I have a cane of Hub's Director semen that I have been wanting to use for awhile. I also have some semen from a few other bulls from the 60s and early 70s. I also have semen from a few of the older Lincoln Red sires from this era as well ( Gotho Signal 3rd, Claydene Ever Reddy, etc) I have some older Dual Purpose Shorthorn semen from bulls like Meadowbrook Prince 16th, Meadowbrook Roan Chief, Seagrave Royal Imperial, Green Row Dominator ( a paternal brother to Canadian Image ). As I said earlier in this thread, some of the bulls from this era, are useful tools when combined with genetics from today. Some are definitely not useful. I keep thinking that there was a reason that Shorthorns in the late 60s and early 70s lost favor in the beef industry and we should remember this. I think part of the reasons for this, was the poor carcass traits and Shorthorns were being discounted by the feedlot buyers and the packers at that time. I still have the carcass data we collected from our feedlot on Shorthorn and Shorthorn crosses from the 70s and quite honestly, they were pretty terrible results. I can certainly see why the packers didn't like them. This certainly wasn't true with all of the Shorthorns in that era, but the trick is to know which ones will work today. I think we should be very proud of the way Shorthorn breeders have improved the carcass traits on many of today's Shorthorn cattle without losing most of the maternal traits the breed is also famous for. Shorthorns today can compete with most any breed when it comes to carcass quality, feedlot gain and feed efficiencies. We all need to realize the incredible product we have and promote it as such.
When I was 15 years old, I took a bus and travelled 600 miles to work for a few weeks at one of the biggest names in the Shorthorn breed at that time in Canada. I will never forget the first job I was given on arriving there. I was teamed with another young guy who was working there, and we were given bottles of disinfectant and we went through the pasture and one of us would pull the large lumps of fat around the tail heads of some of the cows while the other one would pour the disinfectant in between the big fat patches. The smell will stay with me till I die. Some of these cows actually had maggots and rotten flesh between the gobs of fat. Not all the cows were like this, but there was far too many of them for my liking. The waste on some of these cows had to be enormous. I am also reminded of having the opportunity to visit with Donald and Diana McGillvary in Scotland 5 years ago. Their Calrossie herd was world famous in the 50s and 60s and they sold bulls in Perth Scotland in those days that brought incredible prices. Both were in their late 80s when I visited with them and we had a great visit about all the cattle I remembered from my childhood. At one point, I asked Donald if he thought there were any Shorthorns left that could be traced back directly to the Calrossie herd from that era. Without any thought, he said " I hope to Hell, there are none". He then went on to explain how wrong they had been in chasing fads during the Shorthorn hey days of that era. He said that they never tried to produce cattle that would be useful to the industry down the line. He also said that his biggest regret was that some of the cattle he had bred were part of the reason Shorthorn popularity spiralled downward until the breed was placed on the endangered breed list in Britain. They remained there for several years but in recent years, they have now become one of the fastest growing breed in Britain today. Breeders are using the best Shorthorn genetics they can get from around the world. They are raising different types of Shorthorns today than we are here in North America, but they are breeding cattle that are wanted in their marketplace. I saw many Shorthorns when I was over there that I would not use here, but I also saw some that I would have loved to use. I also think it is important that we do not consider the type of cattle being produced in other countries to be the wrong type. They may be wrong for what you are trying to produce, but they may be exactly the type their market is seeking. I am going back again this summer and I am looking forward to seeing them again.
