Conley bred angus bulls

[bluffcountrycattle]

Since we got a lot of mixed reviews on the Lutton cattle, and no confirmation yet on how Aberdeen turned out as a mature bull, I'll throw out another group of angus bulls in the mix for my AI plans for next spring.  What is everyone's thoughts on the Conley bred bulls?  That would include BC Lookout, BC Marathon, BC Matrix, BC Raven, BC Big Daddy, BC Rocket 44 and a few others.  I have seen a few calves, and have some reports from others, but was wondering what your thoughts were?  Good, bad, strengths, and weaknesses? 

 

[Cattledog]

I have some Marathon calves and they are flat good!  They have style and thickness.  You may want to breed him to some deeper bodied females.  Not  a huge deal but  I just wouldn't breed him to a weiner gutted cow. 

The report on Raven is for the most part good but have heard that they are harder appearing and a little courser boned. 

Lookouts get a little too small for me.  If you like them smaller he is your bull.  He makes them nice.  They have volume, thickness, and style.

I don't like Matrix.  Every calf that I see out of him had a ton of front and they just don't possess much width of base.

I haven't seen any calves out of Big daddy or rocket. 


I know that I get a little crazy about how females perform after the showring, but I have seen some marathon bred heifers and I like them.

 

[Cattledog]

I can't believe that this topic hasn't received more attention.  I know that my beloved angus breed isn't the most popular on here but some of these bulls have a real place in the clubby side of things as well.

 

[KYsteer]

Marathon is an excellent bull to breed to smaller, soggy, clean made females.  He can really power one up for an angus bull, but don't expect him to put a rocket front on them because he won't. 

Lookout will put thickness and style.  Like Legend he will add body and flank and moderate frame.  I would not expect the Lookouts to be quite as small as the Legends when mature as the Mignonne cow is quite large compared to Legends dam who is very small.

Big Daddy is a new bull for this year.  The people at Limestone say that he is the best bull phenotypically that they have seen.  Everyone else who has seen him has nothing but praise for the bull.  I sampled him this fall and am looking forward to how they turn out.

Matrix is a bull that I would just label as frail.  Not much else to say there, just look at some of his calves for proof.

 

[Cattledog]

Marathon is an excellent bull to breed to smaller, soggy, clean made females.   He can really power one up for an angus bull, but don't expect him to put a rocket front on them because he won't. 

Lookout will put thickness and style.  Like Legend he will add body and flank and moderate frame.  I would not expect the Lookouts to be quite as small as the Legends when mature as the Mignonne cow is quite large compared to Legends dam who is very small.

Big Daddy is a new bull for this year.  The people at Limestone say that he is the best bull phenotypically that they have seen.  Everyone else who has seen him has nothing but praise for the bull.  I sampled him this fall and am looking forward to how they turn out.

Matrix is a bull that I would just label as frail.  Not much else to say there, just look at some of his calves for proof.

All of our Marathons have really nice fronts but I am a stickler on front ends when I select show heifers.  Everyone I have talked to has told me that he doesn't make anything worse but he probably won't help out a trashy fronted one.  Marathons do have a little size and that is why I like them.  I am not a big fan of pud cows.

I have seen some Lookout bred heifers and they are the complete opposite of big.  A lot of people call them moderate.  I think that may be a little generous.  He isn't passing on much of the Mignonne cows size.  BTW, I did see her when she was shown as a cow calf and that was one big girl.  She was really good but also REALLY big.

 

[bluffcountrycattle]

Has anyone seen the Rocket 44 bull that is at Genex, or any of his offspring?  He would be a Matrix son, and a maternal brother to Marathon and Lookout.  Thought he might be a bit easier calving than Marathon, a bit stouter than Matrix, and bit bigger than Lookout.  Opinions?  Here are his pics...first as a yearling and then the updated 2 year old photo off the CRI site...

 

[Cattledog]

Has anyone seen the Rocket 44 bull that is at Genex, or any of his offspring?  He would be a Matrix son, and a maternal brother to Marathon and Lookout.  Thought he might be a bit easier calving than Marathon, a bit stouter than Matrix, and bit bigger than Lookout.  Opinions?  Here are his pics...first as a yearling and then the updated 2 year old photo off the CRI site...

Well, since I don't really care for Matrix I won't be using Rocket unless I see calves that are good.  Take a look at Big Daddy, I have been checking him out since KYSteer talked about him and found some evidence that he might be able to work on heifers.  Don't use Marathon on heifers!  We had a couple of  big ones out of him.

 

[bluffcountrycattle]

Here is a picture of a Rocket 44 heifer calf selling in the upcoming Duff sale.  What do you think of her?  I realize the bull is half the equation, but she's not too shabby...  Also, what is the evidence you have on Big Daddy being a heifer bull?  I heard he was really wide and massive...just doesn't seem possible to use him on heifers.

 

[KYsteer]

Big Daddy is a +2.2 for Birth and a 5 for CE.  These numbers right now put him in a cow or heifers with caution category.  I am only using him on cows till I get more accuracy on him.  I would not really use the wide or massive argument against a heifer bull.  Legend is in no way narrow, and he calves as easy as anything we have used.  The data right now says possibly on heifers so time will tell.

 

[Cattledog]

Lookout is a really wide bull and those calves come right out.  So, I don't put much stock in the theory on really thick bull not being heifer bulls.  I agree with KYSteer about Big Daddy.  He could possibly be bred to heifers but his accuracy isn't really high yet.  One bull that could look at that I have used quite a bit is SAV Bismark 5682.  His calves have been making waves in the Angus circles for style.  Supposedly, some people think that he could be the best show producing bull since Saugahatchee.  Alot of this is probably just talk but I have seen some really nice Bismark calves.  He would give you the calving ease you desire and he also is a wider based bull.  Don't know why I didn't think of this earlier.

 

[Cattledog]

Just wanted to let you know that the Angus EPDS have been updated.  BC Big Daddy now has a BW EPD of  -.1.  His CED is 11 so it looks like he may become a calving ease sire after all.  His accuracy is .46 so it isn't a complete certainty......but I think you would be safe.

 

[bluffcountrycattle]

I noticed that as well!  I see Lookout also got a bump in growth and has a nice spread birth to yearling.  I think Raven might of moderated just a little on growth, but kind of a mute point based on their accuracies just yet.  Might have to give one of them a try...now to pick just one!

 

[Cattledog]

I noticed that as well!  I see Lookout also got a bump in growth and has a nice spread birth to yearling.  I think Raven might of moderated just a little on growth, but kind of a mute point based on their accuracies just yet.  Might have to give one of them a try...now to pick just one!

I am in the same boat of figuring out which one to use!  I love the style of lookout but his stature worries me.  His YH epd is a -.4 which is in direct correlation to size.  I would have to say that my choice is between Big Daddy and Lookout, and am leaning toward Big Daddy.