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

After two days of intense travel that took us several hundred miles south, north, and to the eastern edge of the Peace Garden State, it was time to head westward.  On Thursday, we started our day at Talkington Angus Ranch in Belfield.  Shane Talkington, one of our very own Beef Specialists, along with his family, run more than 350 cows with a large percent of these as commercial females.  Here we saw daughters in production by some Select Sires legends like Predestined and BAR Ext with impressive, high growth calves by Vindicator.  Shane, his customers, and others are calving out heavy weanling  calves  by Vindicator; we can understand why his demand is not slowing down.  We also saw several New Day 454 daughters in production and they seem to be perfect uddered cattle that have long level tops with deep & bold sprung middles.  The excitement about New Day 454 is not going away and it is only getting stronger; he is a moderate tank of a bull and just look at the figures that he posts for YW, YH, RE, $W & $B- unbelievable!  Some of the young progeny that we saw that I personally liked were the Regis, Mentor, Made Right, and my favorite, the 44 Country calves.  All of these calves seemed to define ‘Mass with Class.’  Finally, we saw 44 Changeup himself.  This bull is a powerhouse!  Dr. Arnett has often referred to this bull as “The Greatest Objective son in Captivity,” and after evaluating him on the hoof, there is no argument about that!

Our last stop was at Beaver Creek Ranch, the home of Mark Messer and Family.  Mark held a great social event allowing our people to relax after an intense week.  We heard from Paul Dykstra of Certified Angus Beef and ate some awesome CAB strip steaks!  Paul gave a very cowboy-casual yet impressive talk about the benefits of GeneMax.  If you’re a commercial cattlemen and you implement Angus genetics into your herd, you will be hearing more about this interesting technology in the future.  This was a very important visit to many as they were able to see their first Husker progeny.  I can safely say that this bull will be a heavily used red SimAngus sire in the Dakotas after the chatter that ensued while the sales force inspected these cattle. Guys also spoke highly of the Regis & Answer 71 cattle that they saw.  Mark is truly ‘Riding for the Brand’ with Select Sires and we appreciate it.  His and others’ success is what we are all about at Select Sires.  

 North Dakota State University (NDSU) has certainly invested a lot of time & money into improving the lives of cattlemen in their state (and throughout the USA) as they are dedicating a lot of effort and research into the economic benefits of Artificial Insemination in modern beef production.  Dr. Carl Dahlen, again, did an outstanding job organizing the event.  He and his peers split our up group and we took several tours of their new facilities there on the Fargo, ND campus.  We looked at their activities researching feed efficiency measures, feed efficiency calculations, fetal programing and more.  NDSU is a Young Sire herd for Select Sires, and herdsman Lee Rindel brought several groups of progeny to the research complex for our inspection.   The cattle by Classic, Summit, Regis & Sterling continue to impress.  They are constant, solid cattle that are made right and maintain a gentle disposition. 

Next was Spickler Ranch where we visited Justin & Nathan.  I will let Beef Specialist, Jerald Raymond (ID) describe this stop: “Spickler Ranch is a place that every person should visit someday… Spickler is the home of S Summit. We viewed Summit’s dam, and Summit himself. Both very impressive. I would have to say, though, just as impressive were the two brothers, Nathan and Justin, and their families. I could not help but notice as they talked, that they were very humble about their cattle, but very complimentary to each other, and each other's family.”  The Summit cattle are the real deal in my mind.  This bull will continue to have a larger part of both the Spickler programs and for us at Select Sires.  If you aren’t using Summit on your heifers, we advise that you tie into this guy!

Topp Herefords is where we ended Day 2.  And what a great stop it was!  The ‘TH’ prefix is probably the hottest in the Hereford world today.  Ryan and Prairie did an outstanding job giving us all a center-cut tour of the heart of their herd.  Their Hereford cattle are hardy and stout, yet incredibly attractive and functional.  We also saw the dam of one of Select Sires’ top seller this year, TC Thunder.  Ryan’s brother, Paul, bought her out of NE and has been flushing her heavily, and rightfully so.  Checker her photo on his page her on the website; she tremendously powerful and is the definition of a ‘wide-body.’ Ryan is an incredibly passionate person and knows all the reasons why the Hereford breed can be used to benefit today’s commercial cowboy.  His discussion of the benefits of heterosis and the role that the right kind of Herefords can play in any herd was one that couldn’t be topped.  Among all the great cattle saw the moderate sized, tanky-made dam of 7HP107 Sheyenne; all Hereford bulls should be out of cows like that!  A big thanks to these folks to a job well done!

During the Week of September 17^th, nearly 90 of Select Sires’ finest salesmen from around the country gathered in Bismarck, North Dakota to attend our 2012 National Beef Tour.  The tour was an incredible experience for our sales force to see direct progeny of some of our elite young sires, view some of the most storied and dominate purebred beef cattle herds on the planet, and learn the philosophies of some of the finest cattlemen and scientists that greatly influence our industry.

The first stop was to Ellingson Angus of St. Anthony, ND.  Chad Ellingson, a progressive ally of our company, gathered the first progeny of the phenotypic standout, 7AN344 Scotsman.  The sales crew was enthralled with the amount of body and capacity these sons and daughters had.  The disposition on the calves is all a cattleman could ask for; incredibly peaceful animals.  His dam is a model Angus cow that has an incredible future in Chad’s program.  I speculate more and more people will tie into the genetics of Scotsman because his future is more than promising if you want to make the right kind for the times.

The 2^nd stop was to Schaff Angus Valley.  As expected, Kelly & Martie Jo Schaff as well as Bob & Kathy Watkins put on a first class event where we saw the breath-taking cattle that the SAV prefix is known for.  One of my favorite females in the SAV program was the dam of 7AN345 Beacon.  This cow was as long as a freight train, stood on perfect feet & legs, and had the udder and balance all one would want to see in the their model commercial cow.  After seeing several progeny by 7AN328 Prosperity, it is for certain that he is the obvious choice to inject performance and power into any cow herd.  Mustang will also hit a homerun in the 2013 Schaff bull sale; his calves were cool!  The SAV crew did an outstanding job rounding up and sorting well over 100 head for our inspection.  What an outfit!

The Central Grasslands Research Center in Streeter, ND was an excellent stop for our sales force to put themselves in the same shoes as today’s cattle buyer where we learned about the economics North Dakota commercial cattlemen face.  Dr. Carl Dahlen and his team had progeny of several of our young sires separated and brought up to the yard for close viewing.  The 7AN327 Workhorse progeny made a lot of friends at this stop.  Expect this bull to be put in lots of heifers in 2013.

We ended the day at Jungels Shorthorn Farm which was a unique stop for our people, as it was the first time they viewed industry-driven Shorthorn cattle in some time.  Derek went over the top making sure that the sales staff got to see the Shorthorn genetics that have excited not only that breed but more importantly the commercial cattleman that is taking another look at Shorthorns for their benefits in the cow herd.  Dr. Bert Moore of the American Shorthorn Association & his staff were on hand to deliver facts about the opportunity to use Shorthorns in crossbreeding scenarios in order to inject lowly heritable and maternal traits that many producers continue to seek out.

One important responsibility of our beef team in Ohio is to recognize opportunities and adopt new technologies to prepare for what might be around the corner in the beef industry. With those considerations in mind, we are very excited to share with you the news of a new beef industry partnership forged recently between Select Sires and Allied Genetic Resources (Allied) of Normal, Illinois. Select Sires believes in and endorses the use of crossbreeding in the commercial beef industry as the benefits of heterosis, particularly maternal heterosis, are clear. With a goal of fortifying our offering and continuing to focus on the success of commercial beef producers, Allied is a logical partner to enhance our lineup with powerful Simmental and SimAngus genetics.

Started by Marty Ropp in 2010, Allied is a member-owned business that currently includes 55 Simmental and SimAngus seedstock producers. We could occupy several pages explaining why we believe Allied is a good partner for Select Sires but instead, we have listed some facts about the company…

• Breeder/Owners in 20 States
• Market 5,000 commercial bulls annually
• 15,000 seedstock cows representing more than 50% of all the yearling weights turned into American Simmental and the vast majority of the large contemporary groups for birth and weaning weights
• 3,200 Cows in Cooperator Herds
• 4,000 commercial cows in owner herds
• Three-year commercial bull customer base is around 3,300 producers (representing 500,000-600,000 cows)
• Members purchase nearly 70 candidate sires annually in addition to retention of superior sires they produced.
• Own and/or produced about 70% of the Simmental and SimAngus stud bulls available commercially.

The Allied/Select Sires relationship will encompass two levels of Simmental-influenced sires. Known as Profit Track sires, this group will include two to four bulls per year that are identified within the Allied network as the most elite young sires offered in the breed. Once identified, Select Sires will have an advantageous position to place these sires into our lineup. The second route of entry for elite Allied sires will be through an agreement where CSS qualified semen is collected at one of our three cooperator facilities and evaluated and distributed through Select Sires headquarters in Ohio. Known as Future Track sires, this group will consist of up to twelve Simmental-influenced bulls at any one time. Through these two avenues, Select Sires expects to garner a genetic advantage through highly promotable Simmental and SimAngus sires that appeal to commercial producers and increased industry leadership in crossbreeding programs.

We are very pleased and excited to announce the first bulls that will be coming to Select Sires through this relationship. The first Profit Track sire will be SDS In Force 112Y (ASA 2593861), a 5/8 SM 3/8 AN sired by Hooks Shear Force out of a Mytty In Focus dam bred by South Dakota State University. At 22 for CE, -3.6 for BW and API and TI at 190 and 95, respectively, In Force should be very competitive for the commercial heifer AI market. In addition, we have two of the finest partners on this bull, Cow Camp Ranch, KS and Gibbs Farms, AL. The first Future Track Sire will be GW Redestined 642X (ASA 2566964), a 3/4 SM 1/4 AN that is a complete outcross for red genetics. Extremely high for API and TI, Redestined is a Predestined 701T out of a TOSU Orlando daughter that ranks in the top 1% of the breed for marbling and top 4% for ribeye. Like In Force, we are excited to have a respected breeder and great partner on this bull, the Jim Butcher family of Gateway Simmentals, MT. Look for these and other Allied sires in the 2013 Select Sires Beef Directory and on our website with semen available approximately January 1st, 2013. 

Marty Ropp of Allied had several choices when considering a large AI organization to partner with. He approached Select Sires first because of our reputation for integrity in all we do and tradition of placing the commercial customer first. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with our customers as the ultimate beneficiary.  If you would like to contact Allied Genetic Resources, please email Marty Ropp at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Also, please visit Allied’s website at www.alliedgeneticresources.com.

One of the most important aspects of making bulls successful in the A.I. business is getting them sampled in a large number of herds and environments as quickly and accurately as possible to determine their true genetic merit. At Select Sires, Brian House coordinates our young sire sampling program where, through our relationship with several outstanding cooperator herds, cows and heifers are bred to young sires in the lineup and also some proven sires. Breeding to both young, unproven sires and proven sires in the same herds helps us determine the true genetic value of the young sires being tested. This process also increases the accuracy of the EPD values as we submit progeny data to the breed associations for tabulation. At Select Sires, we are proud to carry on the legacy and vision of the late Roy Wallace as we continue to be the industry leader in genetic merit for the economically important traits.

Several of our up-and-coming Angus sires added progeny data during the first half of 2012 and their EPD values have been adjusted accordingly. Brian is very diligent in monitoring these EPD movements and he recently created the summary that I have pasted in below. It is very satisfying to see so many of our young sires improving as they solidify their genetic merit because high accuracy EPDs are the only way we can truly say our bulls are better than the competition.

7AN285 Game On

Moved from +4 to +8 for CED and moved from +72 to nearly +81 for $B

7AN299 Answer 71

CW, Marb and REA have all improved—and his $B has gone up from +55 to +59

7AN302 Mentor

$B has moved from +60 to +69—CW, Marb and REA all higher

7AN303 New Day 454

$B has moved up from +75 to nearly +83-- CW, Marb and REA all higher (REA now at 1.07)

7AN306 War Party

YW has moved from +121 to +126 and $B has gone up from +78 to +80

7AN311 Limelight

CED moved from +9 to +11 and BW moved from +1.4 to +0.6

7AN313 Twenty/Twenty

WW has gone from +50 to +57 and YW has moved up from +100 to +106

7AN315 Image Maker

Has moved from +107 YW to +115 YW

7AN319 Thunder

CED moved from +12 to +13, BW moved from -1.1 to -1.4 and $B moved from +57 to nearly +63

7AN320 Prophet

CW has moved from +16 to +24 and $B has moved from +75 to nearly +83

7AN321 Changeup

Moved from +64 $B to +70 $B

7AN322 Progress

Moved from +1.28 for Marb to +1.44 and moved from +77 $B to +80 (has been as high as +84)

7AN335 Hemisphere

WW has moved from +59 to +65 and YW has moved from +109 to +121

7AN336 Vindicator

CED moved from +6 to +9 and BW moved from -1.1 to -2.8

Earlier this month, Select Sires MidAmerica (SSMA) Beef Specialist Jay Hill of Sterling, CO coordinated a trip for me to ride along with he and his University of Missouri intern, Daryl Glenn, to assist in timed breedings for a few ranches in Colorado & Wyoming.

Jay Hill is a one of a kind individual with a wide-open personality. In every conversation, he has a joke (or 4) and can tell stories like few that I know. However, like many of his SSMA peers in this part of the world, he is very dedicated to his customers and their success with genetic progress from Select Sires. Jay told me that he has been running hard since March 23rd and has only had 2 days since then to spend at home and tend to personal activities. And at this point, there is no slowing down for the next 30 days as he plans to continue servicing a few thousand more head of beef heifers between now and the end of July.

Our first couple of days were spent sorting and breeding nearly 500 head of commercial cows and heifers for the Dave Guenzi operation near Atwood, CO. Dave’s son, Carson, and the rest of their team along with the cow boss, Joe, proudly showed me the cow herd made up of several generations of Select Sires genetics. The calf crop this year was by MISSION, BEXTOR, and 7SP33 Gauge. What a set! This year we bred the heifers to 7AN278 Selective and the cows to 7SM54 Stetson. Jay had me on several tasks as I was needed. We started with the cows that needed time bred and I launched my day pulling Kamar patches and giving GnRH. Next, as the second batch came through, I ran the chute or helped breed cows, then by the end of the day as some team members had to tend to other ranch activities, I sorted groups and pushed cattle through the corral. Although none of these activities were new to me, it was a lot of fun moving so efficiently; in one situation we were able to breed a lot of 80 females in 1.5 hours.

The next day we worked in Torrington, WY where we met up with SSMA staff Oly Olsen & Doug McLean, and Doug’s assistant, Dusty Buffington. These heifers were being custom fed in Torrington and will soon be turned out on high altitude pastures in the western part of the state. I filled A.I. guns the entire time and we serviced about 340 heifers to 7AN300 Ram Nation in about 8 hours. I really enjoyed getting to know Doug & Oly in a working setting. These guys, like Jay, are truly committed in doing a first class job for their customers. They are really hitting it hard this time of year and their efforts certainly do not go unnoticed or under-appreciated. They are not only enhancing the investments of ranchers, but they are also improving the US beef industry, one straw at a time.

June 3^rd and 4^th my wife Emily and I and several other members of the Select Sires family had the bittersweet experience of attending the dispersal of the historic Wehrmann Angus herd at New Market, VA. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed our time reminiscing with Richard McClung, managing partner of Wehrmann Angus, listening to him tell stories about the great cattle that were created at this beautiful place. Em and I arrived on Sunday afternoon before the Monday sale and after looking through the sale lots and visiting with guests we went fishing at the big pond behind Nick Wehrmann’s home where Brian House and I had fished over ten years ago when I was a Select Sires intern. By the way, I caught nothing and Emily caught a nice largemouth bass.

One of the special experiences of this trip was visiting the cattle cemetery where several Angus legends rest. The first to be buried there was Rita 5H11 of 1B14 Rito 9J9, dam of the great Select Sires power bull, Rito 9FB3 of Rita 5H11 “Fullback." In November 2011, two Angus greats were laid to rest side-by-side…GAR Precision 2536 and Rito 6I6. “2536” is the dam of another Select Sires power bull, GAR Gridmaker and the influential matron that appears in the pedigrees of most Wehrmann cattle produced in the last dozen years. Beside her lay the all-time high volume semen selling beef bull at Select Sires, Rito 6I6. This bull became known as one of the great cowmakers of his time and his presence in a pedigree, particularly on the dam side, garners the attention of good stockmen and adds value to cattle as much today as ever before. Adding to his superiority, 6I6 became known as one of the early trait leaders for docility. The dirt over their graves is still settling and the grass is yet to cover the broken earth (photo attached). Standing there I could feel the presence of my friend and mentor Roy Wallace, who had great influence in the Wehrmann breeding program over the years.

On sale day Richard was understandably melancholy and greeting him on sale morning was the hardest part for all of us. Once the sale started, the fruits of disciplined breeding and stacked pedigrees paid off. Impressive prices were fetched for all ages and classes of cattle and the volume of cattle being sold had little ill effect on bidding activity. On behalf of the entire Select Sires family, I want to thank Wehrmann Angus and Richard McClung for a great ride and a great relationship. And thank you to everyone who has purchased Select Sires semen produced from Wehrmann bulls over the years.

Wishing you a prosperous summer, Aaron Arnett 

I spent a couple days in SD this week with Beef Specialist Tim Olson. Tim and his wife Chandi who is a veterinarian, breed thousands of heifers every spring and provide a tremendous service to their customers throughout the heifer development process with Select Sires genetics being just one of the many services they provide.

Tim and I made several herd visits including Blair Brothers, owners of 7AN245 US Premium Beef. We saw daughters in production from a variety of age groups. Although he has the pedigree of a great carcass sire, I can assure you he is one of the great cowmakers of modern history in the Angus breed. The daughters were moderate in stature, easy fleshing and expansive in the rib cage design with picture perfect udders, even on the aged cows. Use USPB to build a cow herd. The younger sire groups represented at Blair's were New Day 454, Prophet, Progress, and War Party. The 454 and Progress yearling heifers were standouts for quality in this herd. This was also my first opportunity to see milking 454 daughters in large numbers. I am pleased to report that they all had snug, level udders with small, uniform teats. Attached are photos of a typical 454 udder at Blair Brothers.

Another visit of note was to Cory Fortune, Rafter U Cross Ranch, one of the owners of 7AN350 Confidence. We saw about 30 4-6-week-old vigorous Confidence babies enjoying spring pastures with some impressive dams. Confidence is genuinely heifer safe and he really stamps a fancy look to the calves. They were consistently long and clean fronted, level in their lines and jet black. Confidence is currently our #2 selling beef sire for 2012! Can you guess who is #1?

A third stop that was very enjoyable was at Slovek Ranch, Bill and Bo Slovek. Bill sits on the Select Sires MidAmerica board of directors and generates commercial bulls using multiple sire breeds on their several hundred cows. Tim and I evaluated calves sired by 17 different Select Sires' bulls representing 4 breeds. This is the only place in the country I am aware of where there are so many Select Sires' sire groups in large quantity. This was my first opportunity to see large groups of Twenty Twenty and Rimrock yearling heifers. The Twenty Twenty cattle are going to make solid Angus cows that are the right size and shape to perform well in about any environment. The Rimrock yearlings were exceptionally stout and thick. Several would perform well with halters on...phenotypically superb! This was also my first opportunity to see Capiche daughters with calves. Attached is a great example of how Capiche makes his daughters...moderate sized, big volumed with textbook udders. Brian House and Luke Bowman are planning to head to Slovek's to picture and video several of these cattle for our website and sire directories.

Thanks to Tim Olson for hosting me this week and for all of the great herd visits and thanks to you for reading my blog! AA

Friends, another spring bull sale season is almost “in the books” and it has been a good one. After the first few bull sales, I found myself in a very “bullish” market, one like I have never experienced before. As a reader your perspective will depend on whether you were on the buying or selling side of this market, but it took me a while to get over the sticker shock of the bulls we tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to purchase this spring. But with these higher bull prices comes unprecedented high prices for all classes of beef cattle and a kind of optimism seldom expressed by cattlemen. Combined with a comprehensive offering of genetics for many industry segments and a dedicated team of people, this cattle market has also driven our A.I. business to rare air this spring. If you are a customer, either first time or long time, thank you for your business!

I want to share with you a few comments about several of the bulls we were fortunate to acquire this spring.

Boyd Signature AAA 16916267 Signature is one of the most unique bulls that sold in the Angus breed this year. He was purchased by Kiamichi Link Ranch, OK for $170,000 and recently leased to Select Sires. At nearly $38 for $Weaning and Top 1% for $Beef, Signature is a genetic giant for performance and carcass merit. The uniqueness of the bull is his phenotype and pedigree that compliment his genetic profile. A Frontman X On Target X Wulfs EXT combination, Signature is a total outcross to the Select Sires lineup and to most competitor’s lineups. He is an impressive individual that is moderate in frame size and exceptionally thick for an Angus bull. His Erica Dianna cow family produced Wulfs EXT 6106 and the On Target cattle have many genetic markers for growth performance and feed efficiency. I believe Signature will be one of the “must use” young sires in the Angus breed next year. We expect him to become available for sale early this fall.

Connealy Shrek AAA 16204949 Shrek is a 4- year-old bull that was on my short list back in 2009 at the Connealy sale. This was the same year we purchased Sullivan and Counterpart. Since we had purchased the other two, we passed on Shrek and he was purchased by our Ohio neighbors, Way View Cattle Company, but I kept my eye on his production ever since that time. With two large calf crops turned in against many of the best AI sires in the business, Shrek’s genetic profile has continued to improve (look him up and you will see what I mean!) and this spring Way View accepted our offer to purchase him. He is slated to breed cows at Way View this summer and come to our facilities this fall. We hope to have semen available towards the close of 2012.

GDAR CJD Dash 1705 (name to change) AAA 16944751 This calving ease prospect is a Sitz Dash son out of a GDAR Game Day daughter and the first bull at Select Sires from Gartner Denowh Angus Ranch, MT. This is a unique bull that I found on a calving ease sort and represents a different spin on some popular pedigrees in the Angus breed. One of the most intriguing things about this bull is his mother. She is truly a moderate-framed “1000-pound cow.” Everywhere I go people talk about how they want moderate-sized mature cows, yet nobody seems to have any! If you come to Arnett Acres I will be the first to admit I am as guilty of this as anyone. Well I promise you the dam of this GDAR bull is small framed yet she produced a bull that ratioed 110 for weaning and yearling weights in one of the good herds in the Angus breed. Plus she is a big volume, feminine little cow with a beautiful udder. Interestingly, this is not a high $Beef bull due to his lower CW EPD (each pound of CW EPD is worth at least $1 of $Beef and really drives this index), but don’t overlook that he is high for marbling EPD. This will be one of the cowmakers of the future Select Sires lineup.

Connealy 7229 919 (will be renamed to Connealy Comrade) AAA 17031465 was our pick of the Consensus 7229 sons at Connealy’s. Out of a very good 5050 daughter, Comrade is 10 for CED and 122 for YW EPD. He is among the elite of the Angus breed at 42+ for $Weaning. Comrade scanned 149 IMF ratio against 489 head in his contemporary group and like all young bulls at Select Sires, has genomically enhanced EPDs. We like the performance and pedigree of this 2012 Connealy sale favorite.

YAR Standard 1077 (will be renamed) AAA 16991624 comes from the up-and-coming York Ranches in California but his dam is a US Premium Beef daughter bred by Thomas Angus Ranch of OR. This is a perfect mating in my opinion because the New Standard cattle are bigger statured, high growth cattle that people appreciate for the production and performance. Ideally, the New Standards could be a notch more moderate sized with easier-keeping range cow attributes. That is exactly where USPB compliments this mating. Everyone loves those moderate framed, easy fleshing, good uddered USPB daughters making YAR Standard 1077 the perfect blend of performance with cow power. At 15 for CED and over 100 for YW, this one is set up to be a spread bull that can do many things well in a mating scheme.

MCR Daybreak Design 081 (will be changed to MCR Horizon 081) AAA 17076135 is one of two Daybreak sons headed to Select Sires this year. The other is a great youngster called GAR Sunrise (AAA 16933958) who sells as our choice for Lot 1 at GAR this Saturday. Daybreak cattle are extremely good for calving ease and if mated correctly will offer extra carcass merit. Brian found Horizon while perusing the MCR catalog one morning when I was on my way back to the Kansas City airport and he called to tell me about this bull. I took the next exit off I-70 to Mill Creek Ranch at Alma Kansas is just down the road from my old stomping grounds at Kansas State University. When I arrived, Chad Breiner already had the bull up for me as he knew I had a flight to catch. One of the things I would change about Daybreak cattle (in general) is that they are relatively flat muscled with not much thickness behind. When I saw Horizon, I was pleasantly surprised in this regard. He is above average for thickness with a thick top and a big square hip and lots of volume and capacity to go with it. Plus he is a loose structured, fluid moving bull with excellent feet and clean joints. I really like this young bull.

This is not the complete list of Angus bulls acquired this year, and perhaps not the best bulls we acquired. We will know the answer to that in a couple of years! This is just a list of a few of the highlights. I must close now as I need to get home and move our cows to another pasture. It is still just cool enough here in Ohio that the grass isn’t growing at the pace I expect it will with a little more heat.

Thank you for reading and most of all thank you for your business. Wishing you the most prosperous spring, Aaron Arnett

This week I had the privilege of spending several days with Randy Carpenter of COBA Select Sires in the north panhandle of Texas. Randy is a super energetic guy who has an awesome vision of the expansion of AI technology in the region around Amarillo and Lubbock into commercial beef operations. With record prices of beef, young bulls for use in commercial herds are selling at historic highs. Since this well known, commercial producers in this part of the world (and nation-wide) are somewhat hesitant in bidding more dollars than ever before for an unproven sire; therefore, they are turning to AI with Randy’s crew and Select Sires. We made several commercial herd visits, analyzed cows and matched them up to sires in our lineup. Since so many producers in this part of the world have culled such a high percentage of their herd due to drought and lack of feed, the females that have stayed around are their finest. They also want to make them better through AI to lay a more solid foundation for their herd rebuilding. The importance of CED with growth advantage was brought up quite a bit. However, making good footed cows that can keep their flesh and stay attractive are things that commercial producers asked about over and over. Bulls like GAR Progress, BC Classic, S Summit, TC Thunder, Limelight, and War Party surfaced in a lot of conversations as Randy & I sorted the pens. A couple of purebred stops were made this week including 2 Bar Angus and Goode Angus Ranch. These two operations have a lot in common and even share some of same females in partnership. Both of these ranches focus heavily on both ends of the EPD profile when they select bulls for genetic advancement; CED & $Beef are two areas that are very important to them. They have a huge amount of repeat customers and there is no question why; these genetics truly create an end product with high value. It was a super productive trip with Randy and his crew. They cover a lot of miles in a week and truly dedicate themselves to service in order to make sure that anyone that wants to utilize the economical and genetic advantages of AI is taken care of. Look for big things to happen and elite cattle to come out of the “Promising Panhandle.”

In Early February, I had the chance to so several producer meetings with COBA/Select Sires Norman Hoff and several of the COBA sales force.  In between meetings we were able to stop at a few nice Angus ranches, and here are some thoughts I jotted down after leaving each ranch…

Express Ranches of Yukon, Oklahoma was our first stop on this COBA/Select Sires tour.  Mark Squires kindly showed us around the world famous ranch.  Rising to the top of the bull pens in my mind were the Bextor and New Day 454 sons.  I found these bulls to be very impressive for their phenotypic balance and base width.  The cattle were adequate in CED, BW and exceptional for $B.  In the donor lot, a grand Grid Maker daughter caught my eye.  I was told this donor would be a feature in the female sale this coming fall, I am sure she will be a sale highlight.  It’s hard to make stronger, more powerful animals than Grid Makers!

It was a great stop at 44 Farms.  Tom Dalbey is a real cowboy that does a heck of job managing the cowherd at 44.  The New Day 454 yearlings were as grand as I expected.  They were again everything I have described his sire groups to be. The War Party females were extra-long, super deep, and quite angular in their skeletal design.  However, the most interesting thing that I found there was the incredible cross of Ambush 28 on Predestined daughters; talk about growth, extra middle, and fleshing ease!  They were easy to pick out because they were so thick and uniform.

Limestone, LLC.  Talk about stout cattle!  I have always wanted to visit the bull pens at Limestone Cattle Co. and I am sure glad that we had the opportunity.  Mike Marlow showed us around and we had a good time discussing the impressive shape and balance that these purebred and half-blood Angus bulls had.  Mike has a great eye and is as personable as they come.  Great operations are successful because of great people.

Penner Ranch- As Kyle Conley was show us around this historic herd, BAR Ext, 2 878 cows caught my eye left & right. I expect to see heavy use of 7AN332 BC Classic in this herd in the coming months.   A keen sense of balance of performance and phenotypic excellence is exactly what the stock display.  The foundation of SS genetics with a blend of high $EN cattle make this an awfully solid and moaternal herd.

Travel and sire selection is in full swing at Select Sires. I am writing this blog from the Chicago airport waiting on my connecting flight to Bismarck North Dakota. Tonight Joe Myers and I will be doing a producer meeting for Shane Talkington in Dickinson, ND then herd visits for the rest of the week in North and South Dakota. This is the first time I have left for a week-long trip with my wife, Emily at home and well into her pregnancy with our first child. We have a heifer due to calve any day now, the first at our new place and the first my wife has supervised on her own. This heifer that will calve to Regis. If the BW is as low as I have been hearing and seeing on Regis calves, everything should be just fine. We are fortunate to have a good Australian Shepard that gets plenty protective of the farm around strangers and some great neighbors who we can call for anything.

Speaking of calving ease and birth weight, I had a nice visit with Jerry Connealy last week. He reports that the calving ease in Confidence is genuine as he now has several on the ground. He also has a group of Regis calves he likes very well. If Jerry says something, it usually comes true.

Yesterday we were fortunate to win the bid on a full brother to Victor 719T at Topp Herefords in North Dakota. This bull had a low birth weight and has tremendous phenotype. Some of the respected Hereford breeders in the U.S. and South America have already contacted me asking when semen would be available.

Emily and I had a very enjoyable trip to Nashville last week where we visited the NCBA convention at the Opryland Hotel and I spoke at a sales meeting for the guys at Southeast Select Sires. They are rolling well with several new Beef Sales Reps. These folks are passionate about the beef industry and have a specific responsibility to service beef customers. They are fired up about the beef lineup and are poised for a tremendous spring.

Brian and Luke are also busy traveling. Brian did a meeting in Indiana last night and Luke spoke at a producer meeting in Oklahoma with 140 in attendance. I hope this is a sign of the momentum happening with the SS beef program and the AI industry in general. If early bulls sales are any indication, it will be a record spring for bull prices to commercial cattlemen, making AI more economically logical than ever before.

I will close now to board my plane. I wish you the best for a successful close to your calving season and a productive year in 2012. It is the most exciting time I can remember to be in the beef industry. Thanks for reading. Aaron

In late January I had the opportunity to travel to Red Bluff, CA, home of the world famous Red Bluff Bull Sale.  Over 400 bulls are merchandized from various seedstock operations from all over the West Coast.  I spent 5 days with All-West Beef Specialists, Greg Schafer of California & Dan Morris of Oregon, and retired salesman, Henry Yeager.  The weather was perfect, the hospitality was great, and the cattle were impressive.

The first herd we visited was the famous Tehama Angus Ranch of Gerber, CA.  This historic herd has been a foundation of high quality Angus cattle in California for several generations now.  I enjoyed looking at the bull lots where we saw a nice set of New Day 454 sons.  These high powered bulls were easy to pick out with their moderation, mass, and width.  Tehama has had great success for several years with Retail Product progeny, and the bull’s influence can still be seen in some of their top stock to this day.

On Saturday morning, we sorted stock at Schafer Angus Ranch near Orland.  Greg and his wife, Louise, have had great success showing that highly proven, top performance cattle win at the bull tests and bring top dollar.  Their use of bulls like 5050, has made their program one to be reckoned with on the West Coast.  I loved their fall born calves by Regis and Mustang.  Be looking for Schafer bulls this spring. 

Herb Holzapfel, a renowned commercial cattlemen, and well respected advocate of AI showed us a great time as we viewed huge sire groups at his operation near the town of Willows.  Herb has been interviewed by several publications over the years and has spoken at some of the top beef symposiums in the country advocating for the smart business of AI.  An outspoken supporter of AI, Herb sees no better time for beef producers to use the benefits of highly proven AI sires than this year with projections of record high bull prices.

Dillabo Livestock of Live Oak, CA, was my final herd visit.  David Dillabo is a valuable and longtime friend to the show cattle industry.   A long time Ag teacher and FFA advisor, he has influenced many lives through his involvement in youth and livestock.  From being the mentor of thousands of youth through their lamb, show calf and Shorthorn prospects, to being the breeder of the Hot Spot, a famous composite sire that was once the high selling club calf bull at Select Sires, he is a legend in this part of the world.  David lives in a beautiful part of the world where his cows can graze in Sutter Buttes.   

I was just reflecting on a conversation I had this afternoon about a bull that is a favorite at Select Sires and decided to share my thoughts via our Beef Blog.

The conversation was with a producer asking about the 7AN303 New Day 454 offspring that I have seen this spring.  I found myself describing the bull in the way that most find his offspring; I was discussing his wide skeletal design, great feet & legs, level and square hip, along with his moderation of frame, his body depth and volume; all which are easily found in 454 sired cattle.

However, the conversation turned to discussing the performance and carcass merit of the bull.  It was brought up how this bull does not meet the ‘stereotypes’ that many have for high performance Angus cattle.  You see, a lot of the time, folks will assume that stouter made, more moderate sized cattle can’t also have super performance, great carcass merit or even higher $Beef ($B) values.  That assumption simply isn’t true.  If it were true, you wouldn’t find 454 heifer calves topping sales left and right, and the bull wouldn’t be ranked in the Top 20% or better for traits like WW, YW, MARB, or RE.  In addition, if these poor assumptions were true, 454 certainly would not rank in the Top 5% or better for such economically important indexes such as $Weaning, $Grid or $B.  And there are MANY more bulls that you can find in the Select Sires lineup that share success just like this.

The deep meaning is that physical appearance does not directly affect a bull’s ability to transmit industry driven, economically important traits.  And just the opposite is true, in that, if a bull is an outlier for growth and carcass merit, one should never assume that his calves could never win a purple banner.

After reflecting on that phone conversation, I found myself smiling.  The fact is that with Select Sires YOU REALLY CAN HAVE IT ALL.  As stated in our annual letter to beef producers around the globe (found on the inside front cover of the Sire Directory or on this website’s homepage), “Our team goes to great lengths to ensure that no stone is left unturned in the process of evaluating a bull for our program.”

We are committed to providing you with the best genetics available in the industry, and we are throwing out all stereotypes in the process.

Whether it was ‘on the hill’ or ‘down in the yards,’ spectators were sure to find some of the finest in Select Sires genetics at the 2012 National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO.  Progeny of our Angus, Simmental, Shorthorn, Club Calf (and more) lineups were highlights in their respective divisions fetching high dollars, blue ribbons & purple banners all week long.

Customer satisfaction at its best was observed in the yards as various Angus breeders from Texas to Wisconsin displayed progeny from bulls like New Day 454 & War Party as their featured exhibits.  These two bulls, like a growing number of individuals in our battery, offer so much on paper and still make the kind of cattle one can appreciate on the halter as well.

On the hill, a March 2010 daughter of Grandmaster, was named Grand Champion Simmental female.  The Mueller family of MN has had great success with this female as they exhibited her up and down the show road  in 2011, and sold her has a sale feature and top selling lot in the National Simmental Sale just one day prior to the National Show.

Some of the first progeny of one of Select’s newly featured Club Calf sires, First Impression, were the talk of the folks that walked the show cattle pens on the north end of the yards.  What a powerfully constructed, heavy muscled group of First Impression bull calves we saw from Nebraska!

It is great to see more and more people jumping on the Select Sires train.  From all accounts at the NWSS, it is certainly paying off.