Brickyard and Niagara

[TJSideBiz]

Choosing our next AI Angus bull. Looking into SS Brickyard and his sire SS Niagara. A couple folks said they have Niagara calves on the ground. Not crazy about Niagara's low CED EPD as we have 2 heifers this year. Brickyard has good EPDs in dang near every trait but at 2 years old I'm not sure how they could have EPDs on him yet and not marked as Interim. Would love to hear about your experience and see pics of calves. Tough to find info on either bull so anything would be helpful. Hopefully the lack of info doesn't correlate to the lack of quality of these guys.
Thanks for your help!

 

[W.B.]

I will be getting our third calf crop by Niagara in a month and will also be calving our first daughters. I did have to help a couple last year but they were easy pulls. I feel the growth you get is worth the time to help a heifer. If you are in a situation were heifers aren't being watched closely you probably should use an easier calving bull. I kept a commercial son from the first calf crop for a cleanup bull out of a S Summit 956 daughter. Niagara will improve feet both toe shape and heel depth.

 

[torogmc81]

Just curious as to why you are limiting yourself to those two bulls, when Angus has 1,492 bulls at stud currently. Especially why Brickyard, because there are plenty of AI bulls out there with a ton more info and calf reports that will give you confidence going in …?

 

[TJSideBiz]

Just curious as to why you are limiting yourself to those two bulls, when Angus has 1,492 bulls at stud currently. Especially why Brickyard, because there are plenty of AI bulls out there with a ton more info and calf reports that will give you confidence going in …?

Good question. We used SAV Bismarck 5682 for 2 years. Kept a bull and 3 heifers. Bred that bull and have 4 more heifers this year. We'll use that bull on the unrelated cows but looking to get some new blood on those Bismarcks.

We go in with a friend. His cows have Traveler 8180 which is in a lot of the SAV lines. Though we really like their cattle we've decided to look at other bulls. He likes Hoover Dam. He buys only from Genex so I'm checking out Hoover's sons. I know Niagara isn't at Genex but it's a way to research Brickyard. Why Brickyard? +Phenotype, +Hoover Dam blood and those EPDs at CED 14, BW -2.4 and RE +1.1... yes please! Is it marketing or reality? Gotta do my homework! :compute:

Thank for giving me a kick in the pants to keep searching.

 

[VaCowman]

I can't speak for Brickyard, but I've seen several Niagra daughters that are really easy on the eyes. A guy I work with puts in ~50 straws of Niagra per year...he likes them too!

 

[W.B.]

I am still debating how much to use him going forward. The bred heifers we have are nice. They are not the sleekest fronted but they are feminine enough to be fertile. The steers we have feed really well and overall I think he is an underrated bull. I like him a lot better than some of the more popular bulls the registered guys use.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Just curious as to why you are limiting yourself to those two bulls, when Angus has 1,492 bulls at stud currently. Especially why Brickyard, because there are plenty of AI bulls out there with a ton more info and calf reports that will give you confidence going in …?

Good question. We used SAV Bismarck 5682 for 2 years. Kept a bull and 3 heifers. Bred that bull and have 4 more heifers this year. We'll use that bull on the unrelated cows but looking to get some new blood on those Bismarcks.

We go in with a friend. His cows have Traveler 8180 which is in a lot of the SAV lines. Though we really like their cattle we've decided to look at other bulls. He likes Hoover Dam. He buys only from Genex so I'm checking out Hoover's sons. I know Niagara isn't at Genex but it's a way to research Brickyard. Why Brickyard? +Phenotype, +Hoover Dam blood and those EPDs at CED 14, BW -2.4 and RE +1.1... yes please! Is it marketing or reality? Gotta do my homework! :compute:

Thank for giving me a kick in the pants to keep searching.

Loved our Bismarck son.

 

[T & B farms]

I only have a handful of niagra calves, but I like them. Good length and rib depth. I really like the picture of his dam. In my opinion, one of the nicest cows I've saw. Would love to see if she was as impressive in person

 

[W.B.]

His daughters definitely look like his mother. They could be a little trimmer in the brisket and throat but as long as they do their job and are good to work around they are fine by me. He is easily the best foot improver ai sire I have ever used. Bar none. The Angus breed needs better feet in my opinion.

 

[TJSideBiz]

Thanks for the responses.
W.B., T&B And VaCowman- Good to hear positive feedback on Niagra. I was reluctant to use Niagra because of his low CED and CEM and now W.B.'s experience confirms it. Don't want to pull calves so I'll choose a different bull.
As for feet...I know horses but not cattle. Feet are paramount. There's a saying "No foot,no horse". When my daughter showed steers in 4-H we had their feet trimmed. My husband helped her in the project and I never really paid attention to their feet. He's also been taking care of the breeding of our cattle. We've never had foot issues so i guess he's done a good job. Ours are on flat ground so I'm sure that helps. Now that I'm more involved in breeding I'm reading a lot about feet and the generally poor quality in Angus. Now I'll be on the lookout for foot quality.