VBar News - V-BAR SIMMENTALS

Quality, Fleckvieh-influenced cattle.
VBAR Simmentals is a small Simmental operation with heavy emphasis on
quality Fleckvieh strains German, South African, and blended North
American. We started out with the Simmental influence back in 1979 and
have been involved with the breed since then. Through Dr. Hugh Karstetter,
I became interested in the Sir Arnold G809 and Bold Leader blood lines.
I raised a cow out of a PollFleck son who had 4 generations of bulls I owned
in her and I have always held her in my mind as a prototype of what a cow
should be, her name was VBAR Maybelline. She was long and wide, polled,
a good milker, docile, moderate framed, good looking and always calved on
time. She always raised one of the best calves each year. She remains my
cow to compare to, and I still have generations of progeny tracing back to
Maybelline. We thought we were going to move to Colorado and get out of
the cattle business, when people heard about it they kept coming by the
farm and buying cows until I had 3 left (3 of the best I might add).
We wound up moving to NW Oklahoma to take care of our parents, so I
started rebuilding the herd. Since I was interested in Fleckvieh and wanted
to raise Simmentals that look like Simmentals, I started hunting for a
Fleckvieh bull. My first
full Fleckvieh bull came
from Buzzard Hollow
Ranch, and he was named
BHR Barrie. Since most of
my cows were not
registered, I used him to
build a great set of half
blood cows that were also
at least half Fleckvieh.
Barrie
I chose Barrie for frame
moderation, decent
growth numbers, a higher than 3 IMF rating, acceptable calving ease, goggle
eyed and maternal improvement EPD’S. I have always felt that selecting for
a single trait can lead to loss of quality in the other genetic traits. I wanted
balance, and Barrie has proved he can improve several traits at once. Barrie
thru his sire is half South African with foundation genetics from Bantu and
Lady Tugela. His German half comes from DDD Broadway and HVR Ice
Princess (Romulous/Hacks Fraulein).
For the ¾ blood layer of genetics, I wanted to add the BHR Three Sixes
influence. I purchased BHR Barnaby , a fullblood full Fleckvieh, who was
double bred Three Sixes and also had Doorn, Zulu, Ms Pret-lu, Lady Pretoria,
Draco, and Hacks Fraulein in his pedigree. With those genetics he had to be
good, and he was. He
added style while
maintaining length and
width, and just being the
right combination of
genetics to use on Barrie
daughters.
The Barrie x Barnaby
daughters are developing
into a great set of cows.
Barnaby & VBar Black Maybelline
Up to this time I had focused on building the genetic base and did not focus
on convenience traits (e.g. color and polled). I had also been purchasing
heifers and cows from Buzzard Hollow to speed up the improvement in my
herd and shift to Fleckvieh. I consider each animal we get from Buzzard
Hollow as a genetic warehouse that I can use to infuse genes I could not
afford any other way. Fred Shuetze at Buzzard Hollow has given me great
guidance and has shared knowledge to educate me on the bloodlines and
traits of the Fleckvieh cattle.
With the ¾ layer set by Barnaby on Barrie daughters, it was time to add some
of the convenience traits while still improving the base. I purchased a bull
named GCRF Houston who was sired by DDD Sargent Rote on BHR Lady Susi a
great foundation cow. Lady Susi is a Kykso Hadau cross on Congosim Susi.
Houston is polled, moderate framed and improves all of the traits I want to
keep improving. His first set of calves are something to see. He is a very
docile full blood bull.
Since I sold Barnaby,
I kept a polled, black ¾
son of Barnaby.
His birth weight was 77
pounds and I felt he
would be an easy calver
while keeping Barnaby
and Barrie genetics in
the herd. He was bred
Black Barny with heifers
to 6 virgin heifers when
he was 15 months of
age. His calves were born unassisted with birth weights ranging from 64
pounds to 81 pounds averaging 75 pounds. His name is VBAR Black Barny
and I use him on heifers, and some purebred and full blood cows to produce
purebred calves. This is his second breeding season and he is developing
into a great looking bull.
The cows I have added from Buzzard Hollow include 2 Three Sixes daughters
one is Tribella a ¾ Simmental ¼ Red Angus cow that is developing into one of
our top cows with a
stunning Houston calf
by her side this year.
BHR Quanda is a Three
Sixes daughter out of a
very good looking
Doorn/Lady Susi cow.
We have cows by Dustin,
Sir Dillan, Warrick,
Oakes, and Gerik. All of
Tribella
the purchased cows as
well as the home grown
cows are a pleasure to work with, they are docile, good looking goggle eyed
red or black white faced cows. Many of them are starting to look alike and
follow the pattern of the model cow I talked about earlier. The cows have to
be docile, calve on time and be easy fleshing to stay in the herd, after those
traits we consider bloodlines, phenotype, carcass traits and maternal traits.
We feed out a few steers each year to check the carcass improvement which
has been steadily improving according to my freezer beef customers.
2014 is the year that I feel our cow herd has arrived at the genetic plateau
we have been seeking. We now are ready to continue seeking improvement
and sharing the genetics with our customers. Many thanks to Fred for his
guidance and support over the last several years. We had about 3 bull
calves to every heifer this year so we will have some good young bulls next
spring. Give us a call if we can help and watch the for sale section for
heifers and bulls that are for sale. Of course, you can always look at the
calves and pick one out to buy at weaning or yearling age.
Thanks for your interest,
Dick and Burneta
Check out Burneta’s website to see some great sculptures she has done.
eaglechiefstudios.com

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