librarian said:
i see a Beowulf son.
Is THE Cumberland Gay Lad the sire of Lot 27?
I am going to have to check this out, but I think there may be an error in the article about Cumberland Gay Lad, in that I do not remember him being a herd sire at Harold Bateman's Bonnyview herd. When Bateman's dispersed their herd, we purchased about half the cows and there wasn't any Gay Lad breeding in the cows they had. If he was at Batemans, it was only for a brief period of time, as I am pretty sure Gay Lad was a two year old when I first saw him at Charlie Campbells. If memory serves me correctly, Gay Lad went directly to Charlie Campbell and the Mortons. I saw him walking in those herds for many years. We thought he was a huge bull at the time, but I think he would be considered pretty moderate framed today. He was massive in his design- thick and deep sided and his offspring were the same. They were pretty easy fleshing, which is another excellent trait, however, we have produced 2 Gay Lad sons in the past few years and I have been a little disappointed with the ultrasound results. Marbling was pretty decent but not as high as I had hoped for, and ribeye area very marginal at best. Despite this, I do believe these genetics can be a very useful tool to use. I still have a few vials of Gay Lad semen that I will eventually use in a flush, if I can ever decide on what donor to mate with him. Coyote beat me to the stashe, and bought all the remaining Gay Lad semen and he is being very unneighbourly and will not share it!