Gettysburg Stars & Stripes Sale - Simmental

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Sale catalog is on line.
http://www.edjesales.com/parke/starsand ... index.html
we have 8 lots in it.

 

[Australian]

Are there any traditional Simmental cattle still in the US? That catalogue apart from a couple of reds looked just like an Angus sale. Why isn't there many white faced balck Simmentals about in the US? Here in Australia most of the Black Simmentals that I have seen have all had White faces. Thankfully most breeders here have stuck with the traditional colour which allows Hereford breeders to use them and not destroy their line of white faced cattle.Australian cattle breeders in general are much more pure orientated than US breeders, who are happy to have anything in them to try and sell them. Brahman breeders here are just starting to see the adverse effects of some US imports,temperament problems and poor fertility. The big winners in the Brahman breed will be those that have stuck to predominately old tried and true bloodlines with in built doing ability.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

This is a PUREBRED Simmental sale. If there were any Fullbloods in this sale they would get slammed - price wise. The FB have their own sale with their own clientel.
I think we have less white faced blacks here in USA, because any with White legs get discounted. And anytime you have white faces, the white leg gene seems pretty close behind. They are "perceived" as carrying the spotting gene - which pretty much noone - except FB breeders - will buy for anything more than commercial market price. Sad but true - color dictates price. I LOVE white face - especially blaze, or a splash of white somewhere. Very striking!! But, I can't sell them for good prices, soooo -
As I have said on here many times - I don't care if my cattle are purple & polka dotted - just so they are good - but I'm breeding cattle to make money. I can have good cattle of any color - so color is the least of "MY" personal preferences.

 

[Australian]

Fullblood and purebred are treated the same here in Australia. Fullbloods would attract a premium here and if a purebred was presented and it was a good example of the breed it would be snapped up. I just don't like the way the US and Canada are besotted by the "Black regime" Good traditional breeds are being corrupted by the desire for black cattle. I think to have a commercial herd with blacks is fine but when seedstock producers are promoting blacks at the expense of the way the cattle are traditionally bred. I still can't see why someone goes into a breed that doesn't want to promote them as they are meant to be. Maybe a small proportion of a herd to satisfy those customers who couldn't care less about the colour or what breed is underneath maybe acceptable. I'm not having a go at the quality of the cattle on offer but it still baffles me.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Like I previously said, I really don't care about color - no matter what breed. But, IMO, the modern American bred Simmentals are far superior to the thick neck, wasty leather, hard calving old fashion fullbloods. There are some decent fullbloods showing up, with cleaner lines, and they are working on their calving ease. But, if you are to survive as a cattle breeder, you have to be able to produce cattle that will work in a commercial situation. Which means they better be easy keepers & easy calving.
I LOVE the modern Simmental. They are easy keepers, fertile, good milkers (without having TOO much milk) and easy calving.
I can remember lots of big, lazy calves. Bags with way too much milk. What a pain. Labor intensive. No thank you. Our calves are born quickly & jump right up & are sucking right away. I love it! :heart:

 

[Frankie]

Congratulations, Jeanne. Looks like you guys did ok at the sale. And some of them are coming to Oklahoma.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Frankie - well I hope we do "do well". But, the sale isn't for another 2 weeks! Must be you saw another sale?? Just had the vet out today doing health papers. Got 4 cow/calf pairs, bred fall heifer, bred spring heifer & fall open heifer calf. We'll be trucking them on 5-3 - sale is 5-9.
I hope that's a sign things are going to go well :banana:

 

[Frankie]

Frankie - well I hope we do "do well". But, the sale isn't for another 2 weeks! Must be you saw another sale?? Just had the vet out today doing health papers. Got 4 cow/calf pairs, bred fall heifer, bred spring heifer & fall open heifer calf. We'll be trucking them on 5-3 - sale is 5-9.
I hope that's a sign things are going to go well :banana:

Jeeze. I've looked thru "history" on my browser and can't find whatever page I thought I saw! Did I dream it? Hopefully it's a "sign" for your success. Good luck at the sale.....

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Frankie - thanks. We have a strong line-up - soooo
We just blocked out our Macho fall heifer calf yesterday. She had about 4" of hair - I LOVE blocking them out for the first time like that. MAJOR difference. Ran each one thru the chute yesterday - touched up clip job & put sale tags in ears - 12 head. Gotta run the yearlings & cows thru AGAIN today for TB check.