the name of Harvey. The fact is, we didn't even pay attention to his name until we had narrowed him down along with several other candidates we had been looking at in different sales. We decided to go to the Magnolia Show and Sale and give this bull a look. Well, Chunk walked away from the show that day as Grand Champion Bull, despite him being just a yearling, and then he walked right into our trailer! We knew Chunk was not a show bull as he was only moderate in size, but our kids enjoyed showing him on 4 other occasions (between breedings), and he always walked away a Champion. Chunk was actually used on a group of heifers initially, despite his 6.1 BW EPD at the time. His resulting calves ranged from 65 to 78 lbs.
His BW EPD has climbed since his purchase, partly due to his sire, but he has still managed to maintain an overall average of 86 lbs on his offspring (below breed average). This figure includes the occasional 100 lb plus calf that he will sometimes give, but they have typically been on cows that have large calves to begin with. These also come from cows who have been on lush, high protein pastures, or from animals being fed extremely well. As some breeders would tell you, this can be considered a sign of high performance and growth, as the calves genetically respond to this nutrition while in the womb. To date, we nor anyone else who has used chunk has had any calving difficulties which can be attributed to the bull. All calves have come unassisted with the exception of one breech calf from a second time heifer, and a first time heifer with a front leg bent back, which she promptly spit out once the leg was adjusted. Both were minor assists, both calves were in the 70's , and both were born live. He has proven himself to be a calving ease bull with over eighty calves born, despite his BW EPD. Chunk's EPD accuracies will only improve as we plan on using him for many years to come. He will continue to have progeny being evaluated for weight gain and carcass, and we will continue to see his son's and daughters (like the one shown in Current events) coming into production and being used in our program. Chunk is not eligible for registered semen sales and can only be used commercially as his momma was struck by lightning and lost, before we even considered collecting him to sell.
We are not sure how well Chunk's daughters will milk out yet, as there are only a handful in production and being reported on. There are several daughters with excellent udders and, and most have very functional udders. Several of the daughters have already milked out calves above a 100% ratio in their contemporary groups. The son's we have used, and seen used in other programs are giving excellent offspring whether used in straight breeding or in a cross. Pictures of these calves can be seen by going to our commercial bulls page. Chunk is getting older now. He moves a little slower, looks a little more worse for wear, but he remains gentle and gets the cows settled quickly. Almost without exception, all his calves have great dispositions. Chunk has had more influence over our program than any other sire we have used to date. He marks his calves with thickness, has daughters who reach early puberty (a few too early), and gives us a good return on his offspring. To put is in a cattleman's terms......."Chunk just flat gets the job done! "
Farms
The Harvey's
Tom & Tina
Double
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Newsletter
Table of Contents:
Preface
Well, this is our second attempt to provide a forum which exposes you to us and our operation. Hopefully the last newsletter captured your interest and you returned for more. If you missed the January newsletter, you can read it by going to the link on the bottom of this page. We would like to thank those of you who provided comments in regards to the last newsletter. Please feel free to email us anytime!
I. HUMOR
Don't wait until the last minute! (True story)
When we first moved out to the country, our land needed allot of clearing, fencing, and tank building before we could even consider putting cattle on it. I had built a chicken coup so we could get some farm fresh eggs, and fenced off a small portion of woods so we could get some "cute" goats to speed up the process of brush removal (a goat can go where a bull dozer can't...and they ain't cute!). We felt these things would help initiate our small kids into the farm way of life until we could get the cattle. One day, the kids and I were at the local feed store picking up some chicken scratch, goat feed and other necessary farm equipment, and as my luck would have it, the proprietor "had to have" a baby calf in a small pen for sale! I managed to clear the store, convincing the kids I would think about it. Of course, I just might have well said yes at that point, cause I was relentlessly badgered the rest of the day. I finally came up with a solution (a 50/50 chance). I told my 7 year old son to call the feed store up, and find out if the calf was a heifer; if she was, then we would get it. So, Matt made the call. It was a heifer...dang! You should have seen the victory march my kids made into the feed store to buy that $80 heifer.......except it wasn't a heifer! It was a bull! I had been swindled, and the smiles on my kids faces told me they knew it all along!
One hundred, and twenty-five dollars later (milk replacer, bottle, etc.), the calf was loaded into the back of the pick-up and reluctantly brought home. We steered him, and named him "Hal". The kids had a new best friend, and were delighted in the fact he would take a bottle so readily. Of course I had to drop everything and build a new pen, complete with cover.....grumbling under my breath the whole time. In some ways, I suppose the early morning bottle feedings taught our kids about responsibility, and growing up with the large animal helped them to lose any fears they had towards other grown cattle we eventually accumulated. The days passed, and Hal grew, and grew,...and grew. My daughter eventually found favor in new baby goats, and all but lost interest in the now bigger, and not so cute Hal, but Matt and Hal had became great friends. Hal was doglike, and followed you wherever you went. When Matt was bored, he went out and practiced roping on his new best friend, and when he was bored with roping he would go to steer wrestling. When he was bored with wrestling he would go to riding ol' Hal! One time we planted a couple hundred trees on the fence row. Hal followed, and twice, drank all of our portable water supply we had carried with us for planting. When we had finished planting the 1,300 feet of fence row and looked back to see our work, Hal had already, and systematically, either chewed the top off the young trees, or pulled the seedlings completely out of the ground! This is when I knew....Hal must go!
For some time I had been telling Matthew that one day we would "eat" Hal. He of course, never took me serious. Hal was over two when I finally penned him up and began to feed him grain. We had a discussion with Matthew about Hal, and we came to an agreement. If Hal was to go to slaughter, we would buy him a show heifer, since none of the crossbreds we were running would work. He reluctantly accepted this agreement. When Hal had fattened up sufficiently, I called and made an appointment at the local slaughter house. I made it for a school day, so Matt would be gone when Hal was taken away, and he would never have to say goodbye. As my luck would have it,...it rained the day before his delivery to the slaughter house. The next day I waited as long as I could in hopes that the pasture would dry out sufficiently enough for me to get in and out. I was about half way out of the pasture with Hal when the ground broke loose; I was helplessly stuck! Pressed for time, I fired up the John Deere Model A. I first pulled my truck free, then hooked up to the trailer and drug it to dryer ground. Two hours had passed since this pasture fiasco had began. I finally got the trailer hooked back up and was in my truck ready to pull away when....as luck would have it, the school bus pulled up!
Out jumped the kids, and they ran to meet me on the road. Of course the first question from Matt just happened to be "Where are you going with Hal?". Oh, you should have the heard gnashing of teeth and wailing which accompanied my answer. He begged to go with me, but I knew better. Sternly I told him to go back to the house, and I drove off. My son dropped his books and ran after the trailer calling out Hals name, " Hal, come back, Hal". My emotions ran, and I could only compare this moment to the ending of the Movie "Shane". He was begging to go with me, but I would not stop. Why me! Why did I wait until the last minute......will he ever forgive me? So, Hal became hamburger. Matt would not eat Hal, but our daughter Melissa did, and with such enthusiasm that it made Matt sull-up even more at the meals in which Hal was being served! A couple weeks later a new Hereford heifer calf made it's way into Matt's heart. The rest is history!
The moral of the story:
If you are going to start something new, then know where
it will lead you, or what your outcome will be in the end.
If you do not anticipate these things, your efforts will
lack direction and may end up hurting you in the end.
From a cattle raisers point of view:
All cattle operations are not created equal. Know what your intentions are up front and forecast where you should be in the future, or one day you might find yourself stuck in the pasture!
II. INFORMATIVE
"Chasing the carrot" - Can those Champions really make a difference?
This is all personal opinion. No articles were used as a basis to express my thoughts, so you can take it for what it is worth!
There are those out there that believe a good show animal means a good breed animal. If the cattle in a show are judged in a certain order, then it must be because those animals are the best breed stock...right? Any wise cattleman would tell you, that breeding a large frame, and grain feeding an animal to get it to "it's best genetic potential", is not only impractical, but is in no way, indicative of what commercial cattlemen need. Only the feed lots are concerned with genetic potential based on feed, and even then they are only concerned with the carcass quality and the weight gain to finish a 12 to 15 month old feeder calf at about 1,200lbs. They can't do this with a show size 7 and 8 frame steer either! As seedstock breeders we have a responsibility to promote the breed, not false advertise it! Too many people are drawn into the business with high expectations and false hopes, based on what breeders represent, or misrepresent their cattle to be, and in many cases what their cattle can do.
Much to often we look at paper, and not hard data. A beautiful looking, 2,300 lb 2 year old bull who just won National Champion is advertised based on his physical merits, which are obviously not a representation of what the animal did in a "natural" environment. In fact, this bull will probably not even see pasture and/or natural breeding until after his show career, when he is 3 years of age, but you can bet his semen will flood the market. These animals are coddled from as early as infancy, and many times, never had to perform in a contemporary grouping. There is more money spent advertising and showing this animal, then most ranchers would spend feeding their whole herd for a year! Breeders jump on the wagon (I think now they call these a "breeders group, or syndicate"), and just like new stock on the market, they cause it's value to accelerate rapidly. Just as that "bull" market reaches it's pinnacle and begins to falter, here comes another wagon for the next year. It is a vicious cycle, and for those who are able to afford it and are willing to risk their breed stock on an unproven animal.. I wish you the best!
The advantage these wealthy breeders and experienced advertisers have is that they know that over 90% of the customers they attract will only use that "great bull" on their absolute best animals, in hopes of getting offspring and selling a nice specimen while they are hot! This perpetuates the perception that the bull is siring great calves everywhere! However, the realization occurs that he is not so great about 2, 3 and 4 years later when the bulls daughters don't perform up to par. To add insult to injury, you began to use this bull on all your average and below average cows in hopes of bringing the herd up, and get no better results than you had with your previous "home grown" sire. It can take years to come to the realization that the bull flat did not work! This happens to be the way many a great champion has fallen in the past. After several cycles of bulls you realize the only way to salvage your herd is to have a dispersal (of sorts), and with good advertising, sell this low performance stock with great champions in their lines, into other seedstock herds. So are we really helping ourselves as breeders, or are we merely patting each other on the back.
The same is true with Show heifers. We see these heifers flushed, without ever having raised any natural offspring. The calves we see advertised and marketed from them are from heavy milking recipient cows, and have usually been fed through weaning age. Thus the vicious cycle continues again, without the said animal ever proving itself on it's own merit. Many of these champion females are flushed to the point they can never even prove they are capable of having 3 calves in three years in a pasture environment! These female's large frames require extra nutrition in order to maintain a condition which will promote breeding (a common reason for cattle not getting bred), and the same large frame will inevitably cause the animals to break down in the pasture, long before their time. Did you ever ask yourself how come we see 20 or more show calves in a January class at early ages, but only see three or four of these same animals later on in their senior class with calves on their sides? The show bulls end up being so large they are not practical for breeding naturally. They will break down the cow, or break themselves down trying to breed. Moreover, the heavy muscling you see in show cattle can lead to serious calving problems down the road. Commercial cattlemen know these things. It is amazing that we sometimes choose to ignore them for the sake of bringing in the customer, but who is our customer in the end if it is not the commercial cattleman?
So, before chasing the carrot, ask yourself if that show champion can really make a difference in your herd, and if so, will that difference benefit the commercial cattleman and your fellow seedstock breeders. Then, with a common sense approach, make those champions prove it! There are some show cattle out there that end up making excellent breed stock, but the fact remains that there are separate mentalities and motivations when it comes to the selection of each. You should use the ones who have proven themselves over time, not over advertising. If you want the best indication of what that show bull or show heifer can do for you, then put them in your average cows and see if you get "across the board" improvement in your herd as a result.
III.FARM NEWS:
The Hereford Breeders Online Auction, slated for September of 2005, will probably be the next best time to pick up some of our upcoming breed age bulls and heifer calves. Check out the "Auctions" link on our "Sale Barn" page!
Our main herd sire RF Harvey 1G 17J turned 6 years old this month. "Happy Birthday Chunk!"
If you are interested in owning interest on RF Harvey 1G 17J, or on our other bull, Gillespie Malachi M201 (owned with Willis Polled Herefords), please contact us.
IV. CURRENT EVENTS:
The South Texas Polled Hereford Association Sale is scheduled for Sunday March 5th. If you are looking for registered stock, especially bulls, this is a good sell to attend. There is a 2 year old bull out of one of our DOD's (DBLH Haleos ML17) being offered by Robbie Morish of Bar S Cattle Co. He is Lot #7. A yearling half brother to him sold at STPHA last year for $1,950. Here is a picture of him as a yearling, just before going to Bar S Cattle Co.
Born: 9/15/02 BW: 88lbs
WW: 590lbs
RF Harvey 1G 17J x DBLH Angel H805 YW: 874lbs (on pasture)
(DOD) Weighed: 1,135lbs on 12/6/03 EPD's: BW 6.4 WW 44 YW 65 MM 15 MG 37
The North East Texas Hereford Sale, which is the oldest continuous Hereford sale in the State of Texas, is scheduled for March 12th. This is another good opportunity to pick up registered stock. There looks to be plenty of females in the sale this year.
This year we were unable to consign to both sales due to unforeseen circumstances at the end of 2004, but we will have cattle to sell in the next sales scheduled for 2006!
It's a Girl! One of the kids showing a heifer bred by us, just let us know her heifer calved an 82lb calf on 2/13/05 to Feltons 621. The Momma of the show heifer just happens to be the cow we highlighted in last months newsletter. Congratulations Casey!
V. HEREFORD HIGHLIGHTS:
This is our second attempt to highlight an animal from our program. We will continue to be honest in our evaluation of these animals, and not sensationalize them to much...:)
RF HARVEY 1G 17J
02/03/1999
It would have been easy enough to just refer you to Chunk's page on our web site and let you read about him there, but it seemed appropriate to highlight him, since he has been so influential in our program. Besides, he turned six years old this month!
Well, that about wraps it up. We certainly hoped you enjoyed the newsletter! Email us and let us know what you think.
ThankyouTom and Tina HarveyPerformance on the Hoof!
Performance on the Hoof!
Performance on the Hoof!
February 2005
Sometimes it's not just about the bull,.....
......it's about what the bull can do!
Matthew and his heifer a year later!
From Pasture.... ....to Show.... . ...to production!
Click on picture to enlarge
We found Chunk in February of 2000 during our search for a new herd bull. We were very impressed by his lineage. His sire S&S Basic 1G had just come out of nowhere to win both National Champion Bull and more importantly, Genetic Focus Bull. No bull to that point had ever won both in the same year. Moreover, his sire came from a ranch known for raising good females, and was also in the top ten ranches for Dam's of Distinction. Combine that with a 103T daughter on the maternal side and we saw potential. All these things together led us to believe Chunk had more behind him than just a show bull for a daddy. It was only coincidence that Chunk carried
Chunks Sire "Basic".
Chunk as a yearling Chunk at 2 years Chunk at 3 years Chunk at 4 years
Well, that wraps up our second newsletter, we hope you found it as interesting as the last!...:)
Click to enlarge
Bred by Jim Reed, of Reed Enterprises, Mo.
120
209 CR 4625
Cooper, Texas 75432
903 395-2413
doubleh@vzinet.com
