2020 Bull Pictures

[Backbone Ranch]

We will be turning out the bulls in a handful of weeks, and they have really been packing on the pounds on the spring grass. Earlier last week, we sorted off 26 head that we will be AIing on a natural heat, and the remainder of the herd will be bred by either BB Uncle Tony or BB Backbone's General. Here are some photos of them from the last couple of days.

BB Uncle Tony- We have used him heavily since he was a 2 year old, and he is pictured here at 8 years. His dam, OK Sadie, has a heifer calf at her side at the age of 17. Over half of our herd is either a daughter or granddaughter of him, and he has been the backbone of our breeding program.

BB Backbone's General- This bull is a 5 year old that was born on our place back in 2015, sold as a yearling, and we bought him back just 18 months ago. He is sired by Monterey Marshall, an Australian bull that was born in the 1980s. So far, he has been breeding very well with our Tony daughters.

BB Backbone's Dominion- This bull is a rising 3 year old and is sired by BB Uncle Tony. We bred him to a handful of our larger cows last year in order to moderate their frame a bit, and he produced some very nice calves. We will likely be retaining all three of his daughters, as he is due to be sold to another breeder in the next couple of weeks.

BB Backbone's Rio Grande- This bull is the first calf that we had from a New Zealand bull, Ballee Thumbs Up. He had a 70 lb birth weight and a 622 lb weaning weight. He is pictured here as a 2 year old. We will be breeding him to our heifers this coming fall. We have two half sisters that are also sired by Ballee Thumbs Up on the ground currently that we are really liking.

This last photo shows General and Dominion walking down the road.

 

[TwoByrdsMG]

Hays, sure do like the consistent quality on the bulls you keep intact.

It shows that your breeding program is not only working but you are dedicated to maintaining phenotype across the board.

We finished AI on May 2 with some sync'd girls. Stuck a straw from General in one gal and she looked good. So far we have had one come back in (maybe) and everyone else has stuck. I can't help but be pleased with that!

Bull will get turned in with the other group later this week for cleanup. He may only have 5 cows to breed this season (2 later gals that we will live cover to move up and 3 from a herd down the road).

 

[jscunn]

Nice set of bulls, I am envious of the grass as well..

 

[RockinRB]

They look great! I'm curious to know what the average weight of your cows is. We've had a few MG females throughout the years and they've all definitely been on the small end. But, their calves were always whoppers!

 

[Backbone Ranch]

I appreciate the feedback! We are extremely pleased with this group of bulls and have been very happy with the consistent quality of the calves that they have been siring for us.

Whitney, let us know how your General calf turns out. He is siring some pretty fancy females for us, and he has one son in particular that is a real standout in this spring's calf crop. Because we have so many Tony daughters in production currently, we are AIing many of them to Cadella Park Golden Boy, but we are also using Victory Power Play, JOPA Elation Power, Wallawong Under the Radar, Ballee Thumbs Up, and experimenting a bit with Aladeen Pelion 10F.

RockinRB- Most of our cows are in the 1150-1200 lb realm, but we are working at getting them averaging closer to 1300 lbs in the coming years.

 

[Larzbarz]

I'd never heard of Murray Grey cattle until I started perusing this forum, but the first time I saw a picture of your Uncle Tony I said to myself "Dang, now THAT is a bull!"