R. A. Bull; Custer

[Baldie Maker]

Thoughts, comments, concerns, and experiences with this bull. How are his females and sons?

Here is a link... http://selectsires.com/beef/directory/d ... /7AR47.pdf

 

[dun]

His EPDs pretty much suck except for calving ease. Even Above and Beyond from ABS does better and makes good practicle daughters:
http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/redang ... o=29AR0183

 

[3waycross]

If you are looking for a bull with very nice balance for maternal this is the prototype, he is a cow maker. However his carcass numbers are poor.

It's pretty hard to find it all in one package.

http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/redang ... o=29AR0129

I was going to delete this after hearing from Dun that he had some fairly serious issues with this bull, I think it's better to just retract it and hope that Dun will post his information RE, BC HOBO.

It would appear that the carcass issues were greater than even I thought and his calving ease numbers might not be totally reliable because of structural issues.(coarse shoulders).

 

[BRG]

We raised Custer and used him naturally the first year. His calves have decent performance and they came out small. The only reason we don't use him anymore are his sons testicles were a little smaller than I like to see, and his dam milks to much for our program. I haven't seen him since he left our ranch when he was about 18 months old. At that time, he was real correct on his feet and legs and had a good straight top line, plus his muscle was above average for a calving ease sire. If you want to sleep at night, he is the kind of bull to use. By the way, we don't get any revenue off of his semn, so I really have nothing to gain here.

 

[Sage]

What are you looking for in a bull, breeding him too and so on. I personally like Hobo, make real working cows nothing spectacular but haven't seen much bad either. He is dead and $35/straw. For calving ease look at Brown Celebration and Brown Commitment, I feel a little better growth than Above and Beyond but not the high accuracies that he has.

 

[Brandonm22]

and his calving ease numbers might not be totally reliable because of structural issues.(coarse shoulders).

First of all the bull is a Red Angus. Secondly, he is a Red Angus with a birth weight EPD of -8.1! With those kinds of projected birth weights the shoulders shouldn't really be any concern at all. A heifer who can't have the typical calf out of a Red Angus in the top 1% of the breed for low birth weights wouldn't have had the calf no matter what you bred her too or what his shoulders were like.

 

[W.T]

B.C Hobo 1961 is a very good choice. It has been said that you could drive a truck threw his daughters pelvises. I have a very firm understanding that if you never pull a calf you will never have too. These 1961 cattle that we have fit this profile very well. I check heifers twice a week, and these bloodlines have done well where others have failed. EPD'S can mislead you in a hurry. If a cow can't have a calf it doesn't matter how low the bull numbers are she still can't have a calf. Use 1961 and be glad you did.

 

[dun]

B.C Hobo 1961 is a very good choice. It has been said that you could drive a truck threw his daughters pelvises. I have a very firm understanding that if you never pull a calf you will never have too. These 1961 cattle that we have fit this profile very well. I check heifers twice a week, and these bloodlines have done well where others have failed. EPD'S can mislead you in a hurry. If a cow can't have a calf it doesn't matter how low the bull numbers are she still can't have a calf. Use 1961 and be glad you did.

His daughters do calve easy but how easy were the daughters born. We had to pull every calf he sired amd they weren;t as small as one would expect. We also took a beating on his sons when we retained ownership.
My preference is Basin 79E rather Hobo or A&B, I notice he isn;t listed anymore. His fsaughters make really good cows but not the power cows that hobo does.

 

[W.T]

Dun We have weighed calves for years and have found that cow families have as much if not more to do with birth wt than bulls. It is my theory it is far better to have a cow that can have a calf unassisted than one that has a small calf. Too much of any thing is too much, and too little is too little. 1961 has proven that his daughters can have calves and he sires calves that can be born. His CETM and CED bear this out. Few Bulls of any breed can due this, and leave good hands off cattle behind. A bull is usually 10 years old before you know if he is any good or not, 1961, EXT, 6807. They work!

 

[dun]

Dun We have weighed calves for years and have found that cow families have as much if not more to do with birth wt than bulls. It is my theory it is far better to have a cow that can have a calf unassisted than one that has a small calf. Too much of any thing is too much, and too little is too little. 1961 has proven that his daughters can have calves and he sires calves that can be born. His CETM and CED bear this out. Few Bulls of any breed can due this, and leave good hands off cattle behind. A bull is usually 10 years old before you know if he is any good or not, 1961, EXT, 6807. They work!

The calves didn;t have excessive weight they were very short chunky bodied. Treid him on a Hereford one year and had to pull the calf so I figured it was the cow. Tried him on 6 Red Angus heifers the next year and it was the same deal. Other then the Herford all of the RA are still in the herd and calf unassisted as do their daughters. None of the RA breeders around here ever used him so I don;t know how he's worked out in other herds. I know his EPDs but the sure were inaccuarte for CE for us.

 

[brandonm_13]

What are you planning to use him on? Are you going to keep heifers, or maybe a bull out of him?

I think if you're worried about birthing (especially heifers), he's a great choice. Shouldn't have to worry. BTW, are you breeding to Red Angus Cows or another breed?

 

[Baldie Maker]

I wondered what he would be like on some black heifers that i have.. I really liked his muscling and his numbers for ce and bw.

 

[dun]

I wondered what he would be like on some black heifers that i have.. I really liked his muscling and his numbers for ce and bw.

The same as he would be on a red heifer except the calves would be balck. If the hblack heifers carry a red gene there is a chance you would get some red calves.

 

[ArmyDoc]

Out of curiosity, what does everyone think of Ole's Oscar?

http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/redang ... o=29AR0225

 

[redcowsrule33]

I'd like him, but his HPG and Stayability are too low for my taste. Seeing as their accuracy numbers are still fairly low that could change but I will wait for that to happen before I use him.

 

[3waycross]

I'd like him, but his HPG and Stayability are too low for my taste. Seeing as their accuracy numbers are still fairly low that could change but I will wait for that to happen before I use him.

If you look up his pedigree on the RA website you will find more up to date accuracy numbers for HPG and STAY, they do not look real good. I suppose this could be from the transition from Canadian to American but it doesn't bode well for the fertility and longevity of his daughters. The fact that he is 7 yrs old could be considered since his first daughters are only now approaching 5 yrs of age. Other than that I like the rest of his numbers a lot.

 

[Sage]

I have seen his calves at weaning and yearling, both times they were nice thick calves. I do feel his bull calves are stronger than his heifers, maybe the heifers just lacked a little eye appeal. I don't know how his daughters are ptoduction wise from first hand experience. I have thought about using him a few times, maybe this year time will tell.

 

[ollie?]

A friend has used him quite a bit. The calves came fine for him but the foot structure wasn't the best.

 

[3waycross]

A friend has used him quite a bit. The calves came fine for him but the foot structure wasn't the best.

that's funny since that's one of the things they touted him for on the ABS website, correct feet.

 

[Sage]

Getting back to BC Hobo 1961, we bred 2 heifers to him last year and now they bith have calved. The first was born on 1/20/09, an 83lb bull calf with no assistance. The second was born 2/6/09 as what I would consider a hard pull(more than one person without using a puller). The secound looks to be all of 80+lbs and the hang up was the head and shoulders. Both thse are out of RA heifers about 950-1000lbs.

Now I like Hobo, used a son of his for clean up for several years and this was the first 1961 calf I have had to pull but his problems are at the head and shoulders all the way back to the rump. To p[ut it is simple terms they are wide calves. I will try and get a pictue of the calf and heifer tomorrow when we weigh the calf.