Alta Cedar First Blood 5R

[BogartBlondes]

I recently acquired a package of shorthorn semen from a retired breeder; it had Alta Cedar First Blood included in it. Has anyone ever used him? Any pictures of his calves?

He looks like a pretty sound bull. I haven't seen any offspring off of him though.

 

[Cabanha Santa Isabel - BR]

Congrats....one of the best bull I know. Great calves on Uruguay. I would like much get semen him!

 

[the ole advisor]

My name is Don Thomas (Thomas farms, Inc) I purchased First Blood last spring because he has sired some of the best calves we have ever had.  Used him AI for several years on a very limited number of cows.  The first eight calves were bulls, two of which were Champion and a Reserve Champion at the LaPorte County Fair.  The fair is a pretty fast track with usually a couple of steers as class winners or better at the Indiana State Fair.  All of his calves fed out very well.  Got a heifer from him in 2012, she will be a very good brood cow in our herd.  The old bull a "puppy dog" disposition, is agile as a cat at nine years old, and is a whole lot sounder than the OBAMA DOLLAR!  You will like his calves!

 

[BogartBlondes]

Do you have any pics of these calves?

I just have a few doses and was wondering what he would cross like on larger framed cows?

 

[the ole advisor]

I bred him to daughters of "gizmo", Major Impact, Dividends Impact, Trump grangdaughters, and others.  My cow herd is bred for ease of calving, milking ability, easy keeping, good disposition.  Most will cross the scales at around 1300 to 1400.  All have the ability to convert roughage into beef.  I have not collected the bull as of yet, but I think Cattle Visions still has semen of the bull if you are interested in more.  I think his daughters will be deep bodied, thick, frame score of around 5.0.  2013 was the first year in 43 years that I did not AI any cows.  All 20 or so are bred to the bull.  Can't wait to see the calves out of Murildale Buster 14K, Irish Mark, and Saskvalley Navaho daughters in the herd.

 

[BogartBlondes]

He looks like a sound bull and he should produce some good calves.

I will probably cross him with Capiche and Sin City.

 

[Cabanha Santa Isabel - BR]

My name is Don Thomas (Thomas farms, Inc) I purchased First Blood last spring because he has sired some of the best calves we have ever had.  Used him AI for several years on a very limited number of cows.  The first eight calves were bulls, two of which were Champion and a Reserve Champion at the LaPorte County Fair.  The fair is a pretty fast track with usually a couple of steers as class winners or better at the Indiana State Fair.  All of his calves fed out very well.  Got a heifer from him in 2012, she will be a very good brood cow in our herd.  The old bull a "puppy dog" disposition, is agile as a cat at nine years old, and is a whole lot sounder than the OBAMA DOLLAR!  You will like his calves!

Don, congratulations for your aquisition....the bull is awesome....unfortunatelly not got semen him...I'm sure that he would do a great job here....againa congrats!!! (clapping)

 

[DCIL]

What type of cows does he work best on? Looking for a bull that will add or at least maintain performance without needing. To be on full feed.

 

[BogartBlondes]

I am thinking of using him to produce some F1 Char crosses. How do you think he would work?

 

[the ole advisor]

I think he would work for you DCIL, the calves we have had (only 9) have all been easy keepers, that liked to eat.  The bull himself has overwintered on grass hay and a little corn.  BUT we had 14 of the 31 days in Jan that were below zero, and over 65 inches of snow this winter.  He has gained weight on this ration.

 

[the ole advisor]

I don't have any Charolais influenced cows, but I would think he would work.  I would bet that he would take the edge off their disposition if they are typical of most Charolais I have worked with over the years.

 

[BogartBlondes]

I was hoping for some calving ease and downsizing some frame, will he manage that?

 

[the ole advisor]

Before I purchased the bull I looked up birth weights on his calves. With less than one hundred registered, I looked up 25 heifers and 15 bulls at random, with no more than two heifers and three bull from the same herd.I thought that a "mistake" of reading the scales wrong would be less likely the more herds I used.  The heifers averaged 84.2 pounds, with a medium of 84 pounds. High of 95, low of 75.  Bulls averaged 85.78 pounds, with a medium of 85 pounds. High of 100 pounds, with a low of 80 pounds.  Of all calves registered I found two bulls with a 130 and 110 pound birth weight both from the same herd, and one heifer with a 52 pound birth weight. These are the extreme out layers.

 

[BogartBlondes]

What is the semen worth if I were to sell it?

 

[the ole advisor]

Cattle Visions is selling it for $45.00

 

[the ole advisor]

I now have 20 "First Blood" calves on the ground.  They keep getting better with age.  I had the old bull collected last month, people at stud were shocked that  a bull of his age was as sound and agile as he was, his semen was excellent.  When did you use the bull?  What did you think of his daughters as brood cows?  If you want semen on him, I think that Alta Cedar still has a bank of semen on him that could be exported.
Thanks for your reply to my Jan 2014 post.  It was good to know that I am not the only one to like the old bull.
          Don Thomas.  10506s 875e.  Walkerton, IN.  USA

 

[knabe]

Can't wait to see the calves out of Murildale Buster 14K

meaning you have semen on him?

 

[RyanChandler]

Can't wait to see the calves out of Murildale Buster 14K

meaning you have semen on him?

Recently found this pic of him thought youd appreciate it

 

[Koulee]

Here is a picture of Buster's sire, Eionmor Ideal 69F.  I took this picture about the last year he was used.

 

[coyote]

I sure wish I would of drawn more semen on Muridale Buster 14K, my wife told me too, she reminds me a bit .
The first picture is a yearling son we are using, then a daughter from this year and the red cow is a maternal sister sired by Alta Cedar Ultimate 130K.