Just some Simmentals

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

This last weekend was a nice day to bathe the kids heifers, so we decided to take them out and work with them. We are consigning a few head to our state sale in March, so we clipped on two and took some pictures for the sale catalog. Here goes:

This first photo is an 11 month old purebred bull (embryo) sired by Triple C Invasion. We will do weights on Saturday, but I would guess he is at least 1050 pounds.

This is my daughters Feb purebred, sired by Movin Forward. Her dam won champion purebred at Ozark Empire Fair in 2011. She is consigned to the sale also.

This is also a Feb purebred sired by Grandmaster. My oldest will show her as a bred and owned this year at Nationals.

This is my sons bred and owned heifer, an April Cut Above (Fat Butt) purebred. She is the sweetest heifer EVER!

And this is my middle daughter's show heifer for this year, a 3/4 blood Upgrade heifer. She has tons of hair, but we are dealing with ring worm around her neck (along with the Fat Butt heifer) so she shaved off their necks and heads to make it easier for the kids to treat.

All of these cattle are on little to no grain right now, since we are on the off season. So you are seeing the true animal, not a bunch of fat from feed! We are excited for our upcoming year, everything we are showing, except the Upgrade, are all bred and owned!
Anyway, thought I would share. Tonight, over 2 inches of rain and high winds, guess we can not complain since we need the water!

Oh, thought I would add this photo. This is our October bull twins sired by Rendition, both being raised by their dam. I think they look pretty good! She has passed over two cycles now, so AI bred to Final Cut for this fall. Pretty darn good cow to have twins, raise them, and bred back in 45 days! I sure love my Simmis!

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Nice cattle! I like the white faced heifer the best.

 

[mncowboy]

Nice animals and quite possibly the coolest freeze brand i've seen
:clap:

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Thanks guys! We really love our Simmi's. Fertile, great mothers, and supper attitudes.
MN Cowboy, we were real worried that the brand would be too busy once we branded a bunch, but I think it looks pretty good now! All the hair, it still shows up. Now we just need to narrow down the time, seems some of them (mostly the older cows) were done a little too long so there are spots where the white hair did not grow in, they are just bald. We learn each time we do it...

 

[inyati13]

Very nice cattle. I didn't know a bull could weigh that much at 11 months. These are really beautiful animals, I don't know anything about judging them but I do know that. I am glad my cows are all part Simmentals even more now than I did.

I also like that brand. One of my registered simangus cows from Rocking P has the Rocking P freeze branded on it and it is not nearly so crisp. My cattle are gentle but I have never tried breaking one to halter. Must be a rewarding experience to be able to lead your cattle around. Thanks for putting these pictures up, I love Bovines!

 

[jscunn]

I like the grandmaster, but they all look good.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Thanks guys! We really love our Simmi's. Fertile, great mothers, and supper attitudes.
MN Cowboy, we were real worried that the brand would be too busy once we branded a bunch, but I think it looks pretty good now! All the hair, it still shows up. Now we just need to narrow down the time, seems some of them (mostly the older cows) were done a little too long so there are spots where the white hair did not grow in, they are just bald. We learn each time we do it...

I can hear the old cowboys now,, what you think of the brand boss??... ahh its a little to busy :P nice calves

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I thought I would update some photos I took tonight.
This first one is one of the twins (there is another thread posted where they are nursing on their mother). They are late October born, and the only way we can tell them apart is the clip job.

This is a calf and her mother, a two year old, that is a late February purebred. She is sired by the ABS bull Ellington Dominator (Olie son), and her dam is a STF Dominator (no relation), so we called the calf Domi (what else could we call her????). She has a TON of bone and mass!

This is a embryo heifer calf sired by Club King out of a 3/4 blood dream on dam. She is our favorite so far this year, very feminine and thick! Her recip mom is one of our best cows, and this is her 3rd calf. She has a great udder! She is just a week old.

This is our next heifer due to calf in about 7 days. She is an Amigo, and her dam is the recip above. She will be two in April, and is having a Movin Forward AI calf. She is developing a very nice udder. She will get an embryo when she cycles back.

This is one of my favorite cows in the group. She is 4 years old, had had three calves, and is a fantastic mother. Her first calf we steered because we did not like his attitude, and he went on to win many champion titles at fairs, and won our carcass contest for the county. He finished out at 16 months, 1430 pounds, 845 pound carcass, huge ribeye (can not remember what), and won the carcass part even though he had a red hide and did not get CAB credit! He graded Choice, YG1. She raised an embryo the second time, and has another red bull calf this year that is as nice, if not nicer, than his brother two years ago. However, she will get an embryo this year since I have some really great genetics I need to get in, and she weans off the heaviest calves each year. Care to guess how much she weighs? Have not weighed her lately, but she typically runs around 1050 pounds! And a very good udder. Her front nipples are a little long, but by no means too long!!!

Just some photos I took tonight.... Enjoy :D

 

[3waycross]

Not pulling your chain but a Choice YG 1 out of a 1430lb steer is almost impossible. Was that score done by a USDA grader?

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

It was done by the slaughter facility, so I do not know if he was USDA or not. Now you are making me question my memory, I will have to go back and look at my daughter's notes for the project. Maybe he was YG 2? Let me check and get back to you.
But, my point was, this cow is small and very efficient. She raised a heck of steer that was lean, had a high dressing weight, and beat the angus calves in the contest hands down. We are currently eating him, and there is absolutely no fat in the hamburger when we cook it. The marbling on the steaks are wonderful, and we do not have to cut any fat off the edges (well, mostly - depends on if you like to eat the crispy BBQ flavor after it comes off the grill!). The only negative comment we ever got from judges was his size and lack of external fat (not enough cover over his ribs or around his tail head for his size). And, he had the best daily gain in the group. He was the second youngest, and finished the heaviest. He was a fun project to do because my daughter raised him out of her cow and got to see the end result of her genetics. Not many cattlemen do that, especially seed stock producers like us.
We have another steer entered for this year, out of one of our cows and an AI sire, and he is no where near as good or high performing as the steer she raised last year. This one is 3/4 Simm, 1/4 angus (BC Lookout). I look forward to the carcass data we get on him this summer.

 

[3waycross]

If that was the judges comments then he may well have been what you say!