Well the time has finally come that we have to make a very hard decision. This guy has given us all the calves we have and although he is not a pet, his calves come out easy going enough my kids can show them. When we first started with mini longhorns we were fortunate to visit several ranches that talked to us and gave us their advice. Although we chose this guy he had the genetics that are prominent on several ranches and his sire is one of only two miniature Texas longhorn bulls available, via AI.
Rocky has come a long way since we first laid eyes on him that long ago. We did not realize how great he would turn out. The way he really filled out with beef looks just great all while staying at 45 inches. Nor could we have anticipated how awesome his calves would turn out. He has brought down the size of each of our cows from our breeding stock animals whose calves are now mini size to our mini moms whose calves are staying almost micro in their size. We look forward to watching the rest of his heifer calves we have mature and see how they turn out and show them. So whether the mom is small frame or mini his calves are staying small.
He also has not disappointed in the color department either. No matter if the cow is solid his calves still come out with colored up patterns. He has never thrown a solid colored calf yet. The only one close is Luke our young bull from him that is white, but genetically that means he got two white patterned genes from his parents and when bred to solid cows should always produce a white pattern of some sort, for reference check out double helix ranch color genetic pages.
The color kaleidoscope he has in his babies is amazing, from red base to black base, brindle to parker brown, large or small spots, color sided or lace faced he has given us an amazing variety. Although he is black he must carry a variety of genes with the babies on the ground. If by chance you are in need of colored up calves then consider this guy for your herd. Proven with plenty of calves on the ground and registered with both TLBAA and ITLA you can hardly go wrong. His sire is still alive so he should have plenty of years of service still ahead of him.
We are on the hunt for his replacement and have our eyes on several off several ranches. We are looking at confirmation, color, horn, and temperament. We would have to say that we are hesitant to get rid of him but with so many heifers in our herd by him we can hardly see the feasibility of keeping him. We pray one of those we get turns out to be a worthy replacement. Our plan is to show them as youngsters and insure that not only us but others feel they are herdsire worthy.
Up and coming youngsters we plan to add are exciting and we can't wait to share with you in a future post. We'll give you a hint of what we are looking at though; From the smallest bull we have seen to the longest horned mini we have located, brindle, grulla and spotted the future looks bright.