Bull Suggestion

[DLB]

Alrighty, I  have recently purchased a 2 heifers to start breeding to make show cattle.  I have a PB charolais and a GodfatherXChar(she is red).  I am trying to decide what to breed them to for first calves.  I am more concerned with a live baby and momma than the next champion.  I have considered Baldridge Fasttrack for them both.  Have not seen many of his offspring.  The breeder said he liked to use Taz on his heifers.....so that is another highly considered option.  Also, I have looked at a few OCC angus bulls.  Another consideration is Ali.  Any information and opinions are welcome! 

 

[BIGTEX]

I have a heifer bred to Taz and one to OCC Just Right. Good Luck! (welcome)

 

[justme]

Check out Gig. Joe or Major's Money Man.  Great calving ease and the calves have substance.  Plus you can register them as maintainers!

 

[TJ]

Obviously, I don't think that you can go wrong with a Lowline Angus bull.  I've used a Lowline bull on a few Charolais & I had good results.   You'll probably wean a 450-550 lb. calf & you can't beat the calving ease.  The animals can be registered, shown & sold as 1/2 Lowlines.  Quite honestly, you may make as much or more money selling them as 1/2 Lowline Show Calves as you will selling anything else.  With $7 corn, smaller, easier fleshing cattle should become more popular.  Plus, it's extremely hard to beat a bull that has a 40 - 50 lb. birth weight for calving ease.     

RE semen... you got lots of good options. I've got semen on the 3 bulls pictured below.   Dori Steckely, has a good bull in ABF Fitz.  And the Chapman's (Lazy G) have semen on a Red Lowline bull named Bluey.  All 3 of the bulls that I have semen on are 48 - 49 inches tall (That's within a few inches of Jakes Proud Jazz & OCC Anchor).  I believe that Fitz & Bluey are both somewhere around 44 inches tall, so their calves, overall, probably wont be quite as tall as the other 3 bulls.     

Below (in order) are pictures of Doc Holliday, Tigers Eye, Roulette, a Doc Holliday daughter at 2.5 months old, & the Grand Champion Percentage Lowline Bull @ KC.   The American Royal Champion Lowline was a 1/2 Lowline X 1/2 Tarentaise & he had a bw of 64 lbs., a 205 ADJ weight of around 660 lbs., nursing a 1st calf heifer with NO CREEP FEED, on KY fescue.   He's currently working in a commercial herd in Kansas for a guy who bought a total of 6 percentage Lowline bulls from myself & a couple of my Lowline associates.  He wanted more, but I had already sold all of my other weaning age, percentage Lowline blood bulls to a guy in central IL.  There is a market for these Lowlines & there are starting to become several shows for them too.   

I can answer any questions that you may have about Lowlines, but only if you are interested in hearing more.           

 

[TJ]

Oh and BTW, Baldridge Fastrack is a real good Charolais bull.  I can't comment on how consistant he is on calving ease, because I don't know,  but he's a nice bull. 

 

[kanshow]

I am no Charolais expert and won't pretend to be.    We used LT Easy Pro on a couple Char heifers - calves are due in Oct.    I like Baldridge Fastrack but no clue on his CE.    Both of those bulls are sired by LT Unlimited Ease.   A respected Char breeder recommended Easy Pro to us.   

Seems like there was another bull he had recommended but we couldn't locate semen in time.    Doc Silver

 

[C-CROSS]

Watch ali as he can throw rat tails!!!!  We have used total solution with good success on Char X hfrs, we are using Pacesetter on our daughters PB char this year.

 

[farmboy]

you maybe could get by with who or total solution

 

[Joe Boy]

Lifeline really works good on they type of animals you have selected.

 

[Joe Boy]

Giggolo Joe and Smokin Joe are two good ones too.... I will use both this fall....  Triple X would be good too.

 

[DLB]

I have considered Lifeline very heavy.....BUT I am not so confident in his BWs.  I will use him after 1st. calves are born alive and all are well.  I "plan" on breding both girls to Lifeline and Heatwave (or a clone).  Also, if all goes well, I plan on flushing the PB char. to HooDoo for some more PB char females & bulls to get me a good solid foundation of females.

 

[gilbert07]

my heifer i have is out of a baldridge fasttrack son...she is one of the best heifers i have had...fasttrack would be a good option or also LT Bluegrass which is an assertion son...three trees wind is also another good option...have a cow out of him and is a really good momma,,,great wyoming wind son...if you want to see pics of the bulls or my cattle out of them just ask..

 

[dori36]

Alrighty, I  have recently purchased a 2 heifers to start breeding to make show cattle.  I have a PB charolais and a GodfatherXChar(she is red).  I am trying to decide what to breed them to for first calves.  I am more concerned with a live baby and momma than the next champion.  I have considered Baldridge Fasttrack for them both.  Have not seen many of his offspring.  The breeder said he liked to use Taz on his heifers.....so that is another highly considered option.  Also, I have looked at a few OCC angus bulls.  Another consideration is Ali.  Any information and opinions are welcome! 

Of couse, I have to agree w/TJ about using a Lowline bull. For a trouble free calving experience for your first calf heifers, you can't do better than a Lowline, imo. Don't worry about a too small calf as I'm quite sure with your cows you'll get "at least" a good lightweight show calf.  I'll correct TJ just a bit when he says my bull,  ABF Fitz, is 44 inches tall.  Fitz would be considered on the larger side of Lowline bulls and is about 46 to 47 inches.  His best calves have been the percentage ones out of " other breed" cows.  I've posted lots of pics of his show calves here, as well as some of him.  I'd love to send you some semen1  $25/straw with certificates to register a halfblood calf costing and additional $30.  Email me privately ([email protected]) if you want to know more!  Best of luck to you with your good cows!

 

[TJ]

Dori, I appologize if I mispoke about the height of Fitz.  I've never seen him in person, but I would've been willing to take an oath that you told me that he was around 44-45 inches tall.  I also thought that you had posted on the minicattle group about him being a really good "frame reducer" & those people like those 42-44 inch & smaller bulls.  I also thought that was why so many were breeding him to Nevada daughters because they tend to be taller.  Maybe I am totally confused & I have been known to make mistakes.  Also, you know more about your bull than I do & again. I appologize.  The truth is, I have inquired about him several times, not only from you, but from several others wo have seen him/raised his calves, etc. & I honestly had no clue that he was anywhere close to 47 inches tall, it was an honest mistake & now I feel bad.

Nothing at all wrong with Fitz, he's a tremendous bull, but even at 46-47 inches, he is still 1 frame size smaller than Doc, Roulette or Tigers Eye & that was the main point that I was trying to make. 

TJ

 

[dori36]

Dori, I appologize if I mispoke about the height of Fitz.  I've never seen him in person, but I would've been willing to take an oath that you told me that he was around 44-45 inches tall.  I also thought that you had posted on the minicattle group about him being a really good "frame reducer" & those people like those 42-44 inch & smaller bulls.  I also thought that was why so many were breeding him to Nevada daughters because they tend to be taller.  Maybe I am totally confused & I have been known to make mistakes.  Also, you know more about your bull than I do & again. I appologize.  The truth is, I have inquired about him several times, not only from you, but from several others wo have seen him/raised his calves, etc. & I honestly had no clue that he was anywhere close to 47 inches tall, it was an honest mistake & now I feel bad.

Nothing at all wrong with Fitz, he's a tremendous bull, but even at 46-47 inches, he is still 1 frame size smaller than Doc, Roulette or Tigers Eye & that was the main point that I was trying to make. 

TJ

No worries, TJ.  I know you haven't seen him and, yes, I did say he's a frame reducer 'cuz he is!  Especially on fullblood Lowlines except for some particular bloodlines like Nevada and Tequila.  Just an interesting aside, he's going to be 12 this Fall and is out with his 'girls' over at the Hancocks' doing them proud!  No problem with his 'desire' or fertility!!  Gotta love the Lowlines - all of 'em!

 

[TJ]

Dori, just so that you nor anyone else thinks that I just made up the "around 44 inches" number out of the air... this is a post from the Yahoo Miniature Cattle Group, dated June 2. 2004 & post #8618.   



Re: ABF Fitz S219

Thanks, Marlene! He has many calves on the ground being a
nearly 8 year old guy. Most of the calf pics in the Genesis folder
are his (except "His Highness") and the cute heifer calf that
"lindam" posted a few days ago is also his. They are just like
they came out of a cookie cutter - you can spot them across the
field in the herd they're so consistent.

I've never measured him but I'd guess in the 44 inch range.

Dori

I know you said no worries, but again, I apologize for misspeaking, as I never knew that he was a 46-47 inch tall bull.  And I remember what it felt like when I caught wind that some people were spreading a rumor that Doc Holliday was a "short" Lowline around Denver & I was less than enthuised about that.  Especially, when he was atleast 48.5" at that time & might be 49 inches tall by now & especially since Doc would smurf 95+% of all the Lowline bulls in the USA.  I truly didn't want to misinform anyone & feel badly for doing so.  

Anyway, Fitz is a very good bull, irregardless of how tall he is or isn't.  I'm glad that the Hancocks are using Fitz on several animals because I may want to buy a Fitz calf or some Fitz calves from them & the Fitz X Nevada's look promising.   I know both Ed & Susan are very impressed with Fitz, despite also owning a Zeffirelli son that they also are pretty proud of.  And I bet those Fitz X Zeffirelli's are going to be the bomb!! 

And I think you make a great point, you got to love the Lowlines - all of em!"...  FWIW, the overal quality at the Houston Stock Show was downright INSANE!!  Maybe the nicest looking set of cattle that I've ever seen from any breed, at any show, anywhere!!  Including calves sired by, Fitz, Doc, Tigers Eye, Zeffirelli, Yes X 3, Dillan, etc., etc.  The Lowline X Shorthorn heifer Nikki, sired by Buster, was extremely nice too!  Trevor Smith's Lowline X Maine bull, Truman was an eye catcher too.  George Jenkins had a nice 3/4 Lowline heifer that was a Dr Who grandaughter.  Wish that Glen Benjamin's & Janis Black's Lowline X Shorthorn bull, Bruiser had been at Houston, I've heard he's awfully good too.  Anyway, some are taller, some are shorter, but a whole lot of them are really good!! 

I think that several Lowlines will work for "club calves"... I just think that Fitz might require a little bigger cow than Doc, but both bulls should sire exceptional calves.  I was just pointing the height out for informational purposes only.  It's all what the breeder wants to do.  Either way, I don't care which bull they use (I'm about out of semen)... I think that the calves would be nice either way, I just want people to be able to make an informed decision.     

 

[dori36]

<<I know you said no worries, but again, I apologize for misspeaking, as I never knew that he was a 46-47 inch tall bull.  And I remember what it felt like when I caught wind that some people were spreading a rumor that Doc Holliday was a "short" Lowline around Denver & I was less than enthuised about that.  Especially, when he was atleast 48.5" at that time & might be 49 inches tall by now & especially since Doc would smurf 95+% of all the Lowline bulls in the USA.  I truly didn't want to misinform anyone & feel badly for doing so.  >>

....and I'll say it again:  "No worries".  Heck, I've never even measured him so we're all, basically, guessing!  From where I've come from in cattle, knowing their height isn't paramount.  And since we don't have a size requirement for Lowlines (and I hope we never do!), I still don't pay much attention to size unless someone in the miniature cattle world needs to know!  Extreme size on either end is undesirable, imo, no matter the breed.  I'm more interested in efficiency, cutout %, "fits in the box" carcass, grading choice, and a herd that anyone would recognize as what "I" breed .....when I was breeding them!  I fervently believe that Lowline genetics can help a commercial producer reach those goals and a club calf producer add efficiency, hybrid vigor, a fancy, sound, moderate sized show animal.

 

[dori36]

Dori, just so that you nor anyone else thinks that I just made up the "around 44 inches" number out of the air... this is a post from the Yahoo Miniature Cattle Group, dated June 2. 2004 & post #8618.   



Re: ABF Fitz S219

Thanks, Marlene! He has many calves on the ground being a
nearly 8 year old guy. Most of the calf pics in the Genesis folder
are his (except "His Highness") and the cute heifer calf that
"lindam" posted a few days ago is also his. They are just like
they came out of a cookie cutter - you can spot them across the
field in the herd they're so consistent.

I've never measured him but I'd guess in the 44 inch range.

Dori

Sheesh, TJ, the most amazing thing about this whole conversation is that you can even 'find' something I posted 4 years ago!  Wow, I couldn't do that if my life depended on it!!  (clapping) (lol)

 

[JSchroeder]

Do you guys have some examples of steers sired by Lowlines or out of Lowline dams that have won major steer shows that were not restricted to Lowline cattle?

 

[TJ]

Not yet, but maybe soon...   

Keep in mind that we are talking about breeding a "heifer".  I seriously wonder has any 1st calf heifer's own natural calf ever won a major steer show?  Do you know of any?

Oh & btw, I do know for a fact that a Lowline sired heifer calf won her division in the A. O. B. Heifer show at the World Beef Expo last year... and yes, she had competition in both her class & division that were not Lowlines.  Is that close enough?   

Anyway, the O.P. made this statement...

"I am more concerned with a live baby and momma than the next champion."

Sounds like Lowlines to me & you just might get a champion in the process.