justintime
Well-known member
About a year ago, I posted a picture of HC Cruiser 59C and I received a fair bit of abuse including being called a liar etc etc. A couple regulars on this site accused me of tampering with the photo with photoshop. ( obviously they didn't realize that I don't know the first thing about doing that and I have no desire to learn!) Well, here is a picture of him taken last week and here are some facts for you to consider before you tell me what is wrong with him or me!( by the way, he is definitely not perfect, but I think he does have some strong traits) I will also say that these are the actual facts.
1) he was born from a 2 year old heifer unassisted with a BW of 82 lbs.
2) he was our high selling bull in 2016 at $16,500 at 9 months of age. After buying him, the new owners told me that they were surprised they bought him so reasonably. They said they had gone to the sale prepared to go a fair bit higher. One of the reasons they were so high on him was that they were tired of hard calving clubby genetics and having replacement heifers from clubby bulls that didn't milk or had poor fertility. They bought him, to produce show steers and heifers. A week after they purchased him, a leading clubby producer in these parts offered them $16,500 for a 1/2 interest in him. They turned him down as they wanted to have the first calves from him. I was able to get back into him, after the man who purchased him died suddenly, and his wife offered to give me a half interest in him back if I would winter 25 replacement heifers for her. That really was a " no brainer" for me.
3) At 9 months of age, Cruiser had the highest score of all our sale bulls that year in his breeding soundness exam. He tested 93 % at 9 months
4) I bred a few cows and heifers to him from semen I collected before he left here. His first son sold in our sale at $9000 last year, selling to a commercial herd in Manitoba to be used on black cows.
5) I picked Cruiser up on December 12th, 2018 and since arriving here, he has been running on a quarter section with our other herd bull and he has only had a few pounds of bull pellets and hay each day. I know some will say that he is far too fat, but I will assure you that is meat you are looking at in this picture. When I picked him up on December 12th, he had been running with cows on pasture and wheat stubble before that.
6) So far, we have had 12 first calf heifers calve to Cruiser. 100% have calved unassisted with most BWs between 78-88 lbs. We had one calf at 90 lbs last year, but the heifer calved this calf easily.
7) He is without any doubt the widest based bull we have had on this farm in my lifetime. I have had two pretty good cowboys ( that raise some really good Angus) see him recently. One of them said that Cruiser has as much natural muscle as any bull of any breed he has seen. The other guy said he ranked him as one of the best beef bulls he has seen of any breed.
8) He has great feet and is structurally sound. His feet are perfectly formed and I would be very surprised if he will ever need to have his feet trimmed.
9) since picturing him last week, I have had two inquiries from cattlemen who don't even raise Shorthorns, to buy into him, as well as numerous requests for semen. We have not collected semen other than the few straws of " in herd use " semen I collected when he was a year old.
So far, I am pleased with the calves I have had from him. He downsizes frame and adds thickness, without slowing performance. I have a couple coming two year old daughters to calve in April. They look like the right kind. We are selling 5 sons in our March 5th Sun Country sale. All were born from first calf heifers and all were unassisted at birth. We are also selling two replacement heifers sired by Cruiser as well.
I have also attached a picture of his first son we have sold. HC Enforcer 60E. He sold for $9000 at 11 months of age and went to a commercial producer.
1) he was born from a 2 year old heifer unassisted with a BW of 82 lbs.
2) he was our high selling bull in 2016 at $16,500 at 9 months of age. After buying him, the new owners told me that they were surprised they bought him so reasonably. They said they had gone to the sale prepared to go a fair bit higher. One of the reasons they were so high on him was that they were tired of hard calving clubby genetics and having replacement heifers from clubby bulls that didn't milk or had poor fertility. They bought him, to produce show steers and heifers. A week after they purchased him, a leading clubby producer in these parts offered them $16,500 for a 1/2 interest in him. They turned him down as they wanted to have the first calves from him. I was able to get back into him, after the man who purchased him died suddenly, and his wife offered to give me a half interest in him back if I would winter 25 replacement heifers for her. That really was a " no brainer" for me.
3) At 9 months of age, Cruiser had the highest score of all our sale bulls that year in his breeding soundness exam. He tested 93 % at 9 months
4) I bred a few cows and heifers to him from semen I collected before he left here. His first son sold in our sale at $9000 last year, selling to a commercial herd in Manitoba to be used on black cows.
5) I picked Cruiser up on December 12th, 2018 and since arriving here, he has been running on a quarter section with our other herd bull and he has only had a few pounds of bull pellets and hay each day. I know some will say that he is far too fat, but I will assure you that is meat you are looking at in this picture. When I picked him up on December 12th, he had been running with cows on pasture and wheat stubble before that.
6) So far, we have had 12 first calf heifers calve to Cruiser. 100% have calved unassisted with most BWs between 78-88 lbs. We had one calf at 90 lbs last year, but the heifer calved this calf easily.
7) He is without any doubt the widest based bull we have had on this farm in my lifetime. I have had two pretty good cowboys ( that raise some really good Angus) see him recently. One of them said that Cruiser has as much natural muscle as any bull of any breed he has seen. The other guy said he ranked him as one of the best beef bulls he has seen of any breed.
8) He has great feet and is structurally sound. His feet are perfectly formed and I would be very surprised if he will ever need to have his feet trimmed.
9) since picturing him last week, I have had two inquiries from cattlemen who don't even raise Shorthorns, to buy into him, as well as numerous requests for semen. We have not collected semen other than the few straws of " in herd use " semen I collected when he was a year old.
So far, I am pleased with the calves I have had from him. He downsizes frame and adds thickness, without slowing performance. I have a couple coming two year old daughters to calve in April. They look like the right kind. We are selling 5 sons in our March 5th Sun Country sale. All were born from first calf heifers and all were unassisted at birth. We are also selling two replacement heifers sired by Cruiser as well.
I have also attached a picture of his first son we have sold. HC Enforcer 60E. He sold for $9000 at 11 months of age and went to a commercial producer.
