charolais bulls

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tiger hunter

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anybody using much of the wyoming wind bloodline.like to know about the growth of the calves and if any calfing problems.
 
We have used Wyoming Wind heavily over the years. Usually easy calving but not as much growth as some other bloodlines, but they definitely aren't puds. The daughters make great cows.
 
i've used a grandson of wyoming wind on crossbred commercial cows for 3 years now and have liked the calf crops, i haven't used him over straight charolais cows...
 
I agree with white cows comments on Wyoming Wind. He was more of a maternal bull than a power bull. I also would not call him a calving ease bull on a par with Baldridge Fasttrack. He offer middle of the road performance and phenotype. He did put some good bulls out but this was due in large part to the high quality of the cows he was bred to. Wyoming Wind was a very well promoted bull and his impact was huge as a result.
For my bull customers he never put enough performance or muscle on his bull calves to be the first pick of the ranchers or farmers. That limited his use by me. Many of his sons or grandsons are far better in these departments and in my opinion better bulls to use on commercial cows than Wyoming Wind. In short a good bull in his day but we have moved on.
 
We just shipped a Fasttrack son that we used on our RWF commercial cows. He was the best performance/calving ease Char bull we have ever owned. I guess we got lucky, he was also solid on all four corners, some of the Fasttracks were a little weak in the front legs.

I'll agree with whitecow. We never used any WW sons, as we were after performance. I really don't care what kind of cows a white bull makes, none of them stay around here.
 
The feet and legs were the sore spot with Baldridge Fasttrack. I am not talking about appearance but keeping their feet good and walking good in pasture for a few years was tough. This meant I did not use him much either as plenty of Charolais bulls with negative birth weight EPDs are available that offer plenty of muscle and adequate performance. The bonus is that many of these bloodlines are outcrosses to each other. So Fasttrack was hardly missed.
The negative birth weight bull that is stirring interest is Sparrows Fargo. Check him out at: http://www.charolaisbanner.com/defoort/sires.htm. Note he is a Wyoming Wing Great Grandson on the dams side
 
This fella was 7 when we shipped him and he covered a lot of rough, hilly miles. Never had his feet trimmed. Never got grain. I wish I knew where to find a hundred like that. If I remember right the HTA herd in Manitoba cranked out some great performance and muscle bulls. They weren't always showstoppers, but they put pounds and mass on a calf crop. Certainly got the bills paid for a commercial man.

They're out there... the trick is finding a purebred herd that is trying to fill that market, instead of selling you on one breed that can do it all.
 
I am interested in buying a charolais bull to put on black and black baldies commericial cows I live in south georgia and would anybody recommend a good breeder
 
Lawhighnoon,

Where are you located? Enough performance oriented breeders exist that you do not have to drive the wheels off your pickup to find a bull for your application. Just exactly what do you want to improve on you BWF cows?
 
Fargus,

Harry Airey does have many good performance cattle with balanced performance. He is one of several reputation breeders that view their primary business as providing bulls to commercial cattlemen. Programs like Pleasant Dawn Farms (http://www.charolaisbanner.com/genetics/marshall.htm), Rawes Ranches, and Perrot Martin in Canada can produce the sort of bulls you want like clock work.
In the US. besides LT. Eatons, Buddy Cobb plenty of other breeders are performance oriented as well. A couple of other breeders to keep your eye on are Wells Charolais in South Dakota and Mike Callis in Alabama. These breeders have the number 1 and 2 performance bulls respectively on the sire summary in the U. S.
The bull Mike has is called LT Rio Blanco and he is performance legend in the breed. He used to post on these forums as MikeC. Plenty of LT Rio Blanco bulls are around from many breeders. Rio Blanco works on both the growth and maternal side with good calving ease. He throws better thickness than you would expect. A real commercial man's dream bull.
 
Thanks for the input VLS. I've been out of the loop on the Char breed for several years now. Just took over from the folks and we've gone back to our nucleus Simmental herd. Will be a couple years before I need a new white bull to use on the F1 commercial cows. That Fasttrack son we had was the best one I've ever seen, front to back, top to bottom, and he threw great calves that came easy and started fast. Lots of older fellas around here think we're nuts. This is "Ontario's Cattle Country" but it isn't what it used to be. Lots of grass farms get tiled and plowed every year.

I hope going against the grain pays like I think it will long-term. If I can't run cattle here, we'll pack our bags and head somewhere else where there is a chance of being profitable. My great-great grandaddy left Scotland to get a new start. I don't think he would want us to hang an anchor around our necks for the sake of the homestead.

Back to the topic at hand. Weren't the bulls JWK Impressive and WCR (right prefix?) Prime Cut good performance/terminal type sires? I still believe that is the role of the Charolais in our industry.
 
Fargus,

Neither JWK Impressive or WCR Prime Cut were be considered terminal type bulls in their day. They were considered maternal/spread bulls in the U.S. and calving ease/spread bulls in Canada. Neither bull was considered a carcass bull. of the two WCR Prime Cut was the more popular of the two due to better EPDs and phenotype. LT Rio Blanco is the logical successor to WCR Prime Cut with better growth and carcass numbers while maintaining maternal power.
To give you an idea of what a terminal power bull is in the Charolais breed look at SVY Pilgrim: http://www.buyagro.com/gerrard/Pilgrimpld6555.htm. He is not calving ease but on a mature Simmental cross cow he will add explosive performance. For heifers i would use something like this: http://www.stauffercharolais.com/. Look for Shelco Made Easy 512R on that web site.
 
Lawhighnoon,

Being not from the area I only know of a few of the breeders:
Some herds in surrounding states:

Florida:
http://www.southerncattlecompany.com

Alabama:

BJR Summerford:
http://bjrsummerford.com/index.htm

Mississippi:

Rodgers Bar HR:

http://www.rogersbarhr.com/
Note these people are big order buyers so they may want your calves if you buy a bull from them.

Lastly the local Georgia guys. Call these the regional association and see what they have:

Emmett Callahan - President
Georgia / Florida Charolais Association
7050 Stone Bridge Rd
Carnesville, GA 30521
(706) 384-4235
 
That Pilgrim bull looks pretty cool. The Serienkos (sp?) sure know cattle. I found out about him last winter, as I sell a bit of stuff locally for Genex/CRI. Found out about him too late to do a whole lot with him. I guess we'll see what is in demand this winter.

Funny thing on that Made Easy bull. I bought a Cougarhill Hank daughter as a heifer calf when Gerrard dispersed the first time about ten years ago. Easy to look at, nice muscle pattern and growth, but a useless momma cow. Always did like his sons as commercial bulls. They certainly added hip volume and muscle mass.
 
Fargus,

Courgerhill Hank is out of Rainbow Cyrano 32D an old full french bull known for muscle but not for maternal traits. The Shelco Made Easy bull is out of Moore's Legacy-a bull known for being a thick easy keeper that would moderate mature size. Both this bulls would work great producing 4H steers.
Generally Canadian breeders strive to combine the muscle of the full french cattle with the maternal capability of the American bloodlines. This has proven to be a successful strategy given the amount of the bull market that the Charolais breed controls in Canada.
 

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