Replacement Heifers

[Lazy M]

Lazy M,
To make a long story short, a neighbor bought a bull from them in 2000. As a 2 yr old he was what I considered a model Angus bull. Dad went with him a year later picked up our first bull from there and our program really took off from there in every measurable way, fertility improved, weaning weights improved, carcass weight improved, etc.

We are south of the fescue belt, but the same cattle that thrive in fescue, thrive down here. Slick haired cattle do better down here and all they need is just some shade trees in the summer. It is becoming harder to find in popular genetics, the frame I am looking for, most of the Sydgen cattle have enough frame to suit me.

We use a lot of their genetics AI because I do get to see a lot of the bulls as yearlings and again as mature bulls so I can make my own opinion as to their strengths and weaknesses. I get the opportunity to see lots of calves out of those sires as well. I get to form my own opinion as to what I think will help our herd or maybe certain sires or lines to stay away from..

Thanks. I started admiring the Sydgen program whenever I purchased my first CC&7 son. I really like their cattle. They're often a little more framey than I prefer, but great cattle regardless.

 

[Midtenn]

I have a cc7 granddaughter just bred for first time today. also a couple of 3 month old heifers out of black pearl. I like them all so far but to me they are a bit "bull looking". I just wonder is this a sydgen thing. Not sure If I care as long as they perform on down the road. Just wondering do you notice the same thing in yours.

 

[jscunn]

Lazy M,
Like every other program there are sires at Sydgen that tend to sire alittle less frame. Lots of their bulls are what I call "frame neutral" (dont add or take away frame much either way).
Two bulls to think about if you wanted to reduce frame size (still fescue tolerant cattle) Sydgen Aim and Sydgen Mandate.

MidTen,
The Black Pearls can be alittle dirty fronted which is what I assume you mean by bullish looking. The Trust cattle could be that way, but they are fertile milk machines so it doesnt bother me alot. We have one Cool x CC&7 daughter (pictured above) that sure is feminine looking. I would think the Rockstar would be prettier fronted than the black pearls but still have that deep rib, deep flank performance look to them.

 

[Fernowranch]

Nice Heifers you have there Mister

 

[jscunn]

Thank you

 

[JWBrahman]

Jeanne you see them exactly the same way I do. I certainly wish the cool was deeper as well. Really pretty fronted and moves as close to perfect as you can draw it up. Really stylish with pretty poor EPDs.

And I wasn't meaning the comments in a bad way. I like them all for replacements. Just being super picky. I find it easier to criticize really good cattle for people that KNOW good cattle, rather than a real POS, that you will definitely hurt the owners feelings.

You can pick any of em apart if you try hard enough. When you get a group like that It's time to evaluate the stuff we can't see in the photo.
1) Docility
2) Sire's Caracas data and genome test results
3) Genome data on heifers

This year there was so much choice there was hardly a price difference between select and choice.

 

[jscunn]

JWB,

I agree with you about identifying the things a photo wont show you. I will give you an honest opinion on the three things you mentioned.

1. Docility is good on all the heifers, docility is extremely important to me. It is so much more than just attitude, docile cattle gain better, grade better, and are easier on facilities.

2. The one weak point of the sire of most of the heifers here is his carcass EPDs. Only scanned one son so far, he did fairly well against the entire group of bulls on the test but got hammered by his contemporaries from our place at that bull test. Sire didnt scan great, looking forward to his first set of steers to see how well they grade. For that reason we use AI sires that I feel are very strong for both IMF and REA among the other traits that are important, to give us a female base that brings that strength to the table. The natural service sire of these heifers is really strong for both IMF and REA, but not so strong for WW and YW.

3. Ran DNA on last years replacement heifers, might be a couple of years before I do it again. Very disappointed with the results, dont necessarily believe them to begin with. I am not sure they (the genomics companies) know what they need to look for yet.