Denver
No time like the present to write my first blog for 2010. While I know that it would be unrealistic to have made a New Year’s Resolution to write this blog on a regular schedule, I will surely attempt to do better at this in 2010 than last year.
Things have been fairly hectic around here since the first of the year. While the majority of our cowherd calves in the fall, we do calve approximately 50 cows in the Spring. Our “Spring” calving cows started calving at the first of the year. Needless to say, these cows have experienced a wide of weather conditions since January 1. Early on we had snow and bitter cold. The bright side to the cold was the fact that the ground was frozen which certainly made most outside feeding activities a bit easier. Recently, temperatures have moderated but the dreaded southern Ohio mud has returned.
We just returned from our trip to the National Western Stock Show in Denver. As always, there were several days of Angus activities of interest for many breeders. Angus activity appeared to be up from last year as there were more cattle on the “Hill” this year than the last and crowds appeared to be up as well. Sales in Denver were solid as well.
Lindsey and Lauren had a great trip to Denver with their show heifers. We had purchased a heifer for each of them last fall. Lindsey will be showing an April 2009 daughter of PVF ALL Payday from Stertzbach Cattle Co. in Ohio while Lauren will be showing a May 2009 daughter of BC Lookout from Gamble Angus in Tennessee. Lindsey’s heifer stood 2nd in class behind a Division Champion heifer in the Jr. Show and won her class in the Open Show. Lauren’s heifer stood 2nd and was Res. Summer Heifer Calf Champion in the Jr. Show and won her class and was named Spring Heifer Calf Champion in the Open Show. Both girls were very pleased with the results.
We would like to thank the people that helped make these results possible. Bruce and Amy Stertzbach and the entire crew at Stertzbach Cattle Co. as well a Lydell and Holly Meier and Chris and Jess Johnson of Gamble Angus are to be congratulated for their achievements with their breeding programs and their great customer service.
Denver always provides a great opportunity to visit with breeders from across the country and learn about their attitudes and philosophies about the current state of the Angus breed. It is obvious that there was much less anxiety among breeders when compared to last year when we were experiencing the initial shock of the discovery of AM and rumors of NH around the corner. However, I still detect a bit of uncertainty as to the direction in which breeders are wanting to take their programs. I’m sure some of the contributing factors for this uncertainty includes the economy, the uncertain status of potential defects, curiosity about the impact of DNA testing on the value of animals, and of course, the economy!
One thing is for certain. Regardless of the selection priorities that you may have, superior animals for any given trait will always have value. Animals that excel in multiple traits and phenotype will always have greater value in the future.
