We may have to consider collecting Mist's Return again as there have been a few requests from the US and also from Ireland. Apparently the Irish breeders are looking for some original Irish Bloodlines. The Deerpark herd is basically gone now. John Maloney's Highfield herd is now gone, and it was the biggest herd in Ireland with well over 150 cows at one time. A few years ago, the Highfield herd was almost entirely lost when Brucellosis broke out in Ireland. Several other herds had high depopulation rates as well. If we decide to recollect Mist's Return, it will not be until next fall as there is not enough time now before breeding season to get him tested and cleared for US qualified semen.
Mist's Return is not a big bull, and he is one of the most unusual bulls I have seen from the Irish lines. He is moderate framed, and quite thick made. He is a dream bull to use on heifers as his calves have the shortest gestation length I have ever seen in a Shorthorn bull. In two years of using him on our heifers, we have not assisted a birth from him. His calves are also very moderate in frame, and they have crazy amounts of hair. Last night I had a heifer calve to him. I checked her at 11:30 pm and I knew that she was thinking of calving, so I snoozed on the couch for awhile and checked again at 1:30 am, and the calf was running around the pen and had already sucked the heifer out. That is the way I like to calve heifers.
Mist's Return is sired by Highfield Irish Mist, who also had a shorter gestation length than some other bulls, but I do not think he was as short as his son 13R. When we were running both Irish Mist and Duke of Dublin as herd sires, there was 12 days difference between them on gestation length, with Mist being the shortest of the two.
Irish Mist was sired by Deerpark Leader 18th and his dam was Highfield Una 3rd. Una 3rd was a white cow that I will never forget. I never saw her in person, but I saw several pictures of her and she was one beautiful cow. She had an absolutely perfect udder, and this is probably why Irish Mist cleaned up some of the worst udders here in Canada. Back in that day, there were still some of those really bad udders in some herds, yet I never saw an Irish Mist daughter with a poor udder.
Over the years, I have had many herd bulls on this place, but I consider Irish Mist to be a once in a lifetime bull. He was a bull that could breed an incredible number of females each year. He often settled over 100 cows a breeding season, as three of us were using him . One of my partners, moved to northern BC so some years he would settle over 100 cows with a 1100 mile trip in the middle of the breeding season. At age 13, he could walk with any bull around, and he still looked about 5 years old. He actually looked much better after he got to be about 10 years old. We lost him in his 13th year, with a twisted gut. He died on the operating table at the Vet college in Saskatoon, of a massive heart attack , while the surgery was taking place. Irish Mist had perfect feet, and never was trimmed. Feet were one of the major issues with many Irish cattle.Even today, some of the best cattle I find in Canada have Irish Mist woven into their pedigrees numerous times. For exampple, our Saskvalley Pioneer 126P bull, who was 2006 Canadian National Champion, has Irish Mist 8 times in his extended pedigree. He also has Huberdale Mastercharge 8 times in his pedigree and Ready Go 7 times. Mastercharge was sired by Deerpark Improver 52nd, who was a full brother to the 57th.
Deerpark Leader 18th was a great female sire. Deerpark Leader 18th and Deerpark Leader 4th are in my opinion, the best two Irish bulls from the Deerpark Leader line. I saw Leader 18th many times when he was at Ron Hofstrand's in N Dakota. He was an old bull then but he really worked in this herd. Leader 18th stamped his calves alike, and he probably sired better females than bulls. There were some sons of Leader 18th that really helped some herds though. It is very unfortunate that Leader 18th did not come to North America sooner, as he arrived near the end of the Irish era. By the time his calves hit the ground here, we were starting into the Ayatollah period when frame was all that mattered. In some ways Leader 18th cattle got lost in the craze for sheer size.
Deerpark Improver 2 ( Guinness) was a good bull and he appears in the pedigree of many good cattle. Guinness had some birth weight issues , but not all his calves had big birth weights. He was maybe a more hit and miss sire in regards to birth weights of his calves and in the quality of his calves. When you found a good Guinness calf, it was usually really good. Some of his offspring were a little coarser made, but there certainly were some excellent cattle sired by him. Guiness himself was one of the better looking Irish sires but sometimes his calves looked like they had been made in a blacksmith shop.... or built by a committee. Again, even today, you will find Guinness in the background of many very good cattle.
