RyanChandler
Well-known member
I had calved the exact same group of cows to both JR Drover 05X and YY Cartwright, a Bonanza son, the two years prior and only pulled 1 calf. A 7155 daughter had a big, what I thought at the time, 85lb calf. All of the other calves were mid 70s, or less. Some even low 60s. Year 3 Vanguard alone bred these cows and birthweights on bull calves jumped 50lbs. I have a photo album of every calf of his I pulled if you want to see any more? Thank god I didn't dismiss all canadian cattle at this point as I went back to Saskatchewan, this time to Saskvalley to purchase the bull in my avatar, Alamo 8A. Night and day difference in terms of the calving ease between these two bulls. I pulled more vanguard bull calves the first month of calving to him than I have Alamo in 3 years. I think I've pulled maybe 3 calves out close to a 100.. ALL of which required assistance were first calf heifers. You want to bring into question my knowledge and experience-- well I'll be the first to tell you that I had no knowledge or experience with cattle that have 120+lb birthweights. I get it that in this dress up world you play in maybe thats more common but in the real world, cattle like this were bred out 50 years ago. I can remember as a kid my grandpa telling me about 140lb Fullblood Charolais calves he had out of Fullbloods he had imported and quarantined in Canada but like I said, that was in the late 1960s- 50 years prior! I put my faith and money in JIT's presented expertise. Read any of his posts: these cattle hung the moon! Without question he presents himself by any legal standard as an "expert" within the breed- who would I, at the time, be to question that which he presents so definitively!? I don't think it was a reach on my part to assume bulls with this kind of birth weight had long been rid from the gene pool. I did move on to the next rodeo- I went and bought Alamo, went to Indiana bought Waukaru Forward, Illinois for Leveldale Genesis, Rigby Idaho for Diamond K Roan Ranger, etc. I've used everyone of these bulls (with the exception of Roan Ranger whose calves will come in April) and have been very happy with them all. My experience with them has been what any reasonably minded person would expect. Maybe pull a couple out of heifers-- but none out of cows-- and certainly not slews of 130lbers that kill the cow and calf. I lost at least 5 cows three years or older- and if you want to talk shit and not believe that Ill dig through the ten thousand pics on my iphone and post everyone of them- . The straw that finally broke the camels back was that piece of shit killing one of my brangus cows who was seven years old and who had had 6 unassisted calves prior. I found them hiplocked, the calf dead cow barely alive. I got the calf out and I swear to god he had to have been 140lbs. He looked like a 2 month old calf just a massive muscular hip, just like you see on the roan bull calf swinging from the tractor forks. Nothing had ever been like that on our place before and thankful not since.
