Our bulls get muddy..they also get our cows bred. We don`t employ any bull baby sitters or hair dressers, and we don`t overfeed damaging a bull`s soundness and libido. When Buttress was 14 months old, he was turned out with four cows exhibiting estrous. In a mere 15 minutes, he mounted 8 times, successfully breeding a cow 6 times as we herded him from cow to cow.
As we have watched the various breeding trends over the years, some good and some quite ridiculous, reproduction, libido, and fertility have always been sacrificed. That is easily understood because reproduction in nature favors the average while human cattle breeding directions always favor the extremes. We have never selected for extremes in maternal lineages.
Messenger was retained as a herd sire to perpetuate the uniqueness of his dam. No, not as defined by EPD's, but her ability to stay in good flesh in a fescue environment while raising above average calves. Our herd bull selections are almost always based on maternal traits; the bull simply the carrier of the genes of our more profitable cows in a fescue and lower input feed environment. THE COW is the priority of our breeding program; not a by-product of selecting for the fashion of the moment.
427 will create daughters with
balance between the ability to produce excellent calves while maintaining body condition in lower input environments.
