 200 embryos for us. her last flush in early September produced 22 grade 1 embryos.  We have found that our Melba Niams are super embryo producers. 67J has been flushed non stop for 5 and 1/2 years. We flush her every two months, and she never seems to stop producing embryos. In April she produced 18 grade 1's, in June she produced 11, in September she produced 17.

Another thing of note ... I am wondering if there are lines of cows that react to the flush drugs differently than others. Despite our Melba Niam donors being flushed more than 20 times each, none of them show any signs of ever being flushed. Some other donors will get high tail heads, coarse hair on their shoulders and actually look staggy, but these cows look very normal ... and produce good flushes virtually every time. I am not sure if there has ever been any research done on these things or not.