THM Durango... thoughts?

[Alan]

I did a search on CT boards on this bull, THM Durango 4037. I like his BW and REA but was wondering how his daughters raise a calf, do their udders hold up? (assume she's out of a decent cow) Sounds like, from the previous comments, he throughs strong calves and does it with little problems. Anyone have or see any of his mature daughters? Any problems? Feel free to PM me if you like. Here's the link.

Thanks,
Alan

http://www.herfnet.com/online/cgi-bin/i ... 245822242D

 

[KNERSIE]

I think George used him quite a bit, try getting in touch with him.

 

[herefordchick]

Alan -

I have used Durango and am a BIG fan of the bull. He absolutely is a calving ease bull. On heifers you can use him as you would Legend - but expect quite a bit more growth & a lot more muscle expression. His EPD's have only improved with each evaluation. This is the third spring I will be expecting Durango calves and I ordered more semen on the bull last week to use again this spring.

As far as how the daughters udders hold up it is too early to tell, the maternal side of his pedigree leads me to believe he will improve udders. Durango just turned 5 himself. I did see some daughters in production last year and they were doing a nice job with their calves. Unfortunately my first calf crop out of him was all bulls so I don't have any of my own in production yet. According to the database he has 13 daughters in production with an ave ratio of 103 - pretty good for youngsters.

I saw Durangos dam 9036 (a 10 year old with a beautiful udder) and bought embryos out of her. I believe 9036 will prove to transmit even stronger udder quality traits than 29F.

Hope this helps.

 

[Alan]

Herefordchick,

Thanks for the good info on Durango. I may ask you in the future about daughter udder quality, but you pretty much answered the question on udders with his dam's as well as 29F's abilities to produce udders.

Also I know the problem well on too many bull calves, my first two years of calving I think I was like 18 bulls and one worthless heifer (28lb BW, yes that line is gone), it doesn't help the herd improve.

I haven't looked hard, but did you order Durango semen from an owner or does some outfit like Genex or ABS carry him?

Thanks again,
Alan

 

[krenwic]

The breeder of the bull is Tommy Mead @ Mead Cattle Enterprises in Midville, GA. I am angus breeder, but have been to the farm and liked the cattle. Look him up and give him a call.

 

[herefordchick]

Alan,

I ordered my semen direct from Tommy. He is an asset to the breed - if you ever have a question on his cattle never hesitate to call. I may be biased as I consider him a good friend but it is because of his dedication to the breed and his integrity as a breeder that we have become friends. You can look up his website http://www.meadcattle.com for more info and contact numbers.

If you have not had many 29F daughters of your own - you may not know although 29F is known or his milk EPD you will get some that have a little larger teat size than we would select for. I haven't had any horrible ones myself but a longer teat does happen on occasion from that line. I used 29F several years and also got almost exclusively bull calves. You guys will love this - I was soo happy with 29F on CE and growth - I was using him on baldy and commercial 1st calf heifers. This was back when semen was 25 a straw or 20 if you took a whole cane.

I think 9036 is going to make Durango a stronger maternal breeding bull than 29F.

Since you are in the West - you may want to contact Ned & Jan Ward in WY. They are great people to work with as well and they also own part of Durango. I believe they had him collected at Origen but I could be wrong on that. If you call well ahead of your breeding season you may find they can help you with the shipping. I think ABS markets some bulls collected at Origen - maybe your ABS rep could be helpful as well.

Most of my cows are bred to Durango & Nasdaq for this year - I expect I will mainly see bull calves! I swear the mark of a great bull is when he throws nothing but bulls for me.

Good luck!

 

[KNERSIE]

I swear the mark of a great bull is when he throws nothing but bulls for me.

I disagree, the mark of a truly great bull is that he will give you a few heifers the first year that you sell only to see them turning into great cows and all the subsequent years he will sire you great looking bulls out of your very worst cows with only one or two heifers a year to keep you interested enough to try and get those elusive heifers and great bullcalf out of the right cow untill his semen is no longer available or affordable. ;-)

 

[Herefords.US]

I think George used him quite a bit, try getting in touch with him.

I haven't used him.

I know I sure like the looks of his son that won Denver, although I realize he is also out of a former National Champion cow.

I think "redfornow" has used Durango and has/had calves. If I remember correctly, he wasn't as impressed as herefordchick is - which really surprised me.

Red?

George

 

[KNERSIE]

I think George used him quite a bit, try getting in touch with him.

I haven't used him.

I know I sure like the looks of his son that won Denver, although I realize he is also out of a former National Champion cow.

I think "redfornow" has used Durango and has/had calves. If I remember correctly, he wasn't as impressed as herefordchick is - which really surprised me.

Red?

George

Sorry, I got the two of you mixed up, I now remember it was red.

 

[herfdog]

I found this post on a search for Durango this picture is off the AHA web site
I thought he looked really good in the picture. What do you all think?
I just ordered some semen from him.