Tell us about yourself!

[red]

Since we have so many new members I thought it would be nice to revisit some old members ( not age) & learn about some newer ones. Tell us about where you live, the type of operation you have & any other interesting tidbits!

I'm Red, which comes from Red Maple Farm. I'm one of the moderators & try to be as much help as possible. I live in northwest central Ohio. I have about 15 registered Maine cattle along w/ my dear sweet hubby. We also have about 50 commercial cows & calves on the farm. We farm about 3500 acres w/ the hubby's brothers & nephews. To be honest, we couldn't do our cattle without the help of a nephew.

I have a corgi named Woody, who has become the internet sensation. Also have the famous King Killer Kitty.

We try to get to a few shows, especially enjoy the NAILE. We typically sell calves through the Ohio Beef Expo & privately. Our web site is www.redmaplemaines.com

Would love to hear about both old & new members!

Red  (welcome)  (clapping)

 

[shortyjock89]

I'm Justin Olson, of Olson Family Shorthorns.  My Dad, younger Sister, and I have about 15 registered Shorthorn cows and farm about 1200 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, and a little hay in East Central Illinois.

When I'm not at school at the University of Illinois, I'm at home being in charge of the show calves.

We have a heeler, Montana, and a couple of barn cats that keep the show heifers busy.

We show quite a bit, and we're really looking forward to Jr. Nationals in KC this summer.  We sell most of our calves privately, but we have started to consign to some sales here and there. 

If anyone is ever in Eastern IL, or Western IN, let us know; we would love to show you the calves and talk cows.

 

[RSC]

We are Romshek Show Cattle, Tony, Dani, Grant(9), Gavin(5) and Grady(4). "I call the boys my G-String"

We run a small club-calf, Maine and % Breeding cattle operation.  We have 25 cows, Several Donors and use Coop herds.   We live in East Central Nebraska(Shelby).

You can check us out at www.romshekcattle.com

Pictured below are

1. Tony & Dani
2. Grant
3. Gavin(Right) & Grady(Left)

RSC

 

[Chap]

i am Chap.  I live in Eastern IA (Scott County).  My wife and I have 2 girls (3 and 6) and 1 corgi named Bob.  I am a commodity merchant by day and a cattle junkie 24/7. 
My cattle partner and I run Sugar Creek Farms and together run about 60 cows, mostly club calf oriented.  We have begun some ET work in the past year and are ramping up that portion of the buisness.  We are members of the MAine, CHi and Simmental associations. 
I grew up on a commercial cow/calf  and row crop operation and was a member of the 1995 judging team at Iowa State University.  I get the chance to judge a few county fairs and jackpots in IA every year and have also done some judging at Iowa Beef Expo and Iowa State Fair.  My most memoriable judging job was doing the Alaska State Fair in August of 2002.  (ever evaluated pygmy goats?) 
We would love to show off the cattle and chat if any of you are ever in Eastern IA.
Chap

 

[fluffer]

Im Fluffer, Located in west central OH with my husband and daughter (18 months old)  We have about 80 commercial (angus, gelbvieh, simmi) cows.  I am a Gelbvieh breeder at heat    We produce good carcass quality cattle with 10% of our bull calves selling as yearlings, retaining 10% of our heifers for replacement and the rest of our calves selling of feeders.  We do occationally sell "club" steers.  When our daughter gets close to show age we will begin breeding her cows for show steers.  I have shown all over the US with my Gelbviehs and have won Jr. Nationals, Eastern Regionals, Expo and State Fair.  My husband and I were both on the OSU livestock Judging team, and both have judged a little.  I also raise and train Border Collies and we occationally take on "problem calves" and break them for kids in our area.  I am a training director for an independent grocer who owns and operates 9 local grocrey stores.  My Husband is a cattle buyer/seller.

I look forward to meeting the rest of you- Good idea Red  ;D

Would be glad to talk cattle with anyone!  Just PM me

Fluffer

 

[dori36]

Im Fluffer, Located in west central OH with my husband and daughter (18 months old)  We have about 80 commercial (angus, gelbvieh, simmi) cows.  I am a Gelbvieh breeder at heat    We produce good carcass quality cattle with 10% of our bull calves selling as yearlings, retaining 10% of our heifers for replacement and the rest of our calves selling of feeders.  We do occationally sell "club" steers.  When our daughter gets close to show age we will begin breeding her cows for show steers.  I have shown all over the US with my Gelbviehs and have won Jr. Nationals, Eastern Regionals, Expo and State Fair.  My husband and I were both on the OSU livestock Judging team, and both have judged a little.  I also raise and train Border Collies and we occationally take on "problem calves" and break them for kids in our area.  I am a training director for an independent grocer who owns and operates 9 local grocrey stores.  My Husband is a cattle buyer/seller.

I look forward to meeting the rest of you- Good idea Red  ;D

Would be glad to talk cattle with anyone!  Just PM me

Fluffer

Hey, Fluffer,

I was the co-manaager of the first ever Gelbvieh Bull Sale in Wyoming several years ago.  I had to travel all over the state to sift the bulls.  The ranch I worked on in WY, also, was Gelbvieh based using British breed bulls.  Really nice cattle!  Maybe some udder concerns and a little "leathery" up front, but give me a corral full of Gelbvieh cows/calves any time over Angus moms!  Nice gentle, easy to work cattle and thick, thick, thick!

 

[fluffer]

(clapping) Thanks Dori36 

You know the average Continental cow is smaller then a British??

The Gelbvieh breed has a lot to offer, but they also have a lot to work on too.  But I really like the temperment on those cows!

 

[C-CROSS]

I am Mrs. (c-cross) from SD, my husband and 2 girls 20 and 17 run about 250 cows.  Many breeds and sell clubbies.  Our daughter went to Denver this year and showed her Char Hfrs, first year we have shown there.  I work at an animal health outfit part time. Our daughter just got done with juco judging and has sveral Sr colleges recruiting her.  Our youngest is still in HS

 

[justme]

I grew up in Ohio, but our happy little family transplanted 8 years ago to NW Missouri.  I am married to my husband Eric, and have two children a daughter 10 and an ever busy son 5.  We are only calving 22 this year.  Raise primarily maine anjou, but dabble with some clubcalves.

My daughter showed in over 18 shows in MO last year including the Royal and MO state fair.  Did really good with her first heifer.  I'm a proud mama.  She came over alot of fears to finally get into the ring.  My son is going to try to show a little heifer too this year.  Gotta keep a boy busy you know.

I own an embroidery business called Funky Stitches.... www.funkystitches.com  I specialize in cattle, sheep, hogs, and goats on different items. 

I raise Pembroke Welsh Corgis, and my daughter just got one from Jill and will be going to her first AKC show on June 9 with her.  (If all goes well) 

We've exhibited the champion maine anjou fancy heifer several times at the Royal and this year won produce of dam in the Maine Anjou show at the Royal. 

Would invite anyone who wants to look at calves to stop by!

 

[cattlejunky]

We are in West Central Indiana.  We have 18 cows, 5 show calves, 8 feeders, & 1 bull. Mostly maines with some chi and simmi influence.
While Justme is Funky I am Junky!  ha ha
I have Cattlejunky T's and do show cattle t-shirts and decals.  www.cattlejunkyts.com    Two boys  11 (soon to be 12) & 5.  We go to about 7 or 8 shows a year.
I also sell alot of freezer beef.  I just started marketing our freezer beef to small town stores.  So far I have one and I am working on more.  If your new to Steerplanet welcome.  You can learn alot from all the knowledgable people on here.

 

[doubled]

Im justamom here, I have two sons, one works for Monsanto in Indiania, graduated from Iowa state, we live here in central Iowa, the 2nd son now owns and operates his own
showcattle operation, he has sold some good calves this year and has some pretty nice bulls, we have appx 50 cows, some commericial, some purebred hereford, some shorthorns,
some maines.  We AI and own a hereford and cross clubby bull. the website is DoubleD Show Cattle. The boys have always shown calves all over Iowa and the surrounding states.
I grew up showing, so its definately in our blood. If in Iowa please stop by and visit.  The kids have two corgi puppies and goats and a pig, and a few mules.  Kinda like old Mcdonalds
farm up there. 

 

[TJ]

TJ Stenger.  Family has lived here in western KY for 200 years.  I live 1/2 mile north of Morganfield, KY, home of "bull rock", recognizing our county as the 1st county in the United States to use only purebred bulls.  Actually, one of my greats (not sure how many times) was one of the key people who encouraged others around here to use purebred bulls.  My dad's family raised Angus & Herefords & my mom's family were big Hereford breeders (all 3 of her brothers have been Presidents of the KY Beef Cattle Association).  One of my dad's good friends & a guy who worked for us for years, came from a local family that raised Shorthorns for many years & he actually owned the Merral Lynch Longhorn bull & it died at his place just outside Sturgis, KY!  I actually was around the Merral Lynch bull quite a bit.  We also actually bred some heifers to him.  My dad was friends with several Indiana Chi breeders.  I had pet bottle calves (beef) in my fenced in backyard when I was a little kid.  I began showing when I was old enough to be in 4H, showing mostly crosses of Chi, Maine, Simmy, Limi, Angus, Charolais & Hereford, mostly that we raised ourselves.  I was a JR member of the Chi Association, though I was not very active & we ran mostly FULLBLOOD Chi bulls, although we used a few composites & Limi's & AI'd to Simmental.  We began using Tarentaise around 1987 & we became a TA breeder around 1991.  About 1995, 96, or 97, I saw the Lowline display in Denver & I laughed & made jokes about the tiny cattle!!  It seemed that I did the same thing when I first saw Tarentaise, too!!  About 1999, I became interested in Lowlines after doing an internet search.  In Jan. 2001, I watched the 1st Lowline National Show in Denver.  In 2004, I contact Dori (1st Lowline breeder I ever contacted!!) & she referred me to a breeder in Montana.  I bought a Lowline bull & used him on some 10-13 month old Tarentaise heifers as an experiment.  All calved unassisted & 1/2 bred up a heat cycle as 2 year olds.  The calves weaned off a lot heavier than I was expecting.  I was sold!!  I had 180 acres in a neighboring county that I was planning to use (the rent was the property taxes! about $5 per acre!!), but my brother in-law beat me to it!  So, I've been real limited compared to what I was planning to do.  He's about to sell out & I'll get it soon enough, plus, I think that my dad is about ready to cut back too.  Oh well, I am plugging along & doing OK, as is.  I an raising about 20 Lowline or Lowline cross calves per year.  I wish that it was 30 or 40 or even more, but my space is limited.  I am hobbying with fullbloods, but over the long term, I want to raise 1/2, 5/8 & 3/4 bloods.  That is the long term future, IMHO, & those cattle will work for commercial, grassfed & freezer beef operations, perfectly.  I do think that the fullbloods certainly have a place, and they could be a long term player, if the breeders don't ruin a good thing because of greed.  

If anybody needs Lowline semen, I've got it.  I only have slightly less than 200 straws left, but we are planning to collect him really soon (maybe next week), before we run out.  Besides, Kit Pharo said that he needs semen sent to him, ASAP, as he's having all kinds of interest! I just hope that Doc collects really well & he should.  

Contact me if you ever have any Lowline related questions, want to try some semen or just want to see some.  

TJ    

 

[SKF]

We live in Southwest Florida were it stays summer all year. I have three kids my son is the oldest he is 18 and he is the one who got all of us into show cattle. Eight years ago someone traded him a bottle fed braunvhie calf for a bag of feed. For fun we took her to our county fair knowing absolutly nothing about showing cattle. Well he won his class and after that we were all hooked! My middle daughter(12) got involved as soon as she was old enough to show and now she is obsessed.My youngest is 20 months and loves the calves. We have a little bull calf that my son show cow/calf that she loves to walk. We now have about thirty cows mostly maine x and a few shorhorns. We call our little farm Silver King Farms aka:SKF. When I am not out at the barn with our calves I am a social working dealing with at risk pregnant woman and teens so I love being at the barn or a show. It's my form of therapy!! We also have a few dogs and a cat.

 

[OH Breeder]

I think this thread isM very interesting. Where else on the internet can we disclose SAFELY who we are and invite folks to our farms.  

Farm is in Northwest Ohio about half an hour from Red. Family farm pretty small about 500 acres. My father is deceased and my mother and sisters live on the land.My two sisters, neice and nephews (and me) run the operation. We have 16 cows and usually 6 show calves at one time. It is pretty funny when we clean barns, calve, AI or bale straw- both sisters have had their knees replaced and my surgeries are too long to list. Thank the Lord for the kids. They are a big help. We truly work the operation as a family. LOTS of fun. I have three other siblings who drop in from time to time to help out. My home is in Columbus, Ohio where I live through the week. I am at the farm every weekend and any day off that comes my way. We have a split of Shorthorns and Shorthorn Plus, a few Maines and couple SImmi's.
We have always sold our calves as pre-conditioned feeders and have over the past few years sold some locally. It is a way for my sisters and I to relive our childhood. I get all the "nutty" ones to break and usually have fun. My approach is more laid back then the children sometimes. Usually the meanest ones like me, not sure why.
I travel for aliving for a Diagnostics Company based in San Diego, CA working as their Clinical Consultant. We develop diagnostic test utilizing whole blood samples looking at proteins to identify things like Heart Attack, Heart Faliure, Drug Toxicology, Pulmonary Embolus and Kidney Injury. My job provides for my operation.
Pretty much it. Except I love OLD shorthorn nostalgia. I collect old journals photos etc.
LOVE MY COWS. Attached are pictures from the Ranch in Canada from 1950-60's The Bull is PS Troubador from Canadian Show. I am still working on when and where.

 

[Turkey Creek Ranch]

I'm Tyler, and I am 15 years old. I live in south central Nebraska. Our family has a herd of around 100 Commercial Cow/Calf pairs. A majority of them are black Angus, but we do have one old red angus. Some of our older cows also have some Gelbvieh blood in them, because my dad used to raise Gelbvieh. We run 6 bulls right now. I started showing when i was around 8. As far as shows go, right now we only show at our county fair, but i have really been hoping to get to some progress shows this year. My first year i had a feeder steer that won grand champ, and the next year we brought him back and he placed 3rd overall. Now that my brother started showing, we have around 8-9 calves per year between the 2 of us. It really keeps us busy in the summer! We have recently been trying to build the quality of our herd, and have purchased 2 GREAT new bulls (i hope to have pictures soon). They come from a local breeder my dad has been dealing with since he started.

Along with the cows, we farm between 5,000 and 7,500 acres of row crop Corn, and Soybeans. It is just our family that helps with the farming. My grandparents own a majority of the land, but we rent some of it also. We used to have a lot of pipe that had to laid out, but in the past few years we have been upgrading many of the fields to pivots. We use most of our own corn to mix feed, this helps cut the costs of our cattle operation. Although my grandpa does a lot of the field work, my dad and i have been taking over during these past few years. He has MS and it is getting very hard for him to get in and out of the tractors.

I am a freshman in high school. I go to a K-12 school that has about 150 people in it. After high school i am hoping to attend college and become a registered veterinarian. After i finish schooling though, i am planning to come back and start a herd of registered angus, and take over the farming operation.

Hope this gives everyone a better understanding of me!!!

Thanks for the topic Red! (thumbsup)

 

[Rustynail]

  I am from Utah.  I live on a small ranch with my 5 wives and 19 children.  We use the money we raise from cattle to finance a movement to stop dancing, singing and drinking caffine with the help of our local church.  Ok I am just kidding , people from Utah aren't really that weird.  I have only one wife and 4 sons.  MY family have been raising Black Angus for almost 50 years.  My grandfather used to say we were angus when angus wasn't cool.  I am a newbie and probably will ask alot of silly questions, but we are just starting to get into the show side of the beef industry.  The rest of my family race horses in Texas and New Mexico and leave my mother and me to run the ranch.  I am planning to AI to some club calf type bulls this spring, and I appreiciate all the great advice that I have gotten here.  This site is great. It is alot more friendly than some of the other sites I have looked at.  I plan on trying to get more involved in topics here when I know something, but for now I will probably do alot of reading and not so much posting.

 

[justintime]

OH Breeder.... here is a little information about your picture of PS Troubadour. PS Troubadour was the Grand Champion steer at the 1956 Chicago international. He was bred at Penn State and was sired by Calrossie Troubadour, who was a herd sire at Cyrus Eaton's Acadia Farms. ( this explains his name PS Troubadour).

  Cyrus Eaton was the owner and Chairman of the Board of the Cheasapeake and Ohio Railroad.After this win, he commissioned a luxury parlour car on the C&O railroad to be named the PS Troubadour, and he toured this steer throughout almost all parts of the USA and Canada for almost two years. This steer was displayed at majoe events from the East coast to the west coast, was introduced to numerous movie stars and leading politicians .... and was one of the first animals to be displayed on numerous Televison shows in the early years of TV. This steer has his own attendants that travelled with him and cared for him year round. No animal in history was ever introduced to as many world leaders as this steer was.

The picture you have shown here was taken at the 1957  Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The people in the picture are The Right Honourable John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada from 1957 to 1963... and his wife Olive. The lady at the halter was Betty Royan who was Cyrus Eaton's secretary and also was very influential in managing the Shorthorn herds at Acadia in Ohio and Deep Cove In Nova Scotia.  Betty Royan just passed away in the last year. The Acadia herd was located at Northfield, Ohio. Is this close to where you or Red are located?Acadia was one of the most prominent Shorthorn herds of the time. I was there once with my dad, but I have no idea of where in Ohio I was at.

In this era, some of the show herds of wealthy owners, had their own luxury rail cars in which the show herds were transported from show to show. I remember seeing a couple of these rail cars when I was a young boy, and I was super impressed.

 

[OH Breeder]

OH Breeder.... here is a little information about your picture of PS Troubadour. PS Troubadour was the Grand Champion steer at the 1956 Chicago international. He was bred at Penn State and was sired by Calrossie Troubadour, who was a herd sire at Cyrus Eaton's Acadia Farms. ( this explains his name PS Troubadour).

  Cyrus Eaton was the owner and Chairman of the Board of the Cheasapeake and Ohio Railroad.After this win, he commissioned a luxury parlour car on the C&O railroad to be named the PS Troubadour, and he toured this steer throughout almost all parts of the USA and Canada for almost two years. This steer was displayed at majoe events from the East coast to the west coast, was introduced to numerous movie stars and leading politicians .... and was one of the first animals to be displayed on numerous Televison shows in the early years of TV. This steer has his own attendants that travelled with him and cared for him year round. No animal in history was ever introduced to as many world leaders as this steer was.

The picture you have shown here was taken at the 1957  Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The people in the picture are The Right Honourable John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada from 1957 to 1963... and his wife Olive. The lady at the halter was Betty Royan who was Cyrus Eaton's secretary and also was very influential in managing the Shorthorn herds at Acadia in Ohio and Deep Cove In Nova Scotia.  Betty Royan just passed away in the last year. The Acadia herd was located at Northfield, Ohio. Is this close to where you or Red are located?Acadia was one of the most prominent Shorthorn herds of the time. I was there once with my dad, but I have no idea of where in Ohio I was at.

In this era, some of the show herds of wealthy owners, had their own luxury rail cars in which the show herds were transported from show to show. I remember seeing a couple of these rail cars when I was a young boy, and I was super impressed.

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
I cut and paste your information and am saving it with the photos. This way I know who is what. The calves that in the picture were from the same farm the steer came from or least the individual I purchased the photos from said. This is great info. I really appreciate it.

Northfield OH is now surrounded by Cleveland suburbs. I work inthat area at times and now it well.. I480  and I 271  in cleveland runs right near Northfield.

 

[justintime]

Back to the thread topic....

I live in Southern Saskatchewan 30 miles from the US/Canadian border on a family farm that was homesteaded by my grandparents in 1903. I farm with my wife and my father who is now 83, but still can out work me an many days ( but that isn't saying much!!). Shorthorns have been on this farm for over 100 years. The registered herd was established in 1917 when my grandfather purchased some purebred Shorthorns that were sold in Brandon Manitoba, by the government of Scotland. The Scottish government had these cattle brought to Canada and they were sold here., in a special sale. My grandfather, having been born in Scotland, felt compelled to attend this sale and help his fellow countrymen out. I am sure he did not realize that he was starting something that would still be ongoing today.

We have a straight cattle operation and our entire farm is seeding to grass or is native grass. We have also raised several other breeds of purebreds along side our Shorthorns, but today, we concentrate only on raising Shorthorn breeding stock and a few club calves each year. We also maintain a commercial herd that is used to supply recips for our ET program. We cross our commercial black cows with Shorthorns and have a ready  market for any females we wish to sell . The ET part of our program is becoming more important every year and we have sold embryos to 6 countries in the past 4 years. Britain, USA and Australia have become our major embryo markets, and just last week we finalized a deal to Scotland that included the 100th embryo to that country.

Right now our herd numbers at about 160 breeding age females, but we have been as high as 350 in past years. We are planning on reducing our numbers and concentrating on a smaller number of our best females. In the last two years, 6 females have generated over 40% of our income, so it suggests that we should concentrate on them more.... and say good bye to a bunch of others.

I also own and publish the Canadian Shorthorn Report, which is a breed magazine for the Shorthorn breed in Canada.  You can find out more about us on our website www.horseshoecreekfarms.com.

 

[shortdawg]

I'm Shortdawg and I live in South GA about 45 mins from the FL Line. We have about 40 head of cattle with about half  being Shorthorn and the other half Angus. We market our calves through both private treaty sales and consignment sales as well as some feeder calves being sold at he local sale barn. My family was one of the first to farm in this area and I'm at least a 5th generation farmer. We grow cotton, peanuts, tobacco, corn, watermelons, and cantaloupes on 1350 acres as well as pine timber on about 2500 acres. I have a lovely wife, two sons ( 12 and 9 ), and a daughter ( 4 ). We love to show cattle becuase of the time we get to spend together doing it. We've shown cattle in GA, FL, OK, and KY so far and plan to visit many more in the future. My family and I are active members of our local Baptist Church where my wife serves in the Childrens Church Ministry and I serve as a Deacon, Adult Sunday School Teacher, and help with the Men's and AWANA ministries. We would definitely welcome any visitors to South GA anytime any of you may be in our neck of the woods. New River Cattle is the name of our cattle operation and we are in the small town of Lenox, GA.