RODAK

[librarian]

I would love to see some photos of animals from the Rodak herd. Thanks.

 

[oakview]

Lots of photos in my Shorthorn magazines.  He used some Weston bulls and at one time owned Deerpark Leader 18th.  The only actual photo of Leader 18th I've seen is where he has his head down in the grass.  I do like the Leader 18th females in my herd, wish I had more of them.  Wollesons in Iowa purchased Rodak Model Defender from Ron and he was a very good bull.  There are 3 photos of Leader 18th calves and the old bull himself on page 125 of the 1981 Herd bull edition of Shorthorn Country.  I also have an old sale catalog with several Rodak cattle pictured.  I'll try my best.....

 

[oakview]

Golden Opportunity sale catalog (Rodak, Weston, and Dauland) is in the October, 1979 issue of Shorthorn Country.  Email?  I can send the whole thing if you want it.  Remember there weren't as many photos back then, but there are a few Rodak heifer calves and several Weston bred cows.  I would guesstimate 90% of the sale offering is of Weston breeding. 

 

[librarian]

Golden Opportunity sale catalog (Rodak, Weston, and Dauland) is in the October, 1979 issue of Shorthorn Country.  Email?  I can send the whole thing if you want it.  Remember there weren't as many photos back then, but there are a few Rodak heifer calves and several Weston bred cows.  I would guesstimate 90% of the sale offering is of Weston breeding.

Oakview, that would be so interesting to see. I will PM you. Even if you just take a picture of a picture and send it Ill be so happy.
Even though I now own a son of Weston Surprise the 14th, I don’t really understand the phenotype of WS14, now that I found a photo of him. I was expecting him to be more like Weston Trademark III, or Dynamo or even more dual like Resource. WS14 looks more like a Rick Pisaturo bull or something. Any insight?

 

[oakview]

Frosty Acres pretty much did their own thing back in the day.  The way I understand it, pretty commercial oriented.  The Surprise cattle never really took off, perhaps because the Leader line dominated so much and then the duals hit.  I have little or no experience with the Frosty acres cattle.  I don't know if the 14th's pedigree is accurate or not, I guess I have to assume it is.  Waukaru had Weston Surprise 11th, I think, and I really liked his photo, but haven't seen him in any of their pedigrees lately that I know of.  I remember an old photo in a Frosty Acres ad and the bull pictured was very heavily muscled.  Might have been FA Warrior.  I'll try to find it. 

 

[oakview]

Found the photo of FA Warrior 41st I was thinking about on the HSS website.  I should have known to look there first.  Muscle, muscle, muscle, almost Belgian Blue like.

 

[librarian]

Yes...Weston Surprise was a son of FA Cadet 20D, who was a son of FA Warrior 41st. I have to say Myostatin came to mind when looking at the muscling of these bulls. Personally, I follow the philosophy of avoiding extreme phenotypes, so I’m thinking hard about this. Looking at the progeny of Weston Surprise 14th’s dam is very interesting. She was also the dam of Cumberland Gay Lad. You can see Nold tried the Galaxy mating 3 times and the Cadet mating twice. And yes...I’ve read the old posts about conflicting and inconsistent pedigrees and can’t do anything about that. What we do know is that the Weston herd included some very functional cattle. I’m just trying to sort them. Photo of FA Warrior 41st and photo of the progeny of Weston Surprise 14th’dam. I’ll look around for a picture of Cumberland Gay Lad. This relates to RODAK because I see that name a lot in Weston progeny.
For what it’s worth, my bull is more dual purpose looking...Haumont on the bottom side.

 

[librarian]

Cumberland Gay Lad from HHFS site. I have to say I prefer this bull and the TPS cross.