aandtcattle said:
Why is it in every other shorthorn thread someone has to bring up Touchdown? Do the irish cattle really need more color and more birthweight? The fact that Touchdown has been mentioned here as a heifer bull totally astounds me! I happened to buy a potload of registered shorthorn cows that were all bred to Last Call sons. I didnt like the fact that they were bred this way but there were some awesome cows in the group so I bit. These bulls would be paternal brothers to Touchdown. For those of you who don't know already, Last Call is a Studers Pretender 96th out of a Rodeo Drive cow. There is nothing light birthweight or calving ease about this pedigree, PERIOD. I was extremely lucky that the cows I bought have pelvises like elephants because nearly all the calves I got from the Last Call bulls were humungous. The largest one was 141 pounds at birth, granted out of a huge cow. But it wasnt all the cow as I bred her back to a GFS Red Cloud 7026 son the first year and got a 88 pound heifer. She had a 95 pound heifer this year out of JSF Allegiance. Not small at 95 but definitely not no 141 pound freak! Maybe Touchdown wasnt huge at birth, maybe he is out of a light birthweight cow. But wouldnt that then be a fire and ice mating? :-\
Seeing A&T has brought up Touchdown in a thread about asterisk free Shorthorns, is a bit confusing, but seeing that I bred him and I am a partner with Shady Lane in owning him, I thought I should respond. Touchdown was an ET calf that weighed 82 lbs at birth. I weighed him as soon as he was dry, and I was a bit surprised that his BW was that much as he looked pretty tiny. Even at birth he was a bit unique as he was smaller framed but was already showing more thickness than normal. He was only 2 months old, when he was sold to LA Land and Cattle Co, who were mainly in the Charolais and Limousin breeds but they also had a couple of Shorthorn females. Personally, I was a bit unsure about Touchdown at this age, but they insisted on wanting a price on him. They said they had never seen a calf of any breed that had so much natural muscle expression at such an early age, especially in his lower quarter.LA Land and Cattle, developed him and he went on to become Canadian National Champion bull in 2009. Shady Lane and ourselves decided to try to buy him back and it took a few months of dealing to get it done, but we eventually got him purchased. Guess this just proves again.... that some bloodlines can do different things in different places. Touchdown is a moderate framed bull that is maturing into a tremendously thick made sire. He may not be perfect, but I think he offers another piece of the puzzle in improving some traits in our cattle.
There are only a few bulls in any breed, that I consider to be true heifer bulls, as so many other factors can affect calving ease and birth weights. In the case lof Touchdown, we have only assisted one heifer at calving and it was a slight malpresentation, but this birth was assisted. In 2010, the heaviest Touchdown calf we had was 85 lbs and he was out of a Salute daughter.In 2011, we did have two TD calves that weighed 95 lbs out of cows. All his calves, with the exception of the one from a heifer were unassisted. I have had a number of people ask me if he can be used on heifers, and I am cautious to say " Yes" simply because of the many other factors involved, but I tell people that in my herd, I am using him on heifers, but I recommend a bit of caution, just like I would for many other sires.
Touchdown's color may not be for some breeders,but here in Canada, roans are beccoming more and more popular, I just delivered 4 light roan bulls to a commercial herd in Alberta to breed 120 black baldy heifers. Also in our herd, Last Call was extremely easy calving, and we have never had a calf even approach 100 lbs at birth. Looking back in my records, most were in the 80s and a few in the low 90s. They were definitely smaller framed and have a very good muscle pattern. His daughters are very moderate framed cows with excellent udders. I am hoping the Touchdown daughters are as good, and I think they will be. Touchdown's first bull calves, have developed into moderate framed bulls with lots of substance and they are easy fleshing. We have a bunch more this year, and we will see how they develop, but right now they are looking the same.
I would be the first to say that Touchdown is not a bull for every person to use. Here where I live, moderate framed red bulls are a bit tougher to sell, in fact that is all I have left in the bull pen. That's why it is important to have genetic choices and we don't have to be all chasing the same thing