OH Breeder said:
ROAD WARRIOR said:
TJ said:
Olson Family Shorthorns said:
Dr. Who vs. Witch Dr.? That's an easy one, at least for me...Dr. Who hands down! Hannibal daughters are just fine from what I've seen. Fat Sally is maternal enough that you could use Naughty Pine or Warrant and still possibly get a viable cow prospect.
If she were mine, it would be between Dr. Who and Hannibal. Looks like Hannibal is popular so far....
He just bought Hannibal, Witch Doctor, WMW & Sin City. I don't know what he already had on hand. We were already talking Witch Doctor, so we will probably stick with him, but I am seriously thinking hard about letting him try Hannibal too. Hannibal was the bull he really wanted to use & his 2nd pick was Witch Doctor. I loved the Witch Doctor idea, so I'd like to at least see how it turns out.
FWIW, I think I may try Dr Who on my fullblood cow that is the dam of my 2 Doc heifers. After I flush her to Doc Holliday, of course.
TJ - I think I read somewhere that there was only something like 2000 full blood females in the U.S. making them somewhat of higher value due to demand. My question being this - why would you breed a full blood female to a "clubbie" bull if the demand for full bloods is as high as it is? Seems like there are already a bunch of show steers produced out of crossbred cows etc. Just wondering the logic. RW
My guess : said you are flushing her to your bull or breeding to your bull as well. So you are trying to capitalize on both markets?
Yes, I am/we are trying to capitalize on both markets. FWIW, she's already been flushed to Doc Holliday twice & to Bluey once. We actually plan on flushing her to fullblood bulls the majority of the time. However, I would like to flush her at least once or twice to "something else" & possibly more than that.
There is also a pretty decent market for the percentage bloods & some of them can sell for pretty decent prices too, especially if they are show quality. A few years ago, a bred 1/2 blood Lowline female sold for $9,600 at Denver... that's not chopped liver! Dori has sold a few 1/2 blood heifers for around $3,000-$3,500 & maybe she has gotten more than that for some of them. Juston Olson & I were priced a 1/2 Lowline X 1/2 Shorthorn heifer for $6,500 this spring. A 1/2 blood Lowline X Red Hot Heifer sold for $4,500 at Kansas City this fall. I was told by another Lowline breeder at Louisville to not to even think about selling my 1/2 Lowline X 1/2 Shorthorn heifer for less than $7,500 & she didn't even win Grand or Reserve. We now not only have percentage bull & percentage heifer shows, but we also now have Lowline steer shows too. The fullblood thing is pretty hot, but the percentage thing has a lot of potential & it's pretty hot too. And I've had 3 people contact me in the last 2 weeks looking for Lowline cross show steers & more than that this fall. I've had several others wanting to buy 1/2 Lowline show heifers for 4H projects. Plus, I want to have some really nice Lowline cross show steers for my nephew & niece to show in a few years.
With all that said, what would I gain by breeding a non-Lowline bull to a crossbred cow? I couldn't register the calves. I couldn't show them at any Lowline show. If I sold a steer & it won a show, I couldn't promote it as a Lowline X that I had raised... I'd be promoting somebody elses genetics. IMHO, a non-Lowline calf would do me zero good. Besides that, if it's not a Lowline X, I don't want it. Somebody else probably would, but not me. I want easier doing, smaller framed, wide topped, thick rumped cattle, with an extremely docile nature & getting that combo in a clubby cross is going to be awfully hard to do unless I use a Lowline.
The guy partnering with me is in the club calf business & has been for a while. He has some good stuff (lots of Maine, Shorthorn, Meyer 734 & OCC breeding) & he wants some Lowline X clubbies too. But, we both also want fullblood babies too.
Anyway, that is why I am wanting to do what I am wanting to do.
