While nothing is final until animals are bred, we will continue to prioritize our AI breedings for balanced maternal traits that still produce calves with down-the-line terminal/industry value. Observing performances of sires and programs utilized before, we have identified sires for intended use.
In addition to Connealy Impression and Consensus 7229 identified in 2019 AI Sires, AI sires we intend to use include:
TFS ALLIED FORCE 2630Z
We purchased a set of bred heifers from New Day Genetics bred to Allied Force that calved in 2017. We were excited for his paper numbers and phenotypic appearance. Seeing the performance of his progeny has been an evolution from skepticism to BELIEF. We developed his daughters with zero grain supplementation, overwintered on stockpiled fescue and orchardgrass with only a mineral tub and salt for supplement. When we pelvic measured and reproductive tract scored his daughters, he had smaller hip area, and less developed reproductive tracts compared to females calving a month earlier, and supplemented on grain alongside steers. That said, Allied Force daughters had a 100% single-service AI conception rate, zero calving issues (even through very inclement weather conditions), strong milk flow, and have maintained exceptional body condition on nothing more than hay, very marginal stockpiled pasture, salt, and a mineral tub. My only “complaint” is that I had to watch the first daughter of his to calve for two days post-calving in order to ensure I tagged the calf correctly because she remained as wide after calving as she did before, had a perfect udder that made me question the calf was nursing her, and, as she always kept her bull calf hid when grazing, I questioned her attentiveness…until her calf would bawl (or I would walk away and observe) and sure enough she always came back, knowing right where she left him.
This is a bull we saw in person this past fall. He is moderate framed, thick, and from a dam exemplified for fertility and breedback. Tender-10 comes from B/F Cattle Company in Butler, MO, a program with a heavy emphasis on maternal performance (and cow traits beyond paper EPDs). Tender-10’s dam began as a spring calver, and has been bred forward for the deliberate intent to become a fall calver. With this purpose, she has an average calving interval of 334 days on three live calves. Tender-10’s sire is a home raised bull with a maternal focus that still turns out strong carcass feeder calves. Seeing how the program producing him operates, and the performance records of both his dam and sire, Tender-10 is a bull we intend to use within our own herd for infusing exceptional fertility, maintaining moderate terminal size, but still giving calves a strong growth punch (especially when bred to SimAngus dams to create three-breed maternal composites).