Fall is in full swing at Select Sires and I hear a lot of exciting feedback from customers and our beef specialists about the new sires we acquired this year. Bulls like Confidence, Capitalist, Conveyance, Ingenuity, Scotsman, Made Right and others are getting lots of attention and we have high hopes for these young stars.

I have and will continue to be on the road quite a bit this fall. Last week I was in Idaho and Oregon with Beef Specialists Jerald Raymond and Dan Morris along with sales reps Andy Barr and Hal Harris. We visited Colyer Herefords where we saw a set of heifer calves that would make your eyes pop. They sold half interest in one of my favorites in their sale a few days later for $47,500! Next we visited Simplot Livestock where Jerald’s son Dr. Randall Raymond is the veterinarian who oversees the feedyard with a one-time capacity of 150,000 head! It was an amazing sight and an educational visit. Last stop that day was to Sam Shaw and family Angus. They have a heavy focus on cow performance and maternal traits in their cattle. They commented on how we have acquired a set of bulls they feel they could really tie into.

The next day was highlighted by visits to Bobby Harrell Herefords and Thomas Angus Ranch, both at Baker City. Baker City Oregon is one of the most beautiful places I have visited. One fun common thread that day was that both Bob and Rob are K-State grads so we shared some stories from our time in Manhattan, KS, theirs 20 years before mine. Bob just finished his term as president of the American Hereford Association and deservingly so. They run several hundred purebred Line 1 cows and several hundred more commercial black baldy cows. His understanding of the beef business from cows all the way through to selling carcasses on the rail was impressive.

I was so excited to visit Thomas’ as I have always heard about how solid their cow herd was and I was not disappointed. They have Predestined, 1I2, and 208 daughters with big powerful bull calves getting ready to be weaned. Thomas’ sell weaned bulls right off the cows, in addition to yearling bulls. Rob had excellent groups of yearling bulls representing several Select Sires’ bulls including the best set of Ambush 28 sons I have seen anywhere. They were really good.

For the rest of the week we attended the Northwest ARSBC (Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle) conference hosted by the University of Idaho and held in Boise. There were only about 80 producers there but they represented approximately 50,000 cows! It was a great meeting highlighted by a presentation by Larry Corah from CAB. He predicts cattle selected for high marbling and carcass merit will continue to be worth more and we see this all the time with Select Sires’ genetics when they are sold on the rail. Progeny of our bulls feed and gain well and receive grid premiums because of their ability to marble with a minimum of fat cover. I returned home from a great week in Idaho and Oregon with an enhanced appreciation for ranching in the dessert and the scarcity and value of water to those ranchers.

This week I flew to Dallas, TX where I evaluated GAR Predestined N5408 (AAA#16334503).He is owned by William Ray at Greenville, TX. This bull is currently the highest combination of $W and $B on the AAA main report. He is a good looking bull too…moderate framed with a square muscular hip. ABS was there a few days earlier and offered to buy him. The next day I was fortunate to get him leased to Select Sires. He should be available sometime around the first of the year.  We are planning to rename him GAR Fusion.

I am planning travel and herd visits in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Kansas this fall. If you are planning to attend the NAILE in Louisville in about a month, please be sure to stop by our booth and visit. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you down the road.