librarian said:
knabe said:
Actually I wouldn't use ultimate based on the narrow base of his udders and complete lack of circumference around his front rib.
In fact, I would eliminate him.
Well...we haven't seen his 3rd dimension, which is a consideration.
But, its more interesting to look at the bottom side of 12P.
Almost makes me wish it was winter-to sit by the fire and voyage thru the individuals.
Lets talk about HC Trendsetter. Who is Blue Rock Lucky Boy? Are all those great old herd names Canadian?
To me, this is the stuff that gives our breed texture and individuality as well as excellence. I see the breed being boiled down to a few high profile bloodlines instead of al the richness of these pedigrees. But I guess that's the way of the world.
Librarian... you have certainly made me dig back into my memory bank!
First of all, HC Trendsetter 26K was one of the first sons of Ready Go we ever sold. He was born in March, 1978 and we decided to put two weaned sons of Ready Go in our production sale that fall. Trendsetter was the high selling bull in that sale at $3000, which was pretty good money in 1978. He sold to Jim Mouser, Ramsholt Farms, in Southern Alberta.
His dam was a cow named Dreymaur Mona A, and she was a dual purpose Shorthorn cow I purchased in Ontario, from Maurice Knott's herd.
I was fresh out of college, trying to expand my parents herd, and I had mentioned to Bert Pepper, who was the Secretary Manager of the Canadian Shorthorn Association, that I would like to buy a couple good dual purpose cows to add to our herd. One day Bert phoned me and told me that he had just heard that a very good herd of dual purpose cows was for sale. He said I should fly down to Ontario, and he would show me this herd. Two days later, I got on a plane and went to Ontario.( It's funny some of the stuff you remember, but my return plane ticket on Air Canada to Toronto from Regina was $112.00) The next morning we went to see the herd that was for sale, and found out that the owner had sold the entire herd to another person, the night before. This set of cows were absolutely amazing, and I had never seen Shorthorn cows like this before. They were bigger framed, thicker topped and better uddered than any Shorthorns I had ever seen before. I was pretty deflated when I found out that I could not buy any of these cows.
Seeing I was already down there, Bert offered to take me to some other herds. Each barn I walked into, left me in total amazement. Every herd I saw had some of the best cows I had ever seen. I remember phoning my dad after the first day of touring, and I told him about the cows I was seeing. I told him that I could buys some of these cows at pretty reasonable money. Dad told me that if I could buy them reasonably, that I should try to get some, as we were wanting to expand our herd anyways.
When we arrived at Dreymaur Farms, I had already purchased a few cows from other breeders. Maurice Knott was in his barn and had just sorted off 10 cows that he was sending to the kill plant. The truck was already on it's way to haul them to the kill plant. I looked at each of these cows and I was totally impressed with each of them. I asked him why he was selling them, and he said that they were the bottom end of his producing cows and he was trying to improve his milk records. Bert Pepper had told me that if I wanted good cows for a beef herd, that I should buy cows that had about 8000 lbs or less milk production. Each of these 10 cows were right around the 8000 lbs milk production so I asked him what he would sell any of them for? He said he would sell them for $250.00 each as that was all he would get for them from the packing plant. I bought all 10 of these cows and Dreymaur Mona A was included in this group. She was a beautiful cow with a perfect udder and she was apple smooth. The truck arrived to take these cows to market, about 15 minutes after I bought them, and if I had been even an hour later getting there, I would have not even seen them. I ended up buying 31 cows on that trip. The 10 Dreymaur cows were the cheapest ones I got and I paid $1000 for a couple cows in the Seagrave herd, including a cow named Seagrave Royal Sylvia, who was a full sister to Seagrave Royal Sylvia 2nd that was the highest classified Excellent cow in the breed. This cow had been Grand Champion female at the Royal Winter Fair each of the past 3 years. Most of the cows I purchased were in the $300-$400 range. About half these cows acclimatized very quickly to Western Canadian conditions. A few never did and were gone pretty quickly. There were some that were about as tough as anything I ever owned. I doubt if you could have killed a couple of them with an axe. Two of this group produced here for many years. One had her last calf at 20 years of age and then came in open. Another was here until she was here until she was 18.
Blue Rock Lucky Boy must have been a pretty good bull, as his name appeared in the pedigrees of some of the best dual purpose cows I saw on that trip. The Blue Rock herd was in eastern Ontario, and I never visited it, but I heard lots about the great cows they had.
These 31 cows pretty well filled a cattle liner and some of the cows I purchased were heavy in calf so I was concerned about them making the trip. When they arrived here after the 1500 mile trip, two of the cows had baby calves that were born on the truck. They were healthy and had nursed so all was good. I remember paying the trucking company $1400 for the trip, so I got these cows home for approximately $45.00 per cow. Gasoline must have been cheaper in those days... haha!
HC Trendsetter 26K bred very well at Ramsholt Farms, and when they dispersed, many of the high selling animals were either daughters or grand daughters of him. He is one bull that I have oftentimes wished I could find some semen from.
I don't think there are any of these type of females left in the dual purpose branch of the breed. This was pretty well the end of that era, as they had to push milk production to compete in the dairy industry. Today, the remaining herds have very high milk production and the cows resemble other dairy breeds.
:
