calving ease simmental bullp

[djbsimmy]

Looking for some recommendations.  I'd prefer the bull be homozygous black,  purebred, decent EPD's.  To be used on 30 open heifers that are 3/4 sim 1/4 angus.  Want to produce functional calves that can either be kept as replacements or perform in the feedlot. Right now I'm considering TNT Ever Ready or Sand Ranch Hand.  What do ya'll think.

 

[Simmgal]

Some off of the top of my head would be GW Lucky Man, SS Ebony's Grandmaster, and some of the older ones like Shear Force or Legacy G151. Grandmaster and Ranch Hand can have some calves that may not grow quite like you would want them to, but they have good milk EPD'S if you are concerned about numbers. The other bulls make good replacement females, and Lucky man has good replacements and carcass cattle which seems to be what you are looking for. He is a little dated and you can find his semen cheaper than most bulls. I have some bred to him for next fall. I think there might be a few more good ones, but I need to think a little. Also you could try some Simangus if you want them to not be purebred. There is an endess lost of simangus calving ease bulls that can do what you are looking for.

 

[Till-Hill]

Jumpstart would be my pick all the way. He is at Select.

 

[SSIMMENTALS]

If functional,growthy,and easy calving are your requirements it is going to be hard to beat GW Lucky Break. They won't be pretty,pretty show calves, but they will come easy, be black and polled, sound, stout,easy doing, and grow like a bad weed.

 

[firesweepranch]

Your going to get a lot of opinions, which is good. If I had a bunch of heifers to breed, and was not concerned about the showy aspect but just wanted some good grow calves that have a potential for keeper heifers, I would only go with a Shear Force son or Shear Force himself. Plenty of them out there, a few I really like are Pacesetter and Beef Maker. We have several in production here, a Shear Force daughter that weans off a huge calf every year and has a perfect udder, and a Pacesetter daughter that has won a bunch shown as a pair last year. She also has a perfect udder. We also have a Pacesetter heifer we are showing next year, she is not going to win anything major, but she is a darn good one that has the perfect attitude for a young showman like my daughter. They are great with docility, and EPD's are the tops. We bred an Angus heifer to Beef Maker a few weeks ago, major calving ease there.

 

[djbsimmy]

I think the Pacesetter bull is a viable option, I wish he was homo black.  My concern with Grandmaster is growth but these are good sized heifers that should contribute to growth from the cow side.  Regarding Lucky Break and Lucky Man...does one of them carry the spotting gene?

 

[Mark H]

Another option to consider is Triple C Bettis: http://www.semex.com/di/beef/i?lang=en&beef=view&breed=SI&av=U&view=199
What is the breeding on these heifers?

 

[Steve123]

TNT Ever Ready, He is an older bull that ABS has. I had forgotten about him until I saw several at the CowTime Sale. Not too shabby ranch raised breds.

http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/simmental.asp?CodTouro=29SM0417
A Rising Star
•Homozygous black, homozygous polled
•Excellent multi-trait genetics ranking in the top 10% for API and top 4% for TI
•Excellent choice on heifers
•Calving ease plus excellent style and muscle expression
•Unique sire for both Marbling and REA

 

[djbsimmy]

About half are out of a Mo Better son, then there are a few Goldmine, R&R Warehouse and Ruby's Throwdown.  I do have 10 straws of Triple C Singletary which is a full brother to Bettis, I haven't used either one before.

 

[WKYIronMike]

I wouldn't might trying out the new Shear Force son Long's Shear Envy Y34 or possibly an older ago bull like Power Source 070K or if I wanted to try a blaze face maybe PRS Blazin Hot or WAGR Dream Catcher. I've got a 1/2 blood coming due to Bettis in January, keeping my fingers crossed for good weather and a nice healthy calf. Good luck with your choices there are plenty of nice simmental bulls in the breed.

 

[Mark H]

For a very light birth weight EPD bull consider OLF Odin U5.  For some of the bigger growthy heifers I would look at MLC Mr. Justice.

 

[Davidsonranch]

A good friend of mine did just this a couple years ago and found that Antoinette's Star gave him the best replacement heifers and the steers did really well for the feed lot.  He does have some white on his face.  Just a thought and something different.  He is now breeding some of those Star females to a bunch of different bulls with great luck.

 

[djbsimmy]

I just looked up the Star bull, thank you very much for that suggestion! I really like him

 

[djbsimmy]

Has anyone tried Duracell?

 

[leanbeef]

I think the Pacesetter bull is a viable option, I wish he was homo black.  My concern with Grandmaster is growth but these are good sized heifers that should contribute to growth from the cow side.  Regarding Lucky Break and Lucky Man...does one of them carry the spotting gene?

Lucky Man is a spot gene carrier, as are Lucky Dice and Lucky Strike. Lucky Break, to my knowledge, is a non-spotter.

We had a few Bettis calves, and some were pretty decent. My biggest complaint with him is that the calves aren't as uniform as I would like. It's hard to know what to use him on because he doesn't do the same thing in every mating. I haven't bunch of Singletarys, but I like them better. He was my choice of the sites at the Triple C dispersal, and we have our first ones on the ground this fall. I like that bull, but he does have a little more birth weight than Bettis.

I like the "Olie" stuff pretty well. Long bodied, thick muscled, structurally correct, and nice daughters. Calving ease, growth, carcass, and disposition is all acceptable, too. We have a son that was 3C's Lot 1 bull in 2009, and we're very pleased with what he's doing. Blazin Hot also does a nice job if you're interested in baldies. He won't throw a high percentage on black cows, but there is the potential for some, and I haven't seen a lot of excessive chrome out of him if that's a concern.

I also liked our Tanker calves, and he'll do what you're looking for. I've always kinda had Ever Ready on my list, but we've never used him. His growth EPDs just fall short when the planned matings start stacking up. Not particularly a fan of Grandmaster or Ranch Hand, but I guess a lot of people like those bulls.

 

[djbsimmy]

These girls are due to calve in 2 weeks. They are sisters to the open heifers I  have, just to give you anan idea what they look like.  Leabeef, how is Tanker on heifers? I was planning on using him on cows

 

[leanbeef]

We didn't use Tanker on any heifers...just cows. Birth weights were all moderate with no problems, but they're not those fine-boned, sliver type of calves like some of the "heifer bulls" out there. The calves have a little more bone & dimension from Day 1. They'll also have a little bit of front end. I'd use him on cleaner fronted cows and cows that could use a little rib or moderation. I really like the Singletary bull pretty well.