We came home with Lot #13--a March 3rd Angus calf weighing 675. Jess picked him herself, and did a good job. He was the best steer in the bunch as commented by most in attendance. He carried the most depth and dimension, natural muscling and width over the top.
And yet, my favorite attribute is his temperament and that he is halter broke. We already have it good with Jess's calm showmanship heifer and don't need a flighty steer affecting her disposition. Speaking of our Shorty heifer calf, bringing this steer home shows us how big she has gotten. She has grown a lot in the month since state fair. She is just weaned now and about 3 inches taller at the hip, wider, longer and much thicker than the steer. We haven't weighed her, but she has to be around 750 when you compare her to the steer.
Andrew and Jess are both looking for steers this fall. We only wanted to buy one this weekend so that we would be able to keep shopping around. It will be fun to visit some more ranches and sales to view cattle. We'll wait to see who gets which steer until we get two home.
He's nice! I think he could do well at Spring Classic! You named him Glacier right? I like his width and dimension in the barrel, and he is pretty deep too! Good luck with him! :) I can't really tell with these pics, but he looks like he has wide shoulders.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Morgan! Yes, he is Glacier and we've had him 2 weeks now. Whistler is the new Maine-Angus we brought home last Saturday from Winterbrook Cattle Company. Andrew wants Glacier and Jess wants Whistler (and they picked the names--but Jim first suggested 'Glacier' and I threw out 'Whistler'--the kids both liked the names when they heard them). After bringing both steers home, Andrew wanted the calmer steer (although the newer one hadn't been halter broke or worked with long, and now seems to be just as calm in temperament), and Jess wanted the better steer!
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how they each finish out. Glacier confuses me because he has so many similarities to Crater (even though Mike said they are from completely different bloodlines). But, he is thicker, has a thick, round rump, and is smaller framed than Crater, so I guess we improved on the biggest problems. {BTW--When you say 'barrel' I think that is more a goat term, while we say 'rib shape' or 'good turn to the rib cage' or 'spring of rib' (good for you to learn for the judging team)}.
Glacier is the top calf in the pecking order and eats the fastest. We let the calves out with Jazz for the first time today and he challenged her head to head. Jazz is too big for him to have a chance though.
Whistler has really good structure, very straight legs, big-boned, wide at the hip and he is sired by the same Maine bull that sired Jake's champion market steer at fair. I'll get a picture up of him soon.
So, we weaned Quizz by penning her up for nearly a month (Sept. 19th-Oct. 15th) while Jazz's udder dried up. We don't have good cross-fencing (besides electric), so we thought penning her up for 3-4 weeks would work best. We haven't seen her try to nurse, so it must be fine by now. Quizz has really grown and is quite a bit bigger and thicker than the steers. The steers are only two weeks younger.
It was so fun to let the calves out and watch the four race around the field. After awhile, the calves went crazy grazing on the green grass and Jazz went crazy for the salt block in the feeder, as they had been kept from it for those few weeks.
I am so happy I can look out at 4 head of cattle now in my field now--two blacks and two roans! They look so good!