The last week of September I spent a few days in the great state of North Dakota with Minnesota Select Sires (MNSS) Beef Specialist, Shane Talkington.  (This cooperative is composed of the states Minnesota and North Dakota.) It is always good to see Shane and the effort he makes in assisting his peers with the progressive expansion of Select Sires influence in one of the nation’s best beef cow areas.

The week started with the MNSS Beef Sales/Service Conference.  Organized by Shane and MNSS General Manager, Chris Sigurdson, the conference covered the latest happenings and updates in the Beef Sire Department and featured a couple of lectures by North Dakota State University’s Dr. Carl Dehlen.  It was nice to get feedback from the sales crew who makes the rounds and services thousands of cows around the Peace Garden State.  I enjoyed hearing the stories of excitement about the sales and influence of 7AN302 Mentor, 7AN285 Game On, and 7AN340 Summit among several other SS bulls around this part of the country.

A stop to Ellingson Angus was one that I had highly anticipated, and I sure wasn’t let down.  Chad Ellingson, a former beef sire analyst, was glad to show Shane & I his operation.  I really liked the balance of performance, phenotype and production that the Ellingson cattle have, and just as intriguing was Chad’s customer service program that he puts forth.  Chad has a real feel for the designation of purebred beef cattle operations and what exactly their role is within the beef industry. 

Later that day, Shane & I strolled just a little further down the road to Schaff Angus Valley (SAV) to visit with owner and chief operator, Kelly Schaff.  If you have ever sampled with purebred Angus cattle, the SAV prefix has surely come across your mind.  Kelly impressed us, as usual, on not only the presentation of the cattle, but also his incredible mind in which he remembers such vivid details on not only each animals pedigree and performance records, but also the long list of production records each cow holds.  He told us he had flushed several cows to 7AN328 Prosperity and AI’d every yearling female that wasn’t a Net Worth to 7AN329 Mustang.  2012 is sure to be a banner year at SAV with so many calves coming from Select Sires bulls.

In blogs scribed earlier this year by Dr. Arnett, you have heard about the up & coming things coming from Spickler Ranch.  I can proudly 2^nd his statements about the real world ambitions and solid foundation set within this herd-- they are indeed outstanding!  I enjoyed getting to know Justin and learning his philosophies on mating cattle in order to create a fool-proof product for his progressive bull buyers.  Far and away, the calves by 7AN340 Summit were the most uniform in terms of type and quality.  With the Calving Ease reports we are getting and the tremendous volume and shape that Summit stamps into his calves, it is easy to understand why the Spicklers and others will use him heavily again next year! 

Our final stop was to Topp Herefords.  Through stringent culling and a balance of performance numbers blended together with quality phenotype and a maternal focus, Paul & Ryan Topp have assembled a powerful cow herd that is hard to beat.  After walking through their weaned bull lots, I can see why their Polled Hereford genetics continually sell for high prices around the country.  When viewing their growing Angus herd, Shane & I also saw the dam of one my favorite bulls in the Select Sires bull battery, 7AN319 TC Thunder.  This female was the most moderate framed, and the biggest barreled cow in that pasture.  Like her son, she stands on model feet & legs and her udder was flawless.  After seeing this cow, I strongly encourage anyone who can use TC Thunder in the program to do so!

Like every trip I take to North Dakota, this was trip worth taking.  It’s a great day to be involved with Select Sires!