Back To The Future

[Okotoks]

Do you have more Kenmar President 26A calves?

 

[r.n.reed]

There will be some more ''Time Machine's'' born this spring.

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

Anybody ever approached you to sell semen on your bulls. Like 108, 4508? Seems nuts to me that nobody has picked up on this yet.

 

[r.n.reed]

Anybody ever approached you to sell semen on your bulls. Like 108, 4508? Seems nuts to me that nobody has picked up on this yet.

Trevor, no one has ever approached me on selling semen from my bulls and I think for a lot of reasons that make good business sense from the marketers standpoint.First off the Shorthorn breed is a very small piece of the pie.2nd,A large percentage of that pie is orientated towards the showring and I have no problem with people going that way but also realize that my genetics are not geared towards that arena.3rd,A balanced trait breeding program is always out of sync with a  purebred industry that has been consumed with extremes and single trait selection since its birth over 200 yrs ago.
I also take some responsibility as I am not a big promoter and my first question to a potential buyer is what they are looking for in a breeding animal and if I don't have what they are looking for I tell them up front I can't help them and try to suggest who might.
With all that being said I have never been more encouraged about the future of the Shorthorn breed than I am right now both as a whole and my own operation.Across the country small but significant inroads are being made into the commercial market by breeders who have focused their programs in that direction.I mean Roy Wallace has got to be turning over in his grave now that Select Sires has added a 2nd Shorthorn bull to their lineup.

 

[Okotoks]

Anybody ever approached you to sell semen on your bulls. Like 108, 4508? Seems nuts to me that nobody has picked up on this yet.

Trevor, no one has ever approached me on selling semen from my bulls and I think for a lot of reasons that make good business sense from the marketers standpoint.First off the Shorthorn breed is a very small piece of the pie.2nd,A large percentage of that pie is orientated towards the showring and I have no problem with people going that way but also realize that my genetics are not geared towards that arena.3rd,A balanced trait breeding program is always out of sync with a  purebred industry that has been consumed with extremes and single trait selection since its birth over 200 yrs ago.
I also take some responsibility as I am not a big promoter and my first question to a potential buyer is what they are looking for in a breeding animal and if I don't have what they are looking for I tell them up front I can't help them and try to suggest who might.
With all that being said I have never been more encouraged about the future of the Shorthorn breed than I am right now both as a whole and my own operation.Across the country small but significant inroads are being made into the commercial market by breeders who have focused their programs in that direction.I mean Roy Wallace has got to be turning over in his grave now that Select Sires has added a 2nd Shorthorn bull to their lineup.

As the saying goes- "every dog has his day" - and I think years of selection will pay off for programs like Kaper Shorthorns! It's very evident from the yards in Denver that the interest in functional useful shorthorn bulls for the commercial industry is growing. breeders interested in selling bulls commercially actually have a lot of options if they do their homework. The best part is several of theoptions come from unrelated programs. If we select for balanced traits. R.N. Reeds 3rd point is key to why the breed doesn't have a bigger market.
3rd,A balanced trait breeding program is always out of sync with a  purebred industry that has been consumed with extremes and single trait selection since its birth over 200 yrs ago.
Some of the initial founders of the breed were very far sighted. Thomas Bates recorded the growth rates and feed conversion of his cattle in the 1800's. he also measured the milk cream and butter production of his cows. The Bates cows were stylish and successful in the show ring and this breeding was almost ruined as it became the great fashion even though few of the Bates followers paid attention to the details he did.
Later Amos Cruickshank developed over decades a hardy easy doing beast. Again they became the fashion and the followers again almost destroyed the breed keeping and promoting animals i am sure he would have butchered.
There is a great opportunity ahead for those who want to build upon a foundation already laid out for them. There is a growing group of Angus based commercial herds that will jump on the chance to introduce some heterosis without losing the functional traits they have. JMHO

 

[Aussie]

I also take some responsibility as I am not a big promoter and my first question to a potential buyer is what they are looking for in a breeding animal and if I don't have what they are looking for I tell them up front I can't help them and try to suggest who might.

I wish more breeders from all breeds followed this example and we would all progress both in the stud and commercial cattle world.  (clapping)

 

[Aussie]

Well it is a slow day thought some of you might be interested in these ads from a book called Britain Can breed itpublished July 1949

 

[Aussie]

Another one

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

Aussie those are cool pics. thanks mate. Mr Reed. that was a good read for me. refreshing and honest. When I look at all the black cattle with 6807, EXT, 036, 004 and so on, I cant help but think how much the rancher can benefit from using some of the shorthorn bulls out there. Carcass improves along with over all performance. I have thought alot about a herd of shorthorn/angus cross cows bred to a charlois bull for finish product. I have seen some really cool charlois bulls lately on the web. Here is a pic of a 7026/ 878 cow bred to 329. She will be bred to Cap Obvious this year. I have been thinkin about what to do next after 329/ C.O. and I feel 4508 is the next logical step. I would love to see the 329 4508 C.O. cross personally.

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

thats a bred heifer not a cow. bad pick but you can get the idea

 

[r.n.reed]

Interesting pics Aussie,certainly shows the diversity of the Shorthorn breed.Trevorgrey,you breed that black rip to 4508 and you will only have to feed the offspring once a week.She will be in good company as well,the grandam of Jake's Proud Jazz was flushed to 4508 a couple weeks ago.

 

[garybob]

Well it is a slow day thought some of you might be interested in these ads from a book called Britain Can breed itpublished July 1949

Maybe this is for the old-timers who can remember, but, everyone talks about how horribly-uddered the Scotch cattle were. I don't see anything wrong with this cow's bag, nor teats.

GB

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

Interesting pics Aussie,certainly shows the diversity of the Shorthorn breed.Trevorgrey,you breed that black rip to 4508 and you will only have to feed the offspring once a week.She will be in good company as well,the grandam of Jake's Proud Jazz was flushed to 4508 a couple weeks ago.

I cant help it, that puts a big smile on my face. ;D I hope the ol girl did them good.

 

[garybob]

Another one

You know, although I currently work for Hiland Dairy Foods/Prairie Farms, Inc., I am not a "dairy" man. However, I must scratch my head on this one. Over 80 pounds of milk and NO...TMR....Zinpro Mineral....Prioity One probiotic....and, she is fleshy and almost beefy. High-input, single-lacation Holsteins with cystic ovaries, hairy heel warts, and displaced abomasums, don't look so appealing to me, anymore.

??? ??? ???
GB

 

[mark tenenbaum]

I have 2 books I bought in a used bookstore in England back in 1978.1:short-horn cattle-by Alvin H Sanders-published 1918  and  50 years of Shorthorns-by Robert Bruce- published 1907- There are what would appear to be some of the first pictures taken of Shorthorn cattle -as far back as the mid 1800s and modern pics-such as the 1898 American Champ hiefer,pics of Ringmaster-3 time international champ-circa 1908 , some of the many Maxwalton Cattle-(the Sullivans of the turn of the century) (lol)etc, The dual cattle pictured from then-are in some cases thicker than the Ayatollah deals of the late 80s-wish I could scan some of these. O0

 

[Okotoks]

Well it is a slow day thought some of you might be interested in these ads from a book called Britain Can breed itpublished July 1949

Maybe this is for the old-timers who can remember, but, everyone talks about how horribly-uddered the Scotch cattle were. I don't see anything wrong with this cow's bag, nor teats.

GB

That cow really does have a nice udder. There were some Scotch bloodlines with very good udders. We had a Bapton Constructor cow and her udder was flawless. I remember Cecil Staples talking about the udders in some of the herds at the same time he purchased the Rockville Clipper cows back in the mid fifties. He said some of the udders were so large that and the legs so short you couldn't get a cake pan under them let alone a small bucket. At the same time some herds like Louada and Remitall had some really great udders. I know some of the Killearn bloodlines had good udders but some not only had bad udders but unfortunately bad dispositions. It wasn't much fun dealing with that combination and a lot of those Killearn bloodlines ended up in commercial herds. It's one of the reasons both my Uncles switched to Black Angus bulls in the late 60's.
Why some of these bloodlines succeeded- the cows were dried off and the calves wet nursed for the show. Good old show ring messing with common sense, who would have thought! At the same time it's one of the reasons I'm a big proponent of cow calf pairs being shown. What's the point of pretty heifers if you can't see what end product factory is going to look like?

 

[Okotoks]

I have 2 books I bought in a used bookstore in England back in 1978.1:short-horn cattle-by Alvin H Sanders-published 1918   and  50 years of Shorthorns-by Robert Bruce- published 1907- There are what would appear to be some of the first pictures taken of Shorthorn cattle -as far back as the mid 1800s and modern pics-such as the 1898 American Champ hiefer,pics of Ringmaster-3 time international champ-circa 1908 , some of the many Maxwalton Cattle-(the Sullivans of the turn of the century) (lol)etc, The dual cattle pictured from then-are in some cases thicker than the Ayatollah deals of the late 80s-wish I could scan some of these. O0

I would love to see some of the photos from the Robert Bruce book if you can ever get a chance to get them scanned!

 

[Aussie]

Hope Mr. Reed you do not mind me posting these pictures on your thread but I was very inpressed with the dairy Shorthorn cow. Here are a few more that I was not going to put on but when Okotoks mentioned Bapton I thought you might like to see these. From The New cyclopedia of Livestock and Complete DoctorPublished 1901. Does go into a lot of history of many breeds. A good read. Hope all of you find them interesting

 

[r.n.reed]

Hope Mr. Reed you do not mind me posting these pictures on your thread but I was very inpressed with the dairy Shorthorn cow. Here are a few more that I was not going to put on but when Okotoks mentioned Bapton I thought you might like to see these. From The New cyclopedia of Livestock and Complete DoctorPublished 1901. Does go into a lot of history of many breeds. A good read. Hope all of you find them interesting

No problem Aussie and all I can say is ''You've Come a Long Way Baby''This guy is more my type!

 

[Okotoks]

Hope Mr. Reed you do not mind me posting these pictures on your thread but I was very inpressed with the dairy Shorthorn cow. Here are a few more that I was not going to put on but when Okotoks mentioned Bapton I thought you might like to see these. From The New cyclopedia of Livestock and Complete DoctorPublished 1901. Does go into a lot of history of many breeds. A good read. Hope all of you find them interesting

No problem Aussie and all I can say is ''You've Come a Long Way Baby''This guy is more my type!

What is the breeding of the white Collynie bull? Is he in the background of your herd?