When March comes around, it's time for herd visits and COBA producer meetings in the Southwest. Once again, I enjoyed spending time with the COBA staff-- they are one hard working group! Starting in Dallas and heading south, Texas Beef Specialist Norm Hoff and I covered the eastern 2/3 of the Lone Star State in just a couple days before I caught up with Randy Carpenter in the panhandle.

Our first herd visit was to Rutherford Ranches. Manager Kevin Gallagher is one of the world's biggest fans of 7AN222 Predestined. He was of the first operators to use the bull over 10 years ago and still uses his? influence as much as he can---probably more than anyone in Texas! Kevin loves that the cattle are so fault-free and his commercial customers keep coming back for more. $Beef is a big driver there because it puts more dollars in his customer's pockets. Cows were on shots to start flushes to Ingenuity and Fusion; can't argue with that genetic logic!

RA Brown Ranch was as impressive as I had expected. COBA Salesman John Lee, west Texas Beef Specialist Randy Carpenter, and I had a great time with host Donnell Brown. Donnell is a student of breed character and the role that each breed plays in America's beef herd. This historic ranch has developed some fine bulls that are favorites at Select Sires. Red Angus sires like 7AR58 Heritage and 7AR57 Covenant are high demand bulls—producers love their ability to create muscle mass and incredible volume, respectively. I saw Heritage's dam-- thick, medium in stature; she was maybe my favorite cow in the donor pen. Be sure to look for her picture in forthcoming Red Angus advertising. One of our commercial customer's favorites at Select Sires is an Angus bull developed by RA Brown Ranch, as well. 7AN355 MR 3407N is hard to beat for CED, BW & $W. "Balanced" and "Practical" are words that come to mind when reflecting on this herd visit.

Steve and Laura Knoll's 2Bar Angus is always a good stop. Steve Knoll has become one of my favorite folks to talk with about carcass cattle. He is going to use Fusion heavy and I think we'll see Prophet used there, too. There were a couple 7AN278 Selective cows there that were to die for. Unbelievable mass and power in the ones I scoped out on the pivot fields. They were prepping for flushing nearly a dozen cows in the coming weeks and you can bet Select Sires genetics were going to be super popular at donor breeding time!

Last stop was Hales Angus. They have built quite a young cow herd and are using the influence of 7AN352 Combination and 7AN350 Confidence. I appreciate the way that the Hales family can tie powerful phenotype and elite EPD profiles together. Richmond Hales is quite the character! I think he has intentions of injecting 7AN303 New Day 454 which will certainly compliment their program quite well. Great days ahead for the Hales family!

Well, that's all for Texas, see you down the road!

It has been a long, cold winter and I now understand why so many retired folks spend their winters somewhere other than Ohio!  Winter is still firmly in control at Select Sires with several inches of snow on the ground today. I traveled to more ranches in more states and put on more miles this sale season than any other in my first five years with Select Sires. In that process, I feel strongly that we acquired another tremendous set of bulls for the beef lineup, but like my friend Mark Gardiner always says, “We’ll know in two years if they are any good!”

Of course bulls are just one side of this business, the other is people. I am privileged to interact with many of the great cattle breeders in my travels and I always learn something from each encounter. One of the most memorable happened just a few weeks ago while visiting with Mr. Clarence VanDyke of Manhattan, MT. Clarence is 82 years old and is just as quick and agile as most people 30 years his youth with a mind that is even sharper. During my visit to VDAR with Beef Specialist Jay Nansel, Clarence hopped in and out of the truck several times to walk through pens of bulls with us, to point out the dams of some of the best bulls and of course make sure we saw a favorite cow or two.  He does not use a computer, any Facebook, Twitter or smart phone.  He does keep a flip phone handy and stayed in contact with his wife during our visit to the ranch. One thing I learned from Clarence is there is absolutely nothing that can replace experience. No financial status, college degree, family name or job title can replace what Clarence VanDyke knows about Angus cattle. He is a marvel to spend time with and I so enjoyed soaking up his insight on a number of topics. His family puts tremendous pressure on the phenotypic keeping quality of the Angus female. They like moderate statured, deep bodied cows with excellent udders, good dispositions and fertility. We drove through the first calf cows and saw snug udders with small teats that looked like champion dairy cows. The cows were moderate in stature, extremely docile and in excellent body condition nursing healthy, vigorous calves. For a good lesson in cow sense and just life in general, the next time you are near Manhattan, Montana, be sure to pay a visit to Clarence VanDyke. If Montana is too far away, spend some time with anyone who has lived through decades of calving cows, drought, flood, too much government, low cattle prices and high feed prices. Hopefully the experience will be as valuable to you as visiting Clarence VanDyke was to me. It will definitely put life into proper perspective.  Thank you, Clarence for your lifetime of experience in the cattle business and thank you for sharing some of it with me. 

Select Sires was certainly the talk of the National Western Stock Show in January!  No matter where you turned, sales and shows all over the grounds had Select Sires genetics featured.  Top selling embryos in various sales proved that the “Who’s Who” of donor cows across the country have been seeing the latest and greatest of our elite young sires.  CONFIDENCE, CAPITALIST, INGENUITY, UNO MAS bulls were used heavily and those ET matings were featured lots and sound investments for some of the country’s best stockmen. 

Other spots where SS Beef genetics shined were cattle on the hoof.  Top sellers in big time sales verified that bulls like WEIGH UP and STERLING are going to continue to see bright days in the purebred Angus realm.  Old standbys like WAR PARTY and CAPICHE continue to make cattle that demand top dollar and win the pen bull shows. 

(Daughter of 7AN349 WEIGH UP out of a full sister to 7AN322 PROGRESS, Deer Valley Farm, TN)

But what may have been most intriguing were the continual questions and praises on the new bulls making their debut in 2013.  Our lineup contains 14 new Angus sires, 5 new exciting Simmental & SimAngus bulls and additional outcrosses to our Red Angus & Hereford battery that have people talking.  The future is bright for Select Sires Beef.  We hope you plan to be part of that success!

As many of you know, Select Sires and Gardiner Angus Ranch have enjoyed a strong partnership for many years. We are proud to continue that tradition of excellence with two more outstanding young sires joining our lineup.

GAR Fruition (AAA# 17123488) will sell as Lot 1 in the GAR spring sale, April 6^th, 2013.  We have been looking for a Summitcrest Complete son with all the bells and whistles and Fruition fills the bill. At 9 for CED, Fruition betters his sire and virtually all other Complete sons available for calving ease and moderate birth weight. We feel this is one of the most attractive features of the bull. However, with the GAR tradition of outstanding carcass merit, Fruition posts an impressive set of post weaning traits, represented by a $Beef value just over $96!  With both his $Weaning and $Beef values in the upper 1% of the population and significant scrotal development, we believe Fruition brings a lot of desirables to a breeding plan and should be attractive to both purebred and commercial cattlemen.

GAR Anticipation (AAA# 17057287) will also join our lineup in 2013 as an elite calving ease prospect with plenty of growth and carcass power to go with it.  Anticipation distanced himself from strong contemporaries by winning the contest for birth-to-yearling spread among the 2011 fall-born bulls at GAR. In addition, he is in the upper 1% of the breed for $Beef at well over $92!  Anticipation is a big volumed, excellent structured individual with a clean sheath and good disposition.

Both bulls have genomically enhanced EPDs from both DNA tests and are currently on collection at Rocky Mountain Sire Service near Denver, CO. By calling in advance, customers are always welcome to stop by and view these and other Select Sires bulls in residence there. We expect semen to be available on both bulls in plenty of time for the spring 2013 breeding season.

Thanks for reading and have a peaceful and meaningful Christmas! AA 

Strong relationships with people seem to be at the center of almost every achievement I have enjoyed in both my personal and professional life. The same can be said for the partnerships Select Sires enjoys with universities on research and training efforts to ensure the highest degree of success for producers. One of the latest achievements on this front is a renewed commitment to the University of Tennessee’s Middle Tennessee Research and Education Center (MTREC) with facility improvements and program support funded by Southeast Select Sires, Spring Hill, TN. The relationship evolved from personal friendships and a strong working relationship among Kevin Thompson, MTREC director and both Tim Riley, general manager of Southeast Select Sires and Tim Barnes, marketing coordinator for Southeast Select Sires. Dr. Justin Rhinehart, UT Beef Cattle Extension Specialist was also involved in structuring the training program that will be conducted at MTREC.

The reproductive training program is a producer focused initiative focused on enhancing the productivity and profitability of cattle producers in the state of Tennessee through improved reproductive management of their herds such as estrus synchronization and artificial insemination (AI). The University of Tennessee plans to host four trainings per year but the facility will be available to Southeast Select Sires to host additional trainings on their own and to host groups outside of the state and international visitors. In addition to working with producers within the state of TN, Tim Riley stated “we think it’s more important to leverage what is known around the world” as part of this new partnership. MTREC will maintain an open herd of about 24 cows specifically for this program and they are installing indoor stations. These two aspects will make the AI trainings very effective by giving the participants ample practice time in several cows and in a comfortable environment. There will also be several hours of classroom and lab training that will support successful application of a complete reproductive management program in the participants’ own herds. Any producer can be involved by contacting MTREC or by contacting Southeast Select Sires. Dates and cost for training will be posted as soon as the facility is completed.

The UT bull test is also housed at the MTREC campus and their annual open house is Thursday, December 6^th, 2012 starting at 9:30a.m. CST and will include speakers on a variety of relevant industry topics, sale bull viewing and a complimentary lunch. I am humbled to have been asked to be on the program to discuss some of the beef bull evaluation and selection strategies we use at Select Sires with a goal of providing some insight that producers can use when purchasing from a bull test or other types of seedstock sales. For more information on the bull test open house, please visit https://ag.tennessee.edu/news/Pages/NR-2012-10-BullTest.aspx. Hope to see you there!

Lastly, thank you for making 2012 a banner year for the Select Sires’ beef program. Because of the loyalty and support of our customer owners, we achieved an all-time record for units of beef semen sold at Select Sires. Thank you for trusting in us to provide you with the best genetics and service in the business. The best is yet to come! AA

I just finished communicating several e-mail volleys with my friend Merle Schlehuber of Wooden Cross Cattle Company, KS and breeder of 7CH92 Revelation. Revelation is at the ranch and was cleanup bull with 43 cows this summer. Below are Merle's comments.

Revelation is walking a half section of Flint Hills grass trailing his band of 43 females. He is staying sound and looks better now than anytime in his entire life. I had a Charolais breeder from Iowa come though a few weeks ago. When he saw Revelation his mouth fell open with his first words being "you have to get a current picture of this bull, nobody has any idea how good he is!" So we will do exactly that when we get him home this fall.

The Revelation story is just getting started, keep the faith Aaron. Take care, Merle

Charolais is the pinnicle terminal sire breed with so much performance and hybrid vigor to offer in virtually all breeding schemes. These white cattle have come a long way from their ancestors that found popularity in the late 1960s through the 1980s. Modern Charolais represent a calving ease type with no compromises in growth.

Here are some interesting facts about the adoption of Charolais vs. Angus genetics in AI (artificial insemination) and ET (embryo transfer). Currently, nearly 60% of registered Angus cattle are the result of either AI or ET. By contrast, less than 25% of registered Charolais cattle are the result of these two reproductive technologies. I challenge any progressive beef producer (commercial, purebred, or otherwise) to tap into the value of the contemporary Charolais genetics we have at Select Sires. You won't be disappointed.

 Stay tuned, Aaron Arnett