GAR Hometown vs GAR Ashland

[Colorado greenhorn]

I've never been a fan of Gardiner genetics because most of them I saw over the years looked like they should be terminal, which I guess is where that group of enthusiasts make their money so I understand that. Several years ago while attending the Troy Marshall dispersal I was taken aback by the depth and makeup of most of the MCC Daybreak daughters so the following year I put in a couple canes of GAR Sunrise, the sire of Daybreak and came away with several beautiful cows. Fast forward several years and we used a couple canes of Ashland in some cows that needed some carcass help and came away with some nice calves, but nothing I thought was remarkable or special. Last fall at the Ken Hass dispersal in Wyoming I picked up several cows bred to GAR Hometown and the calves have come out very square, thick and correct with just a touch more frame than I would like, but nonetheless nice calves. Talk about your experiences with the two aforementioned bulls so I can plan my future matings where carcass help is needed

 

[wbvs58]

Well to me the big difference between the two bulls is the price of the semen. I looked at trying Hometown for this year but baulked at the price here. I have been very happy with Ashland, his first heifers are calving this week so will be interesting to see what sort of job they do on their calves. I am also using an Ashland son for cleanup on my cows this year so a bit more along the Ashland line was not necessary. He is going to be a big boy which I don't mind, he is out of a Renown daughter. I like putting the GAR genetics over the SAV cows.

Ken

 

[GoWyo]

I like to see MCC Daybreak on the cow side. They seem to have really strong weaning weights. Had one Hometown bull calf and culled him as a yearling for bad feet, slab sided, bad attitude -- only had the one Hometown calf and he could have gotten a lot of the bad from his dam who went on the same trailer ride for calving late. I bought his dam as a bred heifer from a dispersal sale. Was tinkering with adding some carcass and wanted to see how they compared to our own cows. Of 4 females purchased, two are gone, one has a couple strikes and the fourth is really a nice cow doing a great job. So far really leery of monkeying with carcass genetics. Plenty of other bull raisers focusing on carcass. I'll stick to the maternal focus. Always s looking for the maternal genetics that have some MARB and RE though.

 

[jscunn]

Well to me the big difference between the two bulls is the price of the semen. I looked at trying Hometown for this year but baulked at the price here. I have been very happy with Ashland, his first heifers are calving this week so will be interesting to see what sort of job they do on their calves. I am also using an Ashland son for cleanup on my cows this year so a bit more along the Ashland line was not necessary. He is going to be a big boy which I don't mind, he is out of a Renown daughter. I like putting the GAR genetics over the SAV cows.

Ken

interesting fire and ice mating.. probably works pretty darn well..