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Introducing two exciting future herdsires:
"Red Bull" and "Google"
"Red Bull" is the stoutest, highest performance bull we have ever produced. He is big for his age, heavy-boned and big footed. He has small loose scurs and is a son of our old GDQ TEXAS RANGER bull that left so many productive daughters in our program. He is an ET son of TR GOLDIE that was a first generation Pure Gold-bred cow with a Milk EPD of +12 and a YW EPD of +25. He will produce highly productive daughters as well as high-performance and attractive sons that will excel in the UBB's Bull Development and Marketing Program. NOTE: Two full brothers had REA greater than 15 sq. in. in the UBB program in Gonzales, Texas. A maternal half brother had a 14.9 sq. in. ribeye.
Google is a smooth polled Hulk son out of Hulk's last calf crop for us. His dam is an ET daughter of the renowned, high performance polled Hereford bull Remittal Online 122L. Google is a moderate framed, easy fleshing bull with a lot of thickness. He is as big butted and wide topped as any calf we have produced. We can't wait to get ultrasound information on him. His carcass and maternal package give him real herdsire potential. His greatest strength may be in enhancing muscling and carcass quality because based on pedigree estimates; he has a REA EPD in the top 1% of the breed and Marbling EPD in the top 5%.
Both of these young bulls fit into our future breeding plans. They have excellent and balanced EPDs and extend our concentration of the performance, maternal ability and carcass desirability of our proven Ranger and Maverick lines. You can see both of these herdsire prospects at the show in Houston. We expect to have semen available on both of these exciting young herdsires in the near future. Let us know if you are interested.
If you value a highly productive cowherd, consider "Legacy."
RMR RANGER'S LEGACY 6180
Legacy is the most complete Braford bull we have ever owned. He is the only bull we know in the Braford breed that is in the top 25% for every trait measured and evaluated in the breed – even light birth weight. His MILK and REA EPDs rank him in the top 1% of the breed. He'll work on heifers and will produce truly outstanding daughters.
| Fall 2011 EPDs |
 |
Birth
Weight |
Weaning
Weight |
Yearling
Weight |
Milk |
Total
Maternal |
Carc
Wt. |
Fat |
REA |
Marbling |
| EPD |
-1.3 |
+14 |
+25 |
+10 |
+17 |
+43 |
-0.020 |
+0.38 |
+0.06 |
He is polled and his color pattern will have him producing no solid reds on Braford cows and 100% black baldies on straight black cows. Yes, he transmits plenty eye pigmentation too. Whether you are a purebred Braford breeder or a commercial producer, you'll love the production of Legacy – especially his daughters. We are taking semen orders now. Don't delay, we sold out last spring. Volume discounts are available for commercial producers. Call or email for details.
Genetics
Our purebred Braford breeding program is focused on genetics – specifically performance genetics. Effective genetic evaluation can be challenging and requires diligence and accuracy of taking measurements. We measure birth weight with scales – no hoof tapes and no windshield estimations. We shrink our calves before taking weaning weights to get true phenotypic weights that reflect real growth and not differences in fill. Our ultrasound measurements are taken at the prescribed age then evaluated by the CUP lab not chuteside by the scanning technician who may or may not be a disinterested party. We record yearling weights at the same time we scan cattle to eliminate any questions of data manipulation that is often associated with separate yearling weight and carcass data collection procedures.
We use EPDs religiously. Don't let anyone convince you that actual or adjusted weights need to be considered either by themselves or in conjunction with the EPDs. EPDs are the best available indication of transmittable genetics in an animal – they trump everything else. Simple phenotypic measurements can easily be manipulated and usually reflect more non-genetic and environmental influences than genetic differences. Even low accuracy EPDs are superior to actual weights or measurements when you are making selection decisions. Use the EPDs.
Recently, we heard seedstock producer Donnell Brown make a very profound statement at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course, "Test for performance while managing for longevity." We've practiced these principles for decades. Starving pregnant females to minimize birth weight or creep feeding calves to maximize weaning weights or percent IMF is counterproductive in the long run. These common purebred breeder practices can thwart genetic evaluation and reduce productivity and longevity in the cattle produced. There is no genetic improvement advantage whatsoever to be derived from pushing or overfeeding cattle. You can effectively discern genetic differences at lower feeding levels and at the same time spend less money on development and ensure greater productive longevity.
Our goal is to improve performance genetics in the cattle we breed and sell to our customers. Excessive feed might make them look a little better, weigh more at any measurement point or have more intramuscular fat when scanned. None of these yield superior EPDs or guarantee better genetics to be transmitted to future generations.
We are always excited to talk to you about cattle genetics. We enjoy discussing our program and philosophies of breeding Brafords with superior maternal and solid carcass genetics. If you want to improve your cattle, focus on buying superior genetics and don't fall for excessive feed, fluff or blue sky. We sell genetics. We breed and sell superior Braford genetics that look good too.
Welcome
Welcome to our website. The primary business of Thunderstorm R Cattle Company is the breeding and marketing of functional UBB registered Braford cattle. We focus our breeding efforts on maternal superiority and have no interest in breeding cattle for the terminal sire side of the industry. We ask that you please consider purchasing our bulls if you desire to raise productive replacement females. We ask that you consider purchasing our females if you want to quickly enhance your cowherd. All of our breeding decisions are geared toward cowherd improvement that yields females demonstrating consistent, strong performance over a long, productive, unpampered lifetime. We are closely aligned with the Wayne Boozer Braford breeding program and all of our cows are located in the East Texas Pineywoods near Douglass, Texas. See the "About US" link to learn more about the relationship between Thunderstorm R Cattle Company and Wayne Boozer Brafords.
Based on decades of experience and formal academic training in animal breeding and genetics, we offer comprehensive consulting services for purebred as well as progressive commercial producers. Our consulting focus is genetic improvement of the cowherd as well as associated purebred marketing.
Thunderstorm R Cattle Company, Nacogdoches, Texas
Rodney, Pam and Emily Roberson; Amy and Kevin Hayes
rlr@thunderstormrcattle.com
Contact us for more information
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