OUR PROGRAM
THE COW HERD
Our cows are mainly pastured on native grass, stubble and straw swaths until the beginning of December when we start feeding. We then feed hay and straw until they are finished calving. Finally they get a mix of hay and greed feed until the pastures are ready for grazing. Our calves are not creep fed with the exception of our show calves.
We stress breeding for longevity, milk and udder quality, soundness and good
feet in our cows families. We have 15 main cow families that we have been
developing since 1942. Many of these families go back to the original
Mischief line Dave Girletz developed in the early 50's. Each cow family has
it's own strengths however, longevity is strong in all of them.
ON THE PLATE
2002 Reserve Grand Champion Hereford Steer at The Calgary Stampede
Even though many cattlemen focus on genetic performance in the pasture, we trace performance right to the meat quality. We make our assumptions from ultrasound data and feedback from our private beef customers on taste, texture and how the meat cooks. Ultrasound is done on all heifers and bulls included in the breeding program. We try to directly link marbling to maternal milk (instead of feed ration) by having calves tested at 10.5-11 months or as soon as they are weaned. The downside of this is they are too young to be recognized for carcass EPD's. We believe some cow families to be dominant in producing good carcasses in their offspring. In our cow herd the four families that are the strongest in doing so are the Blueprint's, Victoria's, Rose's and Woodrow's. In the 2002 Calgary Exhibition and Stampede Carcass Competition our steer and heifer (both purebred polled hereford) tested the second highest for marbling over all breeds in their classes. The steer placed fifth out of 81 head, he had the largest rib eye out of the top five and lost the win by 3 points for being 2.2lbs over the weight restriction. In 2003 our two steers placed in the top ten percent in the carcass competition. All three successful steers were out of the same cow family.
By using our line bred cow families we've improved our carcass genetics and are coming closer to determining what will benefit our program even further. In the future we will be testing the amount of butterfat and protein in a mothers milk to see what the relationship is between this, higher marbling and the T.T. gene.
THE BULLS
The majority of our bulls are home raised, we rarely purchase bulls from any o herd. We use A. I. in a lot of our program so we can control the background of the cows family. We like to raise bulls with a smooth shoulder, strong top and large, straight testicles. We want a bull to mature at a weight of 2400-2700lbs. We feel that eye set is more important than pigment for and animal to withstand the elements and breed for this quality. We breed for bulls that produce a standard gestation period in their offspring. We believe that calves that go overtime in their gestation are more than likely to pass this to their offspring resulting in eventual larger birth weights.
All of our sale bulls are raised on free range pasture and oat crop and get good excersize. We have found that daily excersize leads to a longer life in the breeding stock. We have received positive feedback from our buyers on the longevity of the bulls that they buy.
Watch for our display at the Calgary Stampede, Farmfair International, Alberta Polled Power Sale and the Lacombe Bull Sale.