Heritage/Native Shorthorn Bull Listing

[oakview]

I sold my Leader 9th son a couple of years ago to a gentleman that markets organic beef.  He still has him and is very happy with him.  There's a photo of him on the ASA website.  He has been collected.  I have two sons that I am using.  They seem to be a combination of the things I liked about the Leader 9th bull himself with a little more "look" that I like.  I have used the Leader 9-18 bull for a few years and he is the easiest calving bull I have used along with siring calves with some eye appeal.

As far as what is working for me goes, I have a little of everything.  All I know is that I just turned 65 and need a lot less of it! 

 

[librarian]

The white calf was born breech. I don't know about Felix, but I am very curious about the shape of the calves he will sire. This is a reservation I have and why I say he has a long way to go to prove himself.
Try to remember that I am a producer of grass fed beef. I don't have great grass and I'm not an intensive grazer. My cows are Galloways and Galloway/Shorthorn crosses. The Shorthorn crosses go to my old bull Amos, who was an ET bull from 60's semen. I have calves coming this summer from the DMH Ollie bull that was a Native x Lincoln Red Bull. His dam was a Minn Max daughter.
The Shorthorn maternal genetics in my population have a very long hip. My Galloway cows have a long hip. I won't use a bull with a short hip. I calve on pasture. I have a lot of confidence that the white calf, Snowball, who's sire is a Leader 6th son by a Maid of Promise 189th daughter, is going to work well for me as a maternal bull that I can save Blue Grey F1 cows from. Felix may be a terminal sire for weight gain on mediocre forage. All I know is that he hasn't missed a beat and is getting even fatter on the hay I'm giving him...which is bound to be low protein with our wet Nebraska summer. Will Felix transmit muscle gain on grass or fat gain? Only observation and following through under my own managment will give an answer. Direct marketing of beef is about flavor and tenderness. As long as finish weight at 20 months is 1000 lbs, I'm okay. Dressing % makes or breaks the profit margin. I'm not a superb business person and my goal is to provide holistic nutrition from farm to family. Cat 20 is not what I would consider optimal for the real world- but we don't know what he would look like on pasture after breeding 50 cows. All we can do is try something different. The beauty of a beef business is you can eat the mistakes. What I'm really looking for from Felix is a son out of one of my Amos x Galloway or Ollie x Galloway daughters or Snowball x Galloway daughters. I won't know who compliments the daughters and what the meat is like until I try.

 

[librarian]

"Leader 6th son by a Maid of Promise 189th daughte" I'm supposed to say OUT OF about cows, not BY. Sorry about that.

 

[librarian]

The black cow with white underline is an Amos daughter out of a Galloway cow. She is a terrific F1 cow that raises better calves that my straight Galloway cows from the same cow family. As a calf, Amos was far more like the Felix calf than the Snowball calf. This is what I believe is the real usefulness of using Heritage Shorthorn genetics. Really using the old Shorthorn blood the way it has always been used...for complimentary crosses. I'm very appreciative of the work the Heritage Shorthorn Society is doing to make this possible.

 

[librarian]

CSB has been using a Cat 20 son for several years and there is WHR info on 42 progeny.
https://shorthorn.digitalbeef.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=_animal&file=_animal&animal_registration=4198411
They also have a Leader 21 son in use.
https://shorthorn.digitalbeef.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=_animal&file=_animal&animal_registration=4162147
This is a real world operation in North Dakota and, I think, representative of working Heritage genetics x environmental interactions.

My Felix calf is by a Weston Resource son, but he is 3/8 Cat 20 by pedigree...I think. Adding up the percentages gets confusing.
I can't find a photo of Weston Resource. Does anyone have a picture of him? Thanks.

 

[oakview]

You are a prime example of a breeder utilizing the genetics available to produce what works for them.  More power to you. 

 

[Heritage Shorthorn]

Shorthorn Country October 1981  Page C-4  Western Resource

 

[librarian]

Thanks! I could not be more pleased  to find out what Weston Resource looked like and on pasture to boot!

 

[librarian]

I confess the way this calf is gaining condition is blowing my mind. I'm so happy I was able to get ahold of him before he was put on a "development ration". Whatever he grows into will be breeding, not feeding.

 

[beebe]

I love the heart girth.  It is better than I remember.  I liked him back in the day but I didn't remember that much chest.

 

[librarian]

I love the heart girth.  It is better than I remember.  I liked him back in the day but I didn't remember that much chest.

DMH Mr T is the Resource son. His calves looked good. Now that I see Resource, I may do a half sib mating from Mr T. Its neat that you saw the Weston herd for yourself.

 

[beebe]

Doc was a friend of mine.  I worked for him a little, I learned a lot.  I had four Weston bulls.  My taste in cattle has changed.  In the 70s I would have liked less front than Resource shows in that picture.  Now that I am in the grass finished beef business I think that is spot on.

 

[RyanChandler]

Good looking deep bodied bull but I think most of what you see up front is just dewlap.

 

[beebe]

Yes there is plenty of that but what I am talking about is from the shoulder blades down to just behind the front legs.  In the 70s I would have said he was a little out of balance, now I think that is a phenotype that I would like to work with.  I can put up with a little extra skin on the front.

 

[oakview]

He has the appearance of many of the dual purpose bulls of his day.  After looking up the pedigree, I see why. 

 

[idalee]

Weston Resource -  45 registered calves,  3 birth weights,  2 weaning weights,  1 yearling weight.  Wow!  No wonder EPD's have a dismal reputation.  No data becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

 

[Willow Springs]

Weston Resource -  45 registered calves,  3 birth weights,  2 weaning weights,  1 yearling weight.  Wow!  No wonder EPD's have a dismal reputation.  No data becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Considering that he only has three offspring born in the 2000's and the rest in the early 1980's (one in 1989) would most of his offspring have not been born be prior to any type EPD system? In those days birth weight sometimes got recorded on papers and occasionally weaning weight but that wasn't very common in any breed back then and those numbers wouldn't have necessarily been transferred through from old pedigree systems to the new ones; not that it would matter without having proper management groups.

 

[Okotoks]

Weston Romeo was one of my favourite bulls, I saw him at Weston in 1978 as an aged bull but he still had lots of muscle and very long hip. He was a TPS Coronet Leader 21st son.

 

[beebe]

Of the four bulls that I had from Weston my favorite was a Romeo son.

 

[oakview]

Romeo was one of my favorites, also.  For those of you with old Shorthorn Worlds, look up Weston White Count and Weston Independence.  Mike Studer showed those bulls for Doc Nold.  White Count won Chicago and Independence was at least a class winner.  Two more of my favorite Weston bulls, both Leader 21 sons, I believe.