Steel Force VS. UPGRADE

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andholl

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Aug 17, 2011
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I've been looking at two pb simmental bulls, SVF Steel Force S701 VS. MR NLC UPGRADE U8676, to flush a pb Simmental to. Any thoughts?
 

wws85

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Aug 2, 2011
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What type of cow? also what are you wanting the sire to help in?  All stuff you need to know when trying to pick a bull besides picking something just cause its popular. In terms of steel force there are alot of other dream on sons out there that will do a great job for 10% of the price of steel force semen (unless you already have it) and upgrade you really have to mate to the right type of cow, really didnt care for the ones we had, but we didnt use it on the right type of cow.
 

andholl

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She is a real stout heifer with great body, but needs to be cleaned up in her brisket, leveled at her tale head, maybe longer necked, and her back two feet bend inward at the joints.
 

Mueller Show Cattle

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HGC said:
Does Upgrade have white on his face?

No, Upgrade is Homo black and is solid black. I would not say hands down Upgrade, I like him but Steel Force is known to produce some great cows and bulls. I have some Upgrade semen and I like him, but I sure would like some Steel Force semen if it was not a $100 a straw (last time I checked). I am trying to upload a pic of Upgrade, Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

 

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wws85

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From my experience and advice of owners of upgrade he needs to be used a a very soft made cow. Also sometimes his calves seem to be plainer about there head and neck but i have also had some freak necked ones out of him for a pb simmy.  Another bull to think about is Pays To Dream he is a dream on son out of a power drive cow that has been working on a variety of types of cows.
 

dixieland cattle co

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Both bulls, Steel Force and Upgrade have been over hyped from the start. Steel Force works well on Angus cows to make halfbloods, but the PB calves I have seen are very common.  I was in Louisville and some other larger shows  this fall and haven't seen any Upgrade calves that would make me want to use him.  If I was looking for a PB Simmy Bull I would consider Rendition and HillBilly Deluxe.  Both are PB and are starting to make more and more noise in the breed as more calves are born.
 

andholl

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dixieland cattle co said:
Both bulls, Steel Force and Upgrade have been over hyped from the start. Steel Force works well on Angus cows to make halfbloods, but the PB calves I have seen are very common.  I was in Louisville and some other larger shows  this fall and haven't seen any Upgrade calves that would make me want to use him.  If I was looking for a PB Simmy Bull I would consider Rendition and HillBilly Deluxe.  Both are PB and are starting to make more and more noise in the breed as more calves are born.

Not that I am oppossed to think of other bulls, but Steel force sired the reserve grand Champion simmy at jr nationals and many others there, and upgrade sired the Grand Champion Simmy at jr. nationals; i wouldn't call either common.
 

Simmgal

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From my limited perspective, I like Upgrade. My heifer that I have out of him has really impressed me as a sound, wide, easy-keeping heifer. She has a little bit of extra leather, but is by no means super sloppy. Where I have shown my Upgrade heifer, she has beaten super nice animals that were older by about a year and are farther along than she is. When compared to my other animals, the Uprade heifer has more depth and style and a cleaner front. I was impressed with her, and have seen other calves that are pretty darn good as well; however, I have seen some that lack depth and seem to be heavy fronted, but they were young. He also doesn't have direct Dream On, which is a plus for me! I have Dream On's everywhere! I have some Upgrade semen that I will be using this April, and I have high expectations. I wish I knew more about Steel Force, but most of what I know is from other people, and seeing a limited number of animals at sales.  I have yet to purchase a Steel Force calf, but some of the ones that I have seen and heard about at sales and shows can be a little crazy! Most of the ones I have seen or heard about tend to be a bit more fine boned and lack some width. If bred to the right cow, he can make 'em deep, but it varies. Again, I have seen limited animals and I am not trying to bash any of these bulls by any means, but I really like Upgrade. The fact that his semen is signifigantly lower than the price of Steel Force doesn't hurt either!  ;)
 

dixieland cattle co

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andholl said:
dixieland cattle co said:
Both bulls, Steel Force and Upgrade have been over hyped from the start. Steel Force works well on Angus cows to make halfbloods, but the PB calves I have seen are very common.  I was in Louisville and some other larger shows  this fall and haven't seen any Upgrade calves that would make me want to use him.  If I was looking for a PB Simmy Bull I would consider Rendition and HillBilly Deluxe.  Both are PB and are starting to make more and more noise in the breed as more calves are born.

Not that I am oppossed to think of other bulls, but Steel force sired the reserve grand Champion simmy at jr nationals and many others there, and upgrade sired the Grand Champion Simmy at jr. nationals; i wouldn't call either common.

Thats what happens when they limit semen on these bulls.  The people who buy it pay big bucks for it and in turn, these bulls only get used on some of the best cows in the breed. But when everybody starts using it, the true attributes of the bulls start to show up.  If you will check and see, the champions you refered to are out of cows like H25 and Sheza Dandy.  You could breed those kind of cows to a damn billy goat and get a good one.   
 

woltemathangus

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You said she has back leg problems. Do NOT use Steel Force then, he can make the slightest bad legged animal astronomically worse. As for upgrade, have not seen enough calves to "wow" me
 

dixieland cattle co

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GONEWEST said:
^^^^^^ So you're sayin' this bull is better than Steel Force and Upgrade?

No,  I never said Hillbilly Deluxe or Rendition are better than Steel Force or Upgrade.  But their calves  are a hell of a lot more uniform in their phenotype so far than any Upgrades or Steele Forces I have seen. If you have so many great Upgrades and Steele Force calves on the ground I would love to see them.  Let me ask you a question, Do you think its strange that none of these big time semen bulls never see a show ring so folks may visually appraise them?  Call me crazy, but these bulls look  better in a computer altered photo than they do in person and the inconsistency of their calves proves it.  
 

chambero

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I saw Steel Force a couple of years ago at Griswolds.  I walked him around in the lot.  Best looking bull I've ever seen in person, bar none.  There are plenty of good ones out of him for the amount of semen sold.
 

husker1

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Couple comments.

Bill did show Steel Force at least once as a yearling...saw him at the Nebraska State Fair that year.  SF was a very moderate, sound made long yearling bull.  No real holes, but not overly powerful in any way either.  Certainly have to respect the way that he matured though.

I've been around a few SF's at our place, and they do well.  Not far better than anything else on the place...but as a sire group, they work.

As stated somewhere above, both SF and Upgrade had the luxury of being used on many of the best cows in the industry due to their high semen price.  Their true test will be how they respond when used on some of the more average cows.  From what I've seen so far, I think they will both hold their own and move on as respected breeding bulls. 

With that thought in mind, I will also state that I think there are numerous baldy Dream On sons that will breed very similar to SF, however you do not get the extra marketing spark that you do with having SF as a sire.
 

GONEWEST

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dixieland cattle co said:
GONEWEST said:
^^^^^^ So you're sayin' this bull is better than Steel Force and Upgrade?

No,  I never said Hillbilly Deluxe or Rendition are better than Steel Force or Upgrade.  But their calves  are a hell of a lot more uniform in their phenotype so far than any Upgrades or Steele Forces I have seen. If you have so many great Upgrades and Steele Force calves on the ground I would love to see them.  Let me ask you a question, Do you think its strange that none of these big time semen bulls never see a show ring so folks may visually appraise them?  Call me crazy, but these bulls look  better in a computer altered photo than they do in person and the inconsistency of their calves proves it.  

Dear Crazy,

Have you ever actually seen these bulls in person? EVER? And if you say that Hillbilly is more consistent than Steel Force or Upgrade isn't that the same thing as saying that he is a better bull? I just want to know for the record, if you are saying your bull is as good as Steel Force and Upgrade and if you have ever laid eyes on either bull.
 
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