Doing some research...

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Genex has two new Simm bulls I am looking at, and I was wondering if anyone had any input on them, good or bad? I am looking for my fall breeding, since we are about done now. I am looking for something calving ease.

The first bull is Frosty, who is touted as being the replacement for Iron Hide. Iron hide is his sire, and he is a double half blood.
https://simmental.org/site/index.php/black-simangus/4331-tj-frosty-318e

The second bull, and more of an interest to me, is High Road https://herdbook.org/simmapp/action...ntSubmit_displayAnimal=T&animalNumber=3312276
I like that Shear Force is close on the sire side, but the dam side is a little more vague for me. Several good sires in there, and his EPD's are pretty good. You can not find him on the website yet, but if you have the ap on your phone he comes up.
https://simmental.org/site/index.php/sire-source-pub/4279-kbhr-high-road-e283

 

[Bright Raven]

I will be watching this thread.

Two questions:

1. Frosty The Snowman. Why not just stick with Ironhide? I like what I have had out of him. I have an Ironhide heifer I am keeping for myself (Twister's Spot) that is due to Shell Shocked in September. BTW: you have a cane of him for me.

2. Same with High Road. Why not use Beacon? I have a cane of Beacon. I got it from our own Bovine Breeder late in the breeding season, so I only have one calf from him coming this fall. But I plan to put the cane to use in December.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Whew! The title to this thread scared me for just a minute.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I do not know either bull and have never used the sires.
High Road - has almost un-believable EPD's. Super great EPD's. Gibb Farm owns part of him, so he must be really stout. His REA is 1.2 - top 2%. He has 54 progeny reported so far.
I'm going to "hope" the picture of him is skewed - really, really, short in length & deep.

Frosty - yup - his picture is off also. Really don't like his REA - not much of anything interests me in him.

As far as I'm concerned, there are way too many great bulls already proven available, why try a no-body? Frosty doesn't even have a farm name that I am familiar with. Of course, I wouldn't be interested in a 1/2 blood anyway.
Both are Homo Polled & Homo Black. If I had to pick one, it would be High Road on data only.
Guess I agree with Ron, why try an unknown son when you have the sire available. HighRoad's dam is a donor cow. Has 8 offspring listed.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

The frosty one I'd be worried about what would show up out of the wood pile. Take a look at his maternal side. His MGS was born in 2012 but not registered till 3 months ago? Seems odd to me. https://herdbook.org/simmapp/action/animalSearch.AnimalSearchAction?eventSubmit_displayAnimal=T&animalNumber=3539041

As for the other one, just use beacon. Don't fix what ain't broken.

 

[Till-Hill]

I do not know either bull and have never used the sires.
High Road - has almost un-believable EPD's. Super great EPD's. Gibb Farm owns part of him, so he must be really stout. His REA is 1.2 - top 2%. He has 54 progeny reported so far.
I'm going to "hope" the picture of him is skewed - really, really, short in length & deep.

Frosty - yup - his picture is off also. Really don't like his REA - not much of anything interests me in him.

As far as I'm concerned, there are way too many great bulls already proven available, why try a no-body? Frosty doesn't even have a farm name that I am familiar with. Of course, I wouldn't be interested in a 1/2 blood anyway.
Both are Homo Polled & Homo Black. If I had to pick one, it would be High Road on data only.
Guess I agree with Ron, why try an unknown son when you have the sire available. HighRoad's dam is a donor cow. Has 8 offspring listed.

I'm not a fan of Frosty at the moment but not to know Triangle J Ranch in the Simmental world? They are right behind Hook's for the bulls put in AI anyway. Their cow sale is unreal. They sell all their older cows every year. Even dam's to AI bulls. http://trianglejranch.com/herdsires.html
Their sire lineup is pretty stout.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

The frosty one I'd be worried about what would show up out of the wood pile. Take a look at his maternal side. His MGS was born in 2012 but not registered till 3 months ago? Seems odd to me. https://herdbook.org/simmapp/action/animalSearch.AnimalSearchAction?eventSubmit_displayAnimal=T&animalNumber=3539041

As for the other one, just use beacon. Don't fix what ain't broken.

I don't buy ABS semen, so Beacon is out for me. I really like who is standing behind High Road too (owners).

The Frosty bull someone was asking me about. Iron Hide is no longer available, so Frosty is being pushed as his replacement. I have a few straws left on Iron Hide, but when I am out I need something else. I prefer PB over percentage, another reason Frosty has not made it past the research stage. I still have some Cowboy, but I think it is time to move on from him. So, I am looking at what is out there. I prefer to use Genex because I am a Genex delgate, however I will easily use Select Sires also.

 

[kentuckyguy]

So I have to ask. Why do you not buy ABS semen?

I really like their newly acquired bull Hooks Frontline 40F. Should be great for heifers.

https://bullsearch.absglobal.com/en-us/beef/bull/detail/2391229/breed/14/proof/6/country/222

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

So I have to ask. Why do you not buy ABS semen?

I really like their newly acquired bull Hooks Frontline 40F. Should be great for heifers.

https://bullsearch.absglobal.com/en-us/beef/bull/detail/2391229/breed/14/proof/6/country/222

I used to buy mostly ABS, until our rep gave up his route. He filled my tank for free, and even bred some difficult ones early on when we were learning. When a new person took over, it was about the same time my daughter started breeding for Select Sires. ABS started charging for filling my tank, and it seemed each time the amount went up. The 'new' person was an Angus breeder, and was not pushing Simm semen at the time, so I dropped my ABS contract. At the time, the only bull they had that I liked was Beef Maker. Select started filling my tank for free, since my daughter has a Select tank for her inventory. I became a Genex delegate, so I have to buy a certain amount to stay a member. So, between Select and Genex, I have lots of good bulls to choose from. I buy a little from Cattle Visions, but that might be a cane a year of a bull I want to try.
Frontline looks good, but has a lot of leather for me. I still like the numbers and pedigree on the new Genex bull, High Road.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I purchased semen for our NY group (about 25 farms participated). Genex & ABS virtually had nothing anyone wanted. I think we ordered 25 units from each - and my order was 430 units.

 

[simmrock]

I would be a little hesitant on the calving ease of High Road. The EPD's are promising, but some of these great numbered bulls actual birth weights and progeny's birth weights are not what I call calving ease. The maternal brother to High Road is WS Proclamation who tipped the scales at 100 and High Road was 94. I started looking at the dam through the ASA of the bulls and their progeny and examining the cow summary report. It lists the reported birth weight. I found several cases of 95-100+ calves out of bulls with great calving ease numbers. I am breeding 100% Simmental genetics, but I have 0% faith in the epds.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I would not be afraid of the BW of 100# on an AI bull.
The BW EPD is not important. CE takes BW & all other data into the calculations. I have 100+ calves all the time. I live in a cold environment. The environment, previous BW of the herds average all plays into CE.
If this is a new young bull with super low accuracies, out of unknown pedigree, maybe might have some concern.
But, this bull is out of Beacon, who has a 17 CE with 83% accuracy.
If you grow out your heifers properly (which Fire Sweep does), they should easily calve a 90# calf. I don't hesitate to recommend 12+ CE. High Road is 17 with a - 1 BW and 55% accuracy already.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

BTW - simmrock - welcome to the board!

 

[insurman]

Based on numbers alone, I like the High Road bull and you get a little shot of Beefmaker on the bottom side.

 

[Baldie Maker]

It will be interesting to see how High Road shakes out. He has two very good things going for him in my opinion; his mother is cranking out the good ones and producing top end bulls with tremendous figures and type year in and year out, granted she is still a young cow.
If he can sire more type than his sire he should be able to replace him if his figures stay the way they are now or improve. Beacon sired cattle can look pieced together, the thirds don't always look like they match up. In my limited experience with them they can be narrow and a little to flat ribbed, granted they have tremendous figures.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

"Beacon sired cattle can look pieced together, the thirds don't always look like they match up. In my limited experience with them they can be narrow and a little to flat ribbed, granted they have tremendous figures."

good description!

 

[kentuckyguy]

Firesweep did you ever find out any more info on Frosty?