JDMC Big Sky

[shortybreeder]

I apologize if there is already a thread on this bull, but for some reason the search bar doesn't seem to be working.

Has anyone used this bull on heifers? His EPDs seem to look good enough to be heifer-safe, but I was wondering if anyone here had personal experience with using him on heifers.

 

[mbigelow]

I have not used the bull but he does have an actual bw of 102.  Which, may not be conducive to crossing with some genetics for first calf heifers.  All of his progeny appear to be lower bw then himself.

 

[shortybreeder]

Thank you, I didn't even think to look at his individual performance data. The heifers I'd be looking to use him on were 70-78lbs by Homedale Creole 135, Homedale Discovery, and Saskvalley Outlaw.

 

[kiblercattle]

Not trying to get off topic but I have always liked creole. What can you tell me about him? Pictur s of his daughters)

 

[shortybreeder]

Not trying to get off topic but I have always liked creole. What can you tell me about him? Pictur s of his daughters)

I have seen a lot of good daughters out of him at Franks and around MN, and in my personal use (sample size <10 calves) the bull calves have been even better than the heifers. I sold a heifer sight-unseen to Michigan a couple years ago solely on the basis of her being a 135 daughter, and the buyer has been very happy with her. She calved at I want to say 22-23 months and is doing very well for them raising a Sask. Yesterday calf. I had another 135 heifer I kept and sent to Frank's to be bred by Discovery, and one of his visitors tried to buy her out of his pasture. They have enough performance for sure.
I had one bull calf a few years ago that I should've left intact, but it was my last year of 4H, so I cut him in order to show a home-bred steer. I didn't do any hair work (so he had about as much hair as a dairy steer at the summer shows), and I had several people stop in their tracks when they saw him at different shows to ask about his pedigree. He won grand champion Rate of Gain at our county fair with 3.77lbs/day, and he weighed in at 1290 lbs at 12.5 months of age. The other bull calf I left intact turned out very nice, and passed his semen test before he was 11 months old. He was breeding cows alongside mature herd bulls at 12 months of age, and when I checked in with the buyer after the breeding season he had no complaints, saying the bull made it through just fine. I should also add that the buyer runs his own feedlot, and has been using exclusively Angus and Simmental bulls until he bought this bull.

I did have 1 cow family that didn't seem to knick with him at all, but they didn't knick with anything and are all gone now. Otherwise I've had good luck with him on both my purebred and commercial cows--I even registered a 50% Plus daughter of his out of one of my commercial cows because I feel she's the best calf I produced this year, and I'm planning on breeding up to purebred with her as the base.