Gizmo Angus Blog

The Value of Lists

2012-01-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

One of my friends is a writer; she writes a bit of everything and is really good I enjoy reading her blog http://www.wandaargersinger.com/blog/. As all of us do we started talking about what we want to do or accomplish in the New Year. Wanda informed me she had made a list of 52 random thoughts or words and she plans to write a blog on each of the words in the future. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with I know I can expect a good laugh. Well this puts some pressure on me what I am going to do, then my daughter in law gave me a book. The name of the book is Lists to live by and was compiled by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens and John Van Diest. By golly that is what I want to do share some really good list! So because I am not good at committing to weekly I will try to pick a favorite list for the next twelve months. This past fall Ronnie and I attended the American Angus Tour in Georgia one of the stops was at the founder of Chick-Fil-A Company, Cathy S. Truett and we were honored to have the opportunity to meet this gentleman and his sweet wife. This list is from his book “It’s Easier To Succeed Than To Fail”

Five Reasons it’s Easier to Succeed

1. It’s easier to succeed because failure exacts a high price in terms of time when you have to do a job over.

2. It’s easier to succeed because success eliminates the agony and frustration of defeat.

3. It’s easier to succeed because money spent to fail must be spent again to succeed.

4. It’s easier to succeed because a person’s credibility decreases with each failure, making it harder to succeed the second time.

5. And it’s easier to succeed because joy and expression of affirmation come from succeeding, whereas feelings of discouragement and discontent accompany failure

Reading his book and reading this list you understand why this sweet man has been such a success. He doesn’t just make a list he followed it and learned from it. What a blessing to be able to say we had the opportunity to meet him.

Wishing You and Yours a blessed New Year!

Florida Bull Test Catalog

2011-12-22T16:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Cattlemen:
Welcome to the 12th Annual Florida Bull Test Sale. The objective of this test is to evaluate the performance potential and breeding soundness of bulls consigned. This year was the second year in which individual feed efficiency was established on all bulls.

The Florida Bull Test consists of a 112-day performance test plus a breeding soundness evaluation on every bull that qualifies for the auction. Bulls arrive at the NFREC Feed Efficiency Facility, are sorted into contemporary groups, and moved into pens where bulls adapted to soy hull and corn gluten-based diet with free choice access to Bermuda grass hay and water for a three week adaptation period before initiating the test. The bulls remained in the Feed Efficiency Facility for the first 56 days of test after which they were moved out of the facility to 3.25 acre pastures for the remaining 56 days of test. They received the same diet throughout the test. Animal performance, specifically average daily gain (ADG), was calculated using only the official starting and finishing test weights. Throughout the test bulls were observed and screened for structural soundness and disposition. Bulls deemed to be structurally unsound or poor disposition did not qualify for the sale.

The target was to achieve an ADG of 3.5 lb/day. As you may note the bulls averaged an ADG of 3.32 lb/day. The average weight per day of age was 2.96 lb/day. Average daily feed intake during the first 56 days of test was 23.3 lb/day (on a dry matter basis) and average feed:gain ratio of 7.5 pounds of feed for every pound of gain.

A significant portion of the test is the inclusion of feed efficiency of individual bulls. To rank the bulls on feed efficiency we use residual feed intake (RFI), which is the difference between actual feed intake and expected feed intake. The more negative the number is, the more efficient the bull is. During this bull test the RFI of bulls ranged from -6.67 to 5.19 lb/d. Therefore, the most efficient bull consumed 6.67 lb per day less feed than expected for his gain. This equates to more than 2,400 lb per year less feed than that bull is expected to consume!

Our staff has worked hard to provide the best care possible for these bulls. We believe each bull has been given the chance to express his own genetic potential for performance and fertility. Thank you for making our sale stronger year after year. We look forward to visiting with you about the bulls either before or on sale day.

Catalog

Sincerely,

Florida Bull Test Committee

So if your looking for a new herd bull we invite you to join us in Marianna Florida on Saturday January 14, 2011. If you have any questions concerning our consignments please feel free to give us a call.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

The Gilmore's
Ronnie & Debbie

Florida Bull Test Sale January 14th 2012

2011-12-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Florida Test NFREC-Marianna

The North Florida Research and Education Center in Marianna, Florida annually hosts the Florida Bull Test. Final weights were taken on December 6 & 7 2011. Bulls that qualify for the sale will be cataloged soon, all bulls are evaluated by ultrasound for carcass traits 30 days before the end of the test. Bulls below frame score of 4.5 will not be accepted (BIF frame score chart). All bulls will undergo a Breeding Soundness Evaluation according to the Society of Theriognology guidelines prior to the sale by the Bull Test designated Veterniarian. Any bulls that do not pass the BSE will not be permitted to sell in the sale.

Gizmo Angus Farm nominated three bull calves to this years test we were notified this week that all three have met the sale criteria and will be offered for sale on January 14, 2012.

Gizmo EXT 1002 0556 6149 Registration #16938941

1002 was being camera shy

Gizmo Image Maker 1013 525 Registration #16938946

Gizmo EXT 1023 409 6149 Registration #16938951

For more information on all the bulls that will be selling on January 14, 2012 go to the Florida Bull Test page.

Alabama Angus Association Fall Sale Update

2011-10-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

We have a couple of changes to announce concerning our consignments to the Alabama Angus Association Fall Sale on November 12th:

Gizmo EXT 1060 617 6149 is OUT OF SALE

Gizmo Blackcap 312 239C 205 has a BC Matrix 4132 heifer calf on her side. The calf was born on 10/06/2011 and weighed 70 pounds.

We hope to see you in Cullman Alabama on Sale day!

Fall Sales

2011-09-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

It is hard to beleive that Fall is just around the corner, and with Fall comes fall cattle sales. We have consigned six bulls to the Alabama BCIA Fall Round Up Sale on November 11, 2011 in Union Town Alabama. Then on November 12, 2011 we have consigned three lots to the Alabama Angus Association sale in Cullman Alabama. So we will have a busy weekend for sure. Let me tell you a little about our consignments:

Alabama Fall Round Up Sale and BCIA Genetic Verified Heifer Sale

Friday, November 11, 2011 - 11:00 am
Alabama Livestock Auction
Union Town, Alabama

Gizmo New Image 904 213 0415
Registration # 16682173
Virgin Bull Out of H A Image Maker 0415

H A Image Maker 0415 Sire of 904

This young bull traces back to our foundation Stephanie cow, he should work well on heifers.

Gizmo New Day 918 501 8005
Registration #16682174
Virgin Bull out of Boyd New Day 8005

Boyd New Day 8005 Sire of 918

This bull should make a really nice heifer bull. His dam is an ET daughter out of our foundation Fink Pride 6211 cow. His sire Boyd New Day 8005 consistently produces good footed, sound females with perfect udder structure and sons that perform in the top 5% of the breed.

Gizmo IM 933 606 0702
Registration #16682180

H A Image Maker 0415 Paternal Grand Sire of 933

SAV Traveler 8180 004 Maternal Grand Sire of 933

A virgin bull out of a son of the our donor cow RB Bridget 658 and the ABS sire H A Image Maker 0415. His dam is a daughter of SAV 8180 Traveler 004. This young bull should make a heifer bull.

Gizmo New Day 931 658 8005
Registration # 16682179

Virgin Bull out of Boyd New Day 8005 and our donor cow RB Bridget 658 C11 111.

RB Bridget 658 C11 111

Boyd New Day Sire of 931

We currently have three flush sisters to this bull in production. In addition we used a flush brother to this bull on our heifers last year and we have been pleased with the calves. This young bull should make a good heifer bull.

Gizmo New Design 922 K506 878
Registration # 1668217716682177

Virgin Bull out of Bon View New Design 878

Bon View New Design 878 Sire of 922

This young bull is out of the natural daughter of our foundation donor Fink Pride 6211 his maternal grand sire ranks in the top 7% for progeny feed efficiency with above average gain and a -.35 lbs./day Intake EPD We don't recommend this bull for use on heifers.

Gizmo New Day 945 0168 8005
Registration # #16767597

Sweetwater Elluna 0168 Donor Dam of 945

Boyd New Day Sire of 945

This virgin bull is an ET calf out of our now deceased donor Sweetwater Elluna 0168 and Boyd New Day 8005. We have two flush sisters to this bull working in our herd.

Then on November 12, 2011, 12:00 noon at the Cullman Stockyards in Cullman Alabama. Gizmo has consigned three lots to the Alabama Angus Association Fall Sale, we invite you to check them out!

Gizmo Blackcap 312 239C 205
Registration # 14751295
This cow is out of our foundation Blackcap Cow Twin Valley Blackcap 239C
She has BR 5 @ 96 WR 5 @ 101 and YR 2@ 95 This cow was AI'd to
BC Matrix 4132 on 12/30/2010 Then Pasture exposed to Sinclair Rito 9R9 examined safe.

Sinclair Rito 9R9 Registration #16352504

Gizmo Blackcap 603 112 004
Registration #15722717
BR 3 @ 96 WR 3 @ 102 Yr 2 @ 98
Safe in calf to Sinclair Rito 9R9
Registration #16352504
and her heifer calf
Gizmo Blackcap 1059 112 659
Registration #16961240
This heifer calf is out of our senior herd sire
Coleman EXT 6149
Registration # 15730734

Three flush sisters to 6149 are working in the Coleman Angus herd in Montana. Another flush sister sold in 09 to Anderson Circle Ranch for $15,000

Coleman Donna 6148 Flush Sister to Coleman EXT 6149 the sire of 1059

Gizmo Elluna 617 0168 307
Registration #15722727
This young cow is out of our foundation
Sweetwater Elluna 0168 BR 3 @ 107 WR 3 @ 100 and YR 1 @ 111
Safe in calf to Sinclair Rito 9R9 Registration #16352504

Your welcome to come by and see our consignments at the farm any time prior to the sales, or give us a call at 850-587-2182. Hope to see you on sale day!

2011 Florida Bull Test

2011-08-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

We delivered three young bulls to the University of Florida Beef Unit in Marianna Florida on July 26th for the 2011 Bull test. It has been a number of years since we have put any of our bulls on test so it will be interesting to see what kind of changes have been implemented.

Two of these calves are out of our senior herd sire:

Coleman EXT 6149 Registration # 15730734

Coleman EXT 6149 Registration #15730734

This bull is out of the Colman Angus donor KMK Donna J311 Registration #13642847

6149's Dam along with two of his flush sisters are currently working in the donor program

at Coleman Angus in Charlo Montana

Coleman Donna 6148 Registration # 15704363
Flush Sister to Coleman EXT 6149

Coleman Donna 6139 Registration # 15704358
Flush Sister to Coleman EXT 6149

Needless to say the calves out of the 6149 stem from a very solid cow family.

For updates on the bull test go to Florida Bull Test 2011

The end of an era

2011-06-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ronnie and I spent part of our 2011 Memorial Day weekend at the Good Neighbor Farm Angus dispersal sale in Moultrie Georgia. This sale was the end of an era for the Chitty family. We met Horace and Brent Chitty many years ago while attending various Angus sales and events. In 2001 Ronnie became the chairman of the Florida Angus Association female sale, and Brent was one of the first breeders Ronnie called on to put cattle into the sale. Ronnie could always count on the Chitty family to bring high quality, functional cattle that would work in our environment. So attending this sale was bittersweet, it was great to see the Chitty’s but sad to see them leaving the industry. The Chitty’s will be missed, we wish them the very best. They deserve it.

Graham Duchess 55
Registration #11359226

We knew the Chitty’s had built an excellent cow herd around their foundation cow Graham Duchess 55. Brent Chitty has said that this cow was the best he had ever purchased.
She is the kind of cow that we like deep, clean fronted, structurally correct with a beautiful udder. The mark of a great cow is no matter what bull you breed her to the mating works, Graham Duchess 55 is that kind of cow. Based on this we attended the sale in hopes of purchasing a daughter from this great cow. We were fortunate to purchase not one but two daughters GNF Duchess 856 700 NDay Registration # 16384055 and GNF Duchess 859 700 ND878 Registration # 16392475 we feel both these cows will be nice additions to our herd. Both of these purchases were AI'D to
S A V Final Answer.

S A V Final Answer 0035
Registration #13592905

It was a wonderful Memorial Day for us. I just have to say thank you to all the service men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice for this country, so that we can enjoy the freedoms, such as speaking our mind, picking our own religion and feeling safe every day.

As Tom Burke would say “Happy Days!”

Small Supplies and Record Prices

2011-06-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article by Tod Kalous "Small Supplies and Record Prices" in my spring 2011 National Cattlemen. I was not surprised to read that the total U.S. cattle inventory decreased 1.3 million head in 2010 and totaled 92.6 million head on Jan. 1, 2011, which puts the total inventory back to levels not seen since the early 1950’s. I can’t say I am surprised by these numbers, I have been watching the national cattle inventory decrease for the last few years, and have been telling anyone that would listen that eventually it would mean more dollars for our product. The article goes on to say that numbers are estimated to decline another 1 to 1.5 percent during 2011. What does this mean to us as producers? The smaller beef supplies and stronger beef demand are expected to lead to record high prices for all classes of cattle in 2011 with continued increases in 2012…..can I get a big hallelujah and might I add it’s about time! Does this good news mean our struggle is over? Sadly the answer is no, we as producers are still going to have to deal with high feed prices, and for many of us drought is becoming a major issue. If drought conditions continue it could force many of us to sell cattle that we would prefer to retain. There are things we can do as producers to make our cow herds more profitable, however issues like drought our not something we can control, we just need to send up prayers for rain and hope the good Lord sees fit to send it. I pray that he will send the rain soon, we would normally have already rolled up over 200 bales of hay, at this point we have only rolled 20, needless to say we are praying hard.

Freeze Branding Final Analyst

2011-04-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well we have now completed working both groups of bred heifers. The first group we utilized the dry ice and 99% alcohol. There were three of us working I was the alcohol sprayer and time keeper, while Lance and Ronnie worked the irons. This work was done at the house using our old Priefert working chute; this chute doesn’t restrict the movement as well as the Fore-Most chute used during the demonstration at the farm, so we also utilize a halter on the heifers for additional control. The brands are turning out really well and we are extremely pleased with the results of this procedure.

The second group was done one week later; utilizing the nitrogen method. I had to go to the office so Ronnie and Lance had to handle the work without me. Ronnie did say I was missed! He had sixteen heifers to work, and one tank of nitrogen. I would say this is a mid size tank it holds about 200 straws of semen, they ran out of nitrogen after about ten head. He had to make a run and get some dry ice to finish the last six head. As I said he didn’t have his (and might I add exceptional time keeper) and he said with one working the head, one the irons the time keeping got to be an issue. It looks like some of the irons were left on a bit to long, or maybe the nitrogen is just more unforgiving. These brands just aren’t looking as good as the first group.

Based on the two groups that we have worked since the demonstration, we will be utilizing the dry ice with 99% alcohol method in the future. We feel that the dry ice method is more forgiving, as well as more cost effective.

I hope the series of blogs on freeze branding has been helpful. One thing about the cattle business is you are always learning.

Check the January 2011 Blogs for step by step drections

Fly Control

2011-04-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

You know it is going to be a bad year for fly’s when you have the fly swatter out in February. Our cattle are covered in fly’s already and we are only in early spring. Our herd health work is scheduled in April, fly treatment is part of the program. Our normal program is to pour the cattle with a prozap insectrin 1% Pour-On Xtra then we administer a Vigilante Insecticide Bolus VIGILANTE ® insecticide controlled--release bolus for beef and dairy cattle controls the breeding of horn flies and face flies in the manure of treated beef and dairy cattle for up to five months. The bolus also aids in the control of houseflies and stable flies. We have used this method at the farm for the past three years with great success, at the house due to adjacent farms that don’t utilize any type of fly control we have always used the pour on along with Insecticide Cattle Ear Tags. Due to the very large number of fly’s so early in the season, we are going to change the program at the home place this year to include our normal program of pour on and insecticide ear tags but we are also going to add the Vigilante insecticide controlled – release bolus.

You might ask Why would you do so much to prevent flys in our program?

• Horn flies can cause 15 lbs. to 50 lbs. of weight

loss per head during the summer season.

• At $0.90 per pound, a 30 lb.weight loss results

in a $27.00 average loss per head.

• An Altosid IGR Feed-Thru investment of

$4.50 to $5.50 per cow/calf pair for a summer

feeding season will provide returns from

6:1 up to 10:1.

Research shows that if you can eliminate flys (well at least minimize) the flys on your cow herd it will equates to long term cost savings. Of course I also enjoy the added benefit of less flys in my house, so I don’t have to spend so much time with a fly swatter in my hand.

If you don’t have a fly prevention program in place in your cow herd, now would be a good time to reconsider. The less time a cow spends trying to keep flys off of themselves the more time they have to graze and gain. No matter if you are in the purebred or commercial sector of the industry pounds count, and less flys mean more pounds on your cows.

Face it we all want happy cows!

Spring Has Sprung!

2011-04-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

Good Gravy, I am getting really old, because I just can’t seem to keep up anymore. Spring has arrived early here in Northwest Florida and with it a really long list of projects. Last week we finally finished freeze branding the final group of the 2009 heifers; wow at least one item to check off the list. The last of the freezer steers was delivered to the processor on Friday ha check number two! Called ahead to make sure the fertilizer supply had the weed spray we needed after being assured they did, Ronnie made the trip to pick it up and was informed “ we had some yesterday”…….I guess you could say wasted trip. One of our favorite embryo calves out of VDAR Lucy’s Boy and VDAR Elluna 97 somehow managed to break his shoulder, I hope this isn’t the beginning of a trend. Ronnie is trying his best to clear a fifty acre field that will make a great summer pasture. He has had this on his to do list for about five years and is bound and determined to get it done this year. We have pulled all but one of the bulls and hope to get the last one out this week. I have been busy ordering all the necessary medications for herd health treatment that we have scheduled to start on April 13th, if all of the medications get here that is. We have already had to mow grass several times, and it is only April 5th! By the time we get the fifty acres cleared and all the cows worked it will be time to start cutting hay. I have to say I am really excited about the calves we have on the ground this year. The embryo calves out of the old Elluna 97 cow are really looking good. I have to admit that the Coleman EXT 6149 calves are everything we had hoped they would be. We also utilize several of our young bulls on heifers each year, and the calves out of these heifers and young bulls are looking really good as well. So spring is a busy time but it is always a very rewarding time. Hopefully we will find a little time to slow down and just appreciate the beauty of spring that is all around us, or as an old friend once told us stop and smell the roses.

Little Gizmo's

2011-03-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

It is official; Ronnie and I are going to be grandparents! I have to admit we are a bit excited, more than I really expected and I was expecting EXCITED. Jacob and Carla came over for a short visit on Valentine’s Day with a card that was addressed to Grandma and Grandpa Gilmore. I managed to remain calm, with emotions running from ecstatic to terrified and that was just within the first few minutes of being told about the pregnancy. It brought back all of the memories of our first child. We didn’t have the benefit of the cool little sticks that say YES or NO we had to wait and hear the news from the doctor then run out to find a pay phone (do they even have those anymore) to call and tell everyone. So times and technology have changed but the emotions are still very much the same even when you’re just the grandparent. Yep and there is no shame in crying !

After they told us the wonderful news they scheduled their first ultrasound. Jacob told us that he was praying for twins, Carla told him he was crazy but for some reason he was just sure that he would love to have twins. On March 7th they had their first ultrasound and OH MY GOODNESS Jacob’s prayers were answered they are having twins!

Carla has been so sick, I just feel so bad that she is sick and so happy that she is pregnant then I feel guilty for being happy when she feels so bad it is a revolving door of emotions. Please keep all four of them in your prayers, and throw one up for the grandparents as well.

People keep asking me if I want boys or girls or one of each, I just tell them it doesn’t matter as long as everyone is healthy and happy. Besides it doesn’t matter, boys or girls can hold a show stick! They will be going back to the doctor the first of April for another ultrasound, and then we will know if they are having boys, girls, or one of each again for me it doesn’t matter I am just feeling doubly blessed!

What is the shortest show stick you can get? Should I be picking out thier first heifer? Nope I am not excited NOT MUCH!

Let There Be Quiet

2011-02-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Is there a quiet place in your day? Maybe it's before sunrise--the windows still dark, the air still a bit chilly except for teh warmth of a crocheted blanket thrown over your lap. The day is fresh and ahead of you, unspoiled, untouched. Your Bible lies open, your prayers are thoughts and whispers. Just you. And God.
Maybe it's sometime in the early afternoon. The kids are napping. The traffic still sails by outside where you could hear it if you wanted to. But you don't. You're alone for a few stolen moments...enjoying a snack, enjoying a book, enjoying a minute to yourself.
Maybe it's late at night. The clock that ticked unnoticeably all evening is now regular and audible, your PJs on, your TV off. You sink into the couch pillows, almost dozing but not ready for bed yet, almost able to put your worries out of your mind, almost too comfortable for words.
Maybe your quiet time is some other time.
Or maybe it's never.
But it's never too late to make time for it. Over and over in Jesus' life, you see this one who was so busy, who was caught up in so many stressful situations, who was tugged on and clawed at from so many different people...getting away, stealing off, seeking quiet.
Sometimes it was night--even all night. Sometimes it was early in the morning, long before his friends and disciples had stirred from sleep. At the end of a long day or before the start of a new one, he yearned for quiet, for time spent alone with his heavenly Father, for the secret hours his human side needed in order to sort out what was going on in his life.
Angud Jesus himself needed quiet, certainly we all need quiet.
But quiet won't come looking for you. You'll have to wrestle it away from a world grown noisy and demanding, from a culture that rushes to fill every second with sound and movement and high-speed information. You'll have to plan for it, draw boundary lines around it, protect it from phone calls and talk shows and even your own impatience. You'll be tempted to think you can live without it, but you'll only end up joining the rest of us who have had to learn the hard way---through four-day flu bugs and weekend fatigue--that if we don't take responsibility for slowing ourselves down, our bodies will do it for us.
The simple truth is that quiet time spent with the Lord, with his Word and our own hearts laid open before him, will never take more away from us than it gives back to us. It will always replenish, always add to the life of our days, and most likely even add to the days of our lives.
Enjoy the blessings of being quiet.

Freeze Branding @ Twenty One Days

2011-02-13T17:01:00.000-08:00

Well I did manage to get some photo's yesterday I just didn't get them posted. Quick recap is that the 932 heifer was branded utilizing the liquid nitrogen, and the 937 heifer branded with dry ice and 99% aolchol.

932 heifer

937 heifer, I think the GIZ is really starting to stand out.

They said you could tell how the brands look at 21 days, and I think they are showing up I am thinking that 75 seconds might work better on the dry ice method instead of 60 seconds.

Until next week.

Freeze Branding @ Fourteen Days

2011-02-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

Ok it has been fourteen days since the freeze branding clinic. I went out this afternoon and took a few photo's of the two heifers that we used to demonstrate the two different methods of freeze branding.

932 Liquid Nitrogen Method

932

I do see some changes but overall this reminds me a bit of watching water boil.

937 Dry Ice and 99% Alochol Method

937 The GIZ is really starting to show

I will get more photo's next week, maybe by then the water will actually be boiling! While I was out I went ahead and got a few photo's of some of the other heifers in the pen.

I really like this group of heifers, the past few days have been really cold and wet so we have plenty of mud to go around.

Gizmo Beauty 902 0707 0702

Gizmo Pride 916 314 K205

This is a heifer that I really like she just wouldn't cooperate with me for a good photo, I will try again next week. She is really deep and soggy.

Freeze Branding One Week and One Day Later

2011-02-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

I said in my freeze branding wrap up post that I would take pictures of the two heifers to show the progression of the brands. Keep in mind that the 932 heifer was branded utilizing the liquid nitrogen method, while the 937 heifer was branded utilizing the dry ice with 99% alcohol. My intentions were to get pictures at seven days but since I am a world class procrastinator the pictures were taken at eight days.

932 Branded with Liquid Nitrogen

932

937 Branded with Dry Ice and 99% Alcohol

937

I don't yet have an opinion on which one looks the best, I don't really know at this point. I will post again next week, maybe by then we can tell more.

Freeze Branding Wrap Up

2011-01-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

Dr. Cliff Lamb UF IFAS

Well the freeze branding clinic is over and it turned out really well. This event was a joint endeavor of the Northwest Florida Cattleman's, Escambia County Extension and UF IFAS. Dr. Cliff Lamb with the UF IFAS Beef Unit in Marianna put on great hands on program. When I say hands on I mean it he had volunteers doing the prep work as well as the actual branding. Dr. Lamb even used volunteers to pore the liquid nitrogen into the cooler, and when the time came to demonstrate the dry ice method he also utilized volunteers. I am a believer in hands on telling someone how to do something and actually holding the brand in your hand is just not the same. So I loved the way this demonstration was presented, as well as the way Dr. Lamb provided instruction during each phase of the process.

Necessary Equipment

A freeze brand set of number brands or single brand as needed.
Good head gate and squeeze chute is essential to ensure that the animal is restrained while applying the brand
Animal hair clippers with sheep head and flathead blades.
A stiff rice root brush and towel for cleaning the brand area.
Alcohol (99%) in a mister bottle.
Dry ice and alcohol (99% not 70%) for cooling the irons OR liquid nitrogen.
Container large enough to set all the brands on the bottom at one time for cooling.
A large clock with second hand to be used for timing of brand application.

Freeze Brand Set

Freeze Branding Procedure

If using dry ice - break up enough dry ice to cover the bottom of the container(s) with at least two inches of ice. Pour enough alcohol over the ice to cover the ice and the brands placed down in the ice. Add more ice and alcohol as needed during the day. As soon as one is done using a brand place it back in the ice and do not use the brand again until bubbling stops.
Restrain the animal in the chute by the neck and tighten the squeeze chute on the body to prevent excessive movement.
Clip hair as short as possible in the area to be branded. Clean the area with a brush and alcohol.
Just before placing the brand on the animal saturate the brand site with alcohol from the mister to provide liquid contact between the iron and the hide. This step is critical to obtaining a good brand because alcohol will evaporate quickly.

Apply the brand to the hide for 60 seconds if using dry ice and for 30 seconds if using liquid nitrogen. Every 10 seconds spray the brand with alcohol from the mister.

Clip the hair

First brand was utilizing liquid nitrogen and applying for 30 seconds

first brand of the day thanks volunteers!

Good Head and Squeeze Chute is essential!

The second heifer of the day we used the dry ice method

The tattoo number utilizing the dry ice method

Things to Watch for

Animals will react less to the super cooled iron as opposed to a hot one, but they will still try to jump, usually about ten seconds into branding. If the brand is knocked off its location during branding, just reapply and add an extra 5 seconds plus the time lost.
To determine whether the brand is done properly if the hide area is frozen stiff you can tap the hide with your fingernail. It should feel like taping on an ice cube. It will take three to four weeks for the brand to show up nicely.
Alcohol will migrate Thur a Styrofoam cooler, but not a plastic one, so plastic works best, however Styrofoam coolers do work, just do not leave alcohol in them over night.

I plan to take pictures of the two heifers and post them as a follow up to show the difference if any of the two techniques. Thanks again to Dr. Lamb, the Escambia County Extension and the Northwest Florida Cattleman's Association for allowing us the opportunity to host this event.

One Week & One Day

Well my intentions were to take photo's of the two heifers to see how the brands are looking, well I am one day late but I really did have good intentions.

Drug Problems

2011-01-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning up (one of the New Year's resolutions) my paperwork and ran across something on Drug problems. I had the same type of drug problem when I was growing up, and now I wish more of today's children had the same.

Happy New Year!

Reflections on 2010

2010-12-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. It's a time to reflect on the changes we want (or need) to make and resolve to follow through on those changes. I am sitting in my mom's living room with less than twelve hours left of 2010, and am doing just that.

Here are a few resolutions I would like to make for the new year.

Spend more time in prayer
I will no longer waste my time relieving the past, instead I will focus on the future
I will give up chocolates totally. 100%. Completely. Honestly....
I will stop sending e-mails to my husband.
I resolve to work with neglected children -- my own.
I will spend less than one hour a day on the Internet. This, of course, will be hard to estimate since I'm not a clock watcher.
I will read the manual... just as soon as I can find it.
I will think of a password other than "password."
I will not tell the same story at every get together.
I won't worry so much.
I will stop considering other people's feelings when they so obviously don't consider mine - if that unwashed fellow sits next to me again, I'll tell him he stinks!
I will be more imaginative.
Spend more time working on the farm.
Get back on my diet!

In 2011

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good..

Remember.....Just going to church doesn't make you a christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

.

Freeze Branding Clinic

2010-12-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Northwest Florida Cattlemen's Association

Invite You to Attend A

Cattle Identification And

Freeze Branding Demonstration

When: January 22, 2011

10:30 A.M. Central Time

Where: Gizmo Angus Farm

8284 Gibson Road

Molino, Florida 32577

RSVP M. Allison Meharg

850-475-5230 ex. 102

Escambia Extension Service

Dr. G. Cliff Lamb, Assistant Director, Animal Science Programs, Associate Professor, North Florida Research & Education Center and his staff will be presenting a live demonstration on freeze branding. This will be an interactive session so if you have questions on herd identification this will be a wonderful opportunity. Following the live demonstration, lunch will be provided by The Cattlemen's Association and Gizmo Angus Farm at the farm lodge.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Merry-Christmas-from-Gizmo-Angus-Farm.html?soid=1103664214214&aid=Jh85Dr6huDI

2010-12-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Merry-Christmas-from-Gizmo-Angus-Farm.html?soid=1103664214214&aid=Jh85Dr6huDI

Alabama Angus Association Fall Sale

2010-11-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

The Alabama Angus Association Fall Sale scheduled for

November 13, 2010 - Noon

Cullman Stockyard - Cullman, Alabama

We invite you to take a look at Lot # 20 Gizmo Stephanie 403 906 095 Registration # 15074952

Gizmo Stephanie 403 906 095

403 is a daughter of the established pathfinder sire B/R New Frontier 095 and out of a direct daughter of EXT. This nice female recorded individual ratios of WW 102 and YW 109 in the AHIR program.

Bred to Coleman EXT 6149 (Wulffs EXT 6106x KMK Donna J311) from 12-3-09 to 5-6-10. Safe and should be due near sale time.

Coleman Donna 6139 Flush Sister to the Service Sire of Lot #20

Coleman Donna 6148 another powerful cow out of the same flush as the service bull to Lot #20. Another flush sister sold as the lead off cow in the Anderson Circle Dispersal for $20,000.00.

Or Lot 22 Gizmo Pride 903 717 0702 Registration # 16701395

Gizmo Pride 903 717 0702

This heifer is out of a first calf heifer and her sire 0702 was the natural calf out of our RB Bridget 658 C11 111 Cow. Tremendous birth to yearling spread in this open yearling show prospect. She combines several of the breed's leading female sires up close in her pedigree. You can build a program around a heifer of this quality.

Gizmo Pride 6211 8005 314 Grand Dam of 903

2010 Alabama BCIA Fall Round Up Sale

2010-10-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

Gizmo Angus has consigned seven stout Angus bulls to the 2010 Alabama BCIA Fall Round Up Sale. We invite you to view them on November 12, 2010 at the Alabama Livestock Auction in Uniontown, Alabama.

Lot #10 Gizmo RT 735 577 464 Registration #16029577 - This is a 12/03/2007 bull that was used last year on our commercial herd. He is a low birth weight bull that should produce replacement quality heifers.

Gizmo RT 735 577 464

Lot #11 Gizmo New Day 816 658 8005 Registration #16333727 - A 10/9/2008 bull that is one of three flush brothers being offered in this sale. We used him on a group of heifers last season so far six calves are on the ground with an average birth weight of 60 pounds.

Gizmo New Day 816 658 8005

Check him out along with his flush brothers!

Lot #12 Gizmo New Day 820 658 8005 Registration #16333729 - A 10/10/2008 Flush brother to 816

Gizmo New Day 820 658 8005

Lot #13 Gizmo New Day 825 658 8005 Registration #16333734 - A 10/13/2008 flush brother to 816

Gizmo New Day 825 658 8005

In addition to our flush brothers we are also offering the following bulls for your consideration:

Lot #14 Gizmo Right Time 833 065 464 Registration # 16333739 - This dam of this young bull was purchased as weaned heifer from the Fink program in Kansas.

Gizmo Right Time 833 065 464

Lot #15 Gizmo Right Time 834 658 464 Registration # 16333740 - Out of the donor dam of Lots 11, 12 & 13 this bull traces back to the powerful Rainbow All Star C11 donor through his sire and dam. This should be a powerful cow maker.

Lot # 15 Gizmo Right Time 834 658 464

Lot #16 Gator Creek Right Time 835 Registration #16338419 is out of a daughter of JLB Exacto 416 and and our now deceased herd sire RB Right Time 464 C11

Lot # 16 Gator Creek Right Time 835

We hope to see you on sale day!

Cogan Or Cogon Grass However You Spell It Is The New Enemy!

2010-09-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Following is an older post that I just had move back to the top of my blog list. Ronnie and I were on our way home from work today, the road crews were out mowing, and we both saw it at the same time, patches of cogan grass that the crews were mowing right over. The cost of fighting this grass is sure adding up on our operation, and yet seeing it spread every time the county mows grass is sure had to watch. One thing is for sure I am going to be on a letter writing mission to my state and county concerning this issue. Education about this grass is not just needed it is necessary, and I pray it isn't already to late. We have spent the past four years fighting it on the farm and at this point I would have to say the best we have been able to accomplish is a draw. I don't have the actual cost figures in front of me but I know it has been a bunch.

Back in 2006 we were showing some bulls to a buyer we were also giving him a tour of the farm. We drove to an area that we had not been to in awhile and when we got out of the truck to walk around he said oh man you have Cogan grass. At that point we didn’t know what cogon grass was much less what to do about it. We found out more on this invasive grass, when we applied for the EQUIP program the following year.

When going over plans with staff from the Soil and water conservation services one of the items that they recommended we address was cogon grass. We utilized all the recommendations, spraying with an herbicide mixture called Cogan then tilling the area that was infested. We tilled this area three or four times over the summer in addition to continuous spraying. We then replanted the field with Pensacola Bahia. We thought we had won the battle over this enemy, until this spring when it reared its ugly head again in the same field. We have also found it in small spots over several of our pastures. We are on a mission to eradicate this enemy from our farm.

I feel one of the reasons that this grass is taking over our landscape and I am speaking all over our county, not just on our farm, is that people don’t know about it or what to do about it. Cogan grass has spread across the southern U.S. since arriving as packing material in crates shipped from Asia to Mobile, Alabama in 1912. The invasive grass, chokes out native plants and causes problems for livestock and wildlife, this is a grass that even goats won’t eat!

I have been researching ways to eliminate this grass, but in talking to a number of folks realized that many people like us in 2006 don’t realize what a menace this grass is to all of us. It will take over a neighborhood if not addressed, it will ruin wildlife habitat. And most people don’t even recognize it.

One way that this grass spreads is on equipment, if you mow over it, grass on you mower deck will spread it to other areas of you property. When county workers mow the roadways and hit a patch of Cogan grass it is just spreading the growth further down the highway!

You don’t have to be a farmer or in agriculture to join the fight against Cogan Grass. The first thing you need to do is educate yourself. Before you can fight it you have to know what it looks like here are a few pictures take a close look!

Looks sort of pretty doesn’t it. Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is one of the world’s ten worst weeds and has already invaded 153 billion acres worldwide. Cogongrass is becoming established in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and has now been found in South Carolina. In Florida alone, it has infested one million acres, where it has displaced many native species of plants. Cogongrass will invade pastures, where it reduces the forage quality because its leaves are unpalatable to livestock. It can quickly displace other vegetation in forests and fields, including native plants that birds and small animals need for shelter and forage.

Following are a couple of articles to read to learn more from folks that know more than I about how to fight this enemy:

http://www.dafvm.msstate.edu/landmarks/07/summer/10.pdf

http://www.ag.auburn.edu/agrn/cogongrass/cogongrass%20fact%20sheet.htm

http://www.forestry.state.al.us/cogongrass_control_program.aspx

http://www.fl-dof.com/forest_management/fh_invasives_cogon.html

Please keep your eyes open and if you have this grass on your farm or in your yard take the necessary steps to eradicate it!

Announcing the arrival of Gus!

2010-08-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

Ronnie has a working cow dog his name is Rock, if Ronnie cranks the truck Rock is ready to go to the farm! Rock and I have come to an understanding that if I am with Ronnie the front seat of the gator is mine and he needs to get in the back, this wasn’t easy to make Rock understand in fact we have had a few heated debates over that dang seat. Ronnie of course took my side since he wants to sleep in the house and not in the barn with Rock. I will concede that Rock is faster at turning back a reluctant cow than I am but he can’t cook. I am writing all of this to give you some background on just how much we think of Rock here at Gizmo. Ronnie thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread, I have my lap dog Ms. Winnie (she is so cute and sweet)

but in Ronnie’s words Rock is a real dog he works for a living. Now Rock is a daddy! Gabby his lady friend gave birth to six beautiful puppies of which we had the pick of the litter. We chose a little male that we have named Gus, he looks just like his daddy although he may have a bit shorter hair. It will be interesting to see if Gus works cattle as well as his father one thing is for sure he sure looks like him!

So welcome to the family Gus, but keep in mind that I sit next to Ronnie in the truck and the gator~

Going to the Alabama BCIA Field Day!

2010-06-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well I called in our RSVP to the Alabama BCIA educational field day to be held on Saturday, July 31 at the Auburn University Stanley Wilson Beef Teaching Unit located on campus in Auburn. This field day is sponsored by Alabama BCIA, the Auburn University Animal Sciences Department and Alabama Cooperative Extension System as a part of the Alabama BCIA Seedstock Continuing Education Program. What a wonderful opportunity for producers to socialize, network and focus on our goals in the beef industry.

Some of the topics that will be on the agenda are:

• “Feeding By-Product Feeds”

• “Bull & Replacement Heifer Development from Weaning to Market”

• “Health Issues with BVDV, Trichomoniasis & other Prominent Diseases”

• “Business Goal Setting: Developing a Management Plan”

• “Gender Sorted Semen with 5-Day Co-Synch+CIDR Protocol Study in West Alabama”

For more information go to http://www.albcia.com/

Trichomoniasis Trich...What?

2010-06-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Trichomoniasis or “trich”

The first time I heard about trichomoniasis I believe I replied with a statement of trich…..what? It wasn’t long after that however that I started hearing more about this disease and the devastating results of finding it in your herd. Needless to say we started paying attention to trich, our first step was to contact our vet to discuss incorporating trich testing in our bull management program. Following are some of the things that I have learned about trich.

What is Trichomoniasis? Trich is a venereal disease of cattle that causes infertility and occasional abortions in cows and heifers. It is caused by Trichomonas fetus, a small motile protozoan found only in the reproductive tract of the bull and cow. Disease organisms transferred to the cow’s vagina from the bull during breeding migrate up to the uterus and cause the infection. The cow, after having been infected at breeding, may rarely show a very subtle, very mild vaginal discharge, 1-3 weeks later. Most of us would never notice it. The bull rarely shows any indication that he is infected. So, there are no outward signs that the bulls, cows, or heifers are infected with “Trich”.

What are the signs or symptoms of “Trich” in cattle? Neither the cow nor the bull appears ill at any time when they are infected with this organism.

What if Trichomoniasis gets into my herd? If it is a new infection (that is if your herd has never been infected before), you can expect a long, drawn-out calving season, with a disappointing total calf crop. In such herds, it is common to end up with a 50-70% calf crop, strung out over 3-8 months. If the herd has been infected for a long time, the effect may be slightly less. That is, a higher number of cows will get pregnant, but never as many as normally would calve if there is no “Trich” present. Because “Trich” often gets into a herd via the introduction of one infected animal, especially an infected bull, another scenario is possible. In this case, after the first year, the percentage of pregnant cows may fall from 95% to 90%, for example. In the second year, there may be further fall to 75% or less and a problem will be obvious. The reason for late or open cows is the fact that the Trichomoniasis organism causes the loss of the calf a few weeks into the pregnancy. A few cows in the herd (perhaps 5%) may actually abort due to “Trich”, nearly always before five months’ gestation. This disease can cause abortions, but most cows do not abort a fetus big enough to find. Instead, they come back into heat at some extended interval (usually more than 21 days) after breeding. Most cows will eventually settle if given enough time, but their immunity to the disease is weak. They can be reinfected the next season. What apparently happens when a “clean” cow is bred by an infected bull is that her egg is fertilized, but the disease organism either kills the embryo soon after conception, or the uterus’ reaction to the “Trich” organism kills the embryo.

How do I test for Trichomoniasis in my herd? Bulls are the long-term carriers of this infection where the T. foetus organism resides in the tissues lining the penis, prepuce and sheath. Since there is no treatment, all trich-positive bulls need to be culled to slaughter and replaced. A vaccine is available to help cows clean up faster from an infection and rebreed, but it doesn’t prevent trich from infecting the herd. If trich is found in even one bull, the entire battery needs to be tested. Trich can be diagnosed through the standard culture test or the newer PCR – polymerase chain reaction – assays which are a viable alternative to traditional culture techniques. PCR is a genetic test that actually looks for the DNA of the trich organism; therefore, it’s very specific. “It’s not fooled by other trichomonads that we really can’t tell apart in culture. Check with your vet to see which test he/she recommends.

How do I prevent my herd from becoming infected? A few simple management procedures (biosecurity protocols) can assist in reducing the possibility of a herd getting infected. Those procedures include:

1. Maintain a young bull battery.

2. Conduct a fertility exam and culture or PCR test all bulls before the breeding season.

3. Purchase only virgin, yearling bulls.

4. Do not share or lease bulls.

5. Do not purchase older cows and add them to your herd.

6. Cull open cows.

7. Maintain a defined breeding season to identify reproductive problems.

8. Pregnancy test all cows and heifers 120 days after the breeding season and cull open females.

9. Keep fences in good repair to keep your neighbor’s herd out.

10. You may elect to vaccinate, but vaccine alone will not prevent the disease from getting into the herd.

11. If you purchase an older bull verify that he has been tested and is clean of Trichomoniasis.

Social Networking

2010-04-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Should farmers or cattlemen be on Face Book or My Space should we have a web site or Blog should we even consider Twitter? Or should we continue doing everything the same way that gramps did it forty years ago? I am 55 years old and trust me these new technologies are not a natural fit for me, but by golly I refuse to be left in the dust of a twenty year old because I am either to hard headed or intimidated of the technology to give it a try. Social networking is here and I don’t foresee it leaving any time soon if anything I believe it is going to continue to grow. Following are a just a sample of articles that discuss or at least point out within the article the growing value of utilizing these social networks.

http://farmindustrynews.com/shop-office/business/0101-farmers-using-social-media/

http://shinydoor.com/social_media_agriculture

http://www.ffa.org/ageducators/mad/issues/1002/story1.cfm

http://www.angus.org/pub/newsroom/releases/040110_ybic.html

http://www.angus.org/pub/newsroom/releases/020110_ncbaancw2.html

http://www.beefusa.org/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Cattlemens-Beef-Association/119381467680?v=info

I don’t think that social networking is the only thing that is going to change the way we do business. Back in October my husband Ronnie our son Jacob and I all gathered around Jacob’s computer at our office in Pensacola. We gathered to watch the Coleman Angus sale on the internet, not only did we watch we purchased a lot from the sale. I would not have imagined this ten years ago, but it sure makes good sense to attend sales in this manner. It saves time travel and dollars while still allowing us to participate. I would have loved to be able to watch a cattle sale on TV ten years ago, or tune in to a show like Cattlemen to Cattlemen. Registering our cattle has even changed to an online activity either online or using software that has been designed and developed to make our lives easier and more efficient.

I am not saying that I don’t ever want to attend another cattle sale. I love attending sales and seeing old friends and meeting new people that share my interest. I also love attending events such as the National Western Livestock show this is another way to interact with other breeders; I look forward to attending a National Cattlemen’s Convention it is definitely on my bucket list. But I am also going to continue to develop my social networking abilities. I still haven’t been able to spread my wings on twitter but I am not going to give up until I crash and burn!

Feb 5, 2010 2:54pm

2010-04-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

Feb 5, 2010 2:54pm

Sitting in the pasture...: Will you choose to support Agriculture?

2010-04-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the pasture...: Will you choose to support Agriculture?

2010 Alabama BCIA "EPD Bull Sale" Brochure

2010-01-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

The 21st Annual Alabama BCIA EPD Bull and the BCIA Genetic Verified Heifer Sale is scheduled for, February 26, 2010 at 11:00 am at the Montgomery Stockyards in Montgomery, Alabama. Each bull that sells in this sale must be registered with a recognized breed association and have EPD’s listed for 3 of the 4 traits, all bulls must have a minimum adjusted weaning weight of 525 lbs for nomination. Both birth and weaning weights are required for nomination into this sale. The age range of bulls in this sale is January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008. A minimum scrotal circumference of 32 cm is required for all bulls selling, and all bulls have to have a current (within 60 days) BSE (Breeding Soundness Exam). Each bull that sells in this sale is guaranteed to be a breeder by the consignor for a period of six months following the sale. Gizmo Angus Farm has been participating in this sale for a number of years and we have consigned six bulls for 2010. Our consignment consists of the following:

Lot #13

SAV 004 Density sire of lot #13

Gizmo Density 807 0058 4336 Registration # 16333721 this calf is out of SAV 004 Density 4336 and WA Black Belle 0058 that is a direct daughter of the famous H 96 Black Belle 442.

Lot # 14

Nichols Extra K205 Sire of Lot #14 and 15

Gizmo Extra 810 0556 K205 Registration # 16333722 this calf is out of Nichols Extra K205 and Finks Pride 0556 6256 RT a nice Right Time daughter purchased as an open heifer from the Finks program in Kansas.

Lot # 15

V D A R Elluna 97 Grand Dam of lot 15

Gizmo Extra 819 0168 K205 registration #16333728 another really nice calf out of Nichols Extra K205 and a cow that we have used as a donor in our program, Sweetwater Elluna 0168, this cow goes back to the maternal powerhouse V D A R Elluna 97. A maternal brother to this young bull was the co-high selling bull at the 2008 BCIA Fall Round up Sale.

Lot # 16

Morgan's Direction Grand Sire of lot 16

Gizmo Direction 828 603 609 Registration #16333736 this calf is a grandson of Morgan’s Direction his sire Gizmo Direction 604 201 111 was a really nice young bull with balanced EPD’s and wonderful phenotype that was selected to be used natural service on our heifers in 2007. This young bull sold private treaty to J. Richmond Pearson of Leroy Alabama. 828’s dam was a first calf heifer who had a birth ratio of 98 a weaning ratio of 121 and a yearling ratio of 107 on this her first calf. She went on to breed back AI for her second calf and is still on tract having had her calf and been AI again for calf number three.

Lot # 17

SAV 8180 Traveler 004 Grand Sire of Lot #17

Gizmo Traveler 830 409 609 Registration #16333737 This calf is out of another young bull that was utilized for clean up on our first calf heifers, his grand dam is the dam of our lot #13 bull. His dam Gizmo Blackcap 409 239C 8005 is a daughter of Boyd New Day 8005 and one of our foundation cows Twin Valley Blackcap 239C.

Lot #18

Rainbow Allstar C11 Grand Dam of Lot #18

Gizmo Right Time 838 010 464 Registration # 16333741 this calf is out of our now deceased herd sire RB Right Time 464 C11 who was purchased for the maternal power of his pedigree. His first daughters calved this year and are everything we had hoped for deep and thick with beautiful udders. Unfortunately 464 broke his leg early in his third breeding season with us so needless to say we are keeping all the females out of this bull. The dam of this bull is Gizmo Forever Lady 010-036 this cow is a granddaughter of the famous GDAR SVF Forever Lady 214D. A maternal brother of this young bull was the high selling Angus bull at the 2009 BCIA Fall Round up Sale.

I have completed the sale brochure for this sale and am including it in this Blog. If you have any questions on any of these bulls or you want to come by and see them prior to sale day please just give us a call. We love to visit with fellow cattlemen and enjoy walking through the cattle with them.

See you at the sale!

2009 Alabama BCIA Fall Roundup Bull Sale

2010-01-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our buyers!

The Alabama BCIA Fall Roundup Bull Sale is over and we just wanted to say thanks again to the folks that came out to the sale and to those that purchased Gizmo Angus genetics. I know that Michelle Elmore and her staff work very hard to put this sale together each year and they do a great job. There is also a sale committee that works hard to make sure that the consigners bring bulls that are going to work for their new owners. The sale is for performance proven 2 & 3 year-old bulls this year it included Angus, Charolais, Chiangus, Limousin, LimFlex, Simmental and SimAngus. The sale also features BCIA genetic verified heifers. Over the years we have had the opportunity to meet and get to know other consigners; it is a pleasure to participate in a sale where you know that everyone involved is striving to produce the right kind of cattle for our industry.

This year 86 bulls averaged $1,964.00. Thank you to R.E. Hall of Mudhole Farm for making our Lot #17 Gizmo Matrix 721 010 4132 the top selling Angus bull of the sale. We also want to send out a big thank you to Terrell Farms for their purchase of Lot 16 Gizmo Matrix 0711 065 4132, Jimmy Sealy for his purchase of Lot 18 Gizmo RT 724 416H 464 and Givhan Land and Cattle for their purchase of Lot 19 Gizmo RT 730 102 464. The most satisfying thing about this sale was the fact that three of the four buyers of our genetics were repeat buyers.

The next BCIA bull sale will be the 2010 EPD Bull Sale on February 26th at the Montgomery Stockyards in Montgomery, Alabama. Gizmo Angus will have six head consigned to this sale so if you are in the market for a new herd bull we hope you will consider Gizmo Angus.

Getting to the end of the breeding season!

2009-12-30T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday I spent a considerable amount of computer time imputing breeding records. We use the AIMS program developed by the Angus association for our herd records. This is a wonderful tool, one I am sure would be even more powerful if I knew more about using it. I do use it to enter all my breeding, birth, weaning and yearling records. I fail when it comes to putting in cost and medical records and customer records. Bottom line this is a tool and a tool is only as good as the operator if I had to give myself a grade on using AIMS I think I would give myself a C+. Today is the 30th of December 2009, so I am going to make one of those New Year’s resolutions and that is to try to bring my grade up to at least a B+ by this time next year. I need to take some quiet time to actually study AIMS and make it my mission to input more of the information that will help make our operation more efficient and profitable. We ask for efficiency in our cattle, maybe it is time that we take some of the pressure off of them and put it on ourselves to be more efficient. So far we have bred 7 heifers AI on December 16th the balance went in with bulls on December 3rd, we then A I’d 36 cow on December 23rd with the bull going in with them on the 28th. We DNA test all calves that we are going to register so going right in with the bull after being A I’d is not a problem for us. The last shot was given to our recipient cows yesterday this morning they are all in heat so we are about six days from the end of at least the artificial breeding season. We will be implanting some of the old genetics out of the tank this year. We have several different matings out of VDAR Elluna 97 This famous pathfinder is one of the most dominating females ever born in the VDAR program and several of her daughters are in ET programs across the US. Some of her sons include the $23,000 VDAR New Trend 913 and Alta Genetics stud VDAR New Trend 831. A grandson, VDAR Lucy Boy 2000 was the record breaking top gaining bull over all breeds and top seller at the 1999 Midland Bull Test. Needless to say we are excited to see what these calves will look like. We flushed a daughter of hers out of Bon View Bando 598 last year to Boyd New Day 8005 and have two bulls and two heifers on the ground from that flush. The claves look really good and we still have 13 grade 1’s in the tank from the flush so we couldn’t be more pleased. Dr Harley Schneider of Precise Genetics Inc. will be doing the implanting on January 6th, Dr. Schneider does a great job for us he and his staff are very professional and easy to work with, last year they flushed two cows we got twenty eggs out of the 0168 cow registration #14071041 he implanted 7 and we have 4 calves. The other cow that was flushed last year was our 658 cow registration #14913872 we got nine eggs of which 6 were implanted and we have five calves on the ground from that cow. After Dr. Schneider finishes we will be able to take a little break and just let the bulls finish up! Then we can start getting yearling measurements and planning for next year. I guess that is what I love about the cattle business your never really finished there is always another challenge waiting for you but isn’t that what keeps life interesting?

Happy New Year!

Is your cow herd efficient?

2009-12-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

Cow's on the only feed they get hay and grass

What is your definition of efficiency?

If you look up efficiency in the dictionary you will find the following:

1: the quality or degree of being efficient

2 a: efficient operation b (1): effective operation as measured by a comparison of production with cost (as in energy, time, and money) (2): the ratio of the useful energy delivered by a dynamic system to the energy supplied to it

How does this definition relate to a cow calf operation I think the key word is measured unless you take measurements you can’t possibly determine whether or not your cow herd is efficient. I had a very thought provoking discussion today with a fellow breeder on this very subject. We came to the conclusion that many breeders think a cow has to be fat and sleek to be efficient. If this is the case they are off track, the only way a cow should be considered efficient is if that cow bred at an early age (between 14 and 16 month of age) had her first calf without any assistance, breeds back within sixty days and regains her BCS back to a 6 or 7 prior to having her second calf. Now we supplement our first calf heifers and monitor the condition of cows on their second calf but mature cows have to make a living on grass, hay and minerals if they can’t do that they are not efficient and need to go to town. Then you have to find out which of these cows is the most efficient, to determine this you measure their calves, because if a cow does all of the afore mention things but her calf doesn’t grow then she is not efficient and she still earns a trip to town. Bottom Line the better your cow herd becomes the more efficient it will be because each year you’re culling criteria gets more stringent.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-09T11:03:00.001-08:00

An Eagle Eye

2009-12-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

Two years ago my son Jacob came by the house and told me that he had seen a bald eagle at the farm. Well I had never seen an eagle at the farm and so being a smarty pants I told him he was old enough to know the difference between a hawk and an eagle. He said Mom I am 26 years old I do know the difference between a hawk and an eagle, I thought that was the end of it. But should have remembered that after all he is my son and I had given him a hard time about his eagle sighting so he went about proving to me that there is indeed an eagle living on or near the farm. We had stocked the lake and put a fish feeder on the dock, Jacob set up his wildlife camera on the fish feeder aiming it at the post on the opposite side of the dock. Following are a few of the photo's:

Needless to say I had to eat a great deal of crow after seeing these!

Gizmo 2009-2010 Breeding Season Has Begun!

2009-12-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

December 3rd and 4th was spent doing the cattle shuffle to get everyone in the right place for the work to come. Each year we used a couple of our young bulls on our heifers. We believe strongly that if we aren’t willing to use a young bull based on his EPD’s then we shouldn’t be selling them. In past years we haven’t artificially inseminated any of our heifers however this year we are going to AI a small group to test a new timed breeding protocol (new to us anyway.) We put seven young heifers into the pen behind the barn with a cidr going in on December 8th. The young bulls went in with the balance of the heifers on December 4th a group of nine in with Gizmo Midland 808 0066 430 Registration #16358619 another group of ten in with Gizmo New Day 816 658 8005 Registration #16333727. After the seven are AI’d we will put three of them in with the 808 bull and four in with the 816 bull for clean up.

At the farm we split out a group of twelve registered cows that calved later in the season (not their fault the bull that was in with them broke a leg) and a group of ten recips that calved late for use this year in with Coleman EXT 6149 registration #15730734.

We then put twenty five cows into a pasture to be used as recipients in our embryo transfer program. We will have these cows set up to receive embryos on January 6, 2010. Dr. Harley Schneider of Precise Genetics sends us the schedule of when and what drugs to used then will be at the farm on the date the cows are to receive their embryo. This year we will not be flushing any of our cows we will be utilizing eggs that we already have in the tank, from previous flushes. We have been working with Dr. Schneider for many years and have found him and his staff to be awesome! After these cows are implanted we will put another young bull in with them for clean up Gizmo RT 735 577 464 registration #16029577. This young bull does not have real powerful numbers but we feel that he will make cows that we want to retain in our herd.

The last pasture is our cows to be artificially inseminated a total of thirty six head will be set up in this group. We breed using a timed AI protocol to we will breed this group of cows on the 23rd of December. We will be using the following AI sires for this season:

Coleman Midland 430 #14797532

BC Matrix 4132 #14159119

Sinclair Rito Legacy 3R9 #14378386

Sinclair Extra 4X13 #14774030

Sitz Alliance 6595 #12310707

Boyd New Day 8005 #13050780

HA Image Maker 0415 #13739532

Sinclair Excellency 5X25 #1496982

The Coleman EXT 6149 bull will be utilized for clean up on this group of cows. Last year we AI’d 25 head with 23 settling if we can get anywhere near that kind of result again this year we will count ourselves blessed!

Needless to say the next few weeks will be busy ones. We work very hard each year making these breeding decisions, knowing that a decision made will impact our program for many years to come. Anyone in the cattle business understands that bad decisions can be devastating for a program.

Coleman Angus Sale - Gizmo Purchase

2009-12-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

We toured several farms in Wyoming and Montana back in August of this year (see Montana tour blog). While on this tour we saw a good number of N Bar Shadow X4124 daughters at Sinclair Cattle Company, Inc. and just fell in love with them. They were very feminine with flawless structure we felt that this type heifer would make the kind of cows that we want in our herd. We also had the opportunity to see Larry and Dee Coleman’s operation in Charlo, Montana, where our favorite cow family was the Coleman Donna 386.

This cow’s son the Coleman Foundation 972 bull calf was just as good as his picture! This is a calf that has the potential to make a tremendous impact on the Angus breed. A few weeks after arriving home we received a sale catalog in the mail from Coleman and after studying the catalog we had settled on several lots that we knew we would love to have but the one that we really wanted was lot 1B the Confirmed Heifer Pregnancy out of N Bar Shadow X4124 and the Coleman Donna 386 a blending of the two genetics that were our favorites when in Montana. Needless to say we couldn’t make another trip to Montana so on Tuesday October 13th Ronnie, Jacob and I all gathered around Jacob’s computer at the office signed into Live Auctions and went to a cow sale. We were able to get the lot 1B pregnancy purchased for $7,500.00 and feel that this will be a mating that will have a very positive impact on our cow herd. A maternal sister sold ½ interest for $19,000 out of RR Rito 707 while a maternal brother sold one breeding share for $10,000. Needless to say we feel that purchase will be used as foundation genetics in our herd so be looking for more on this purchase in the future!

To Blog or not to blog that is the question!

2009-12-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, I think blogging can be a very good thing, but……when the heck do people find enough time to actually get around do doing the darn thing. I started out the Gizmo blog when I was sitting in a hospital room in Colorado when my sister was ill. It was a great way to pass the time in a town where you don’t know anyone and the patient is sleeping most of the time. So I start the blog get it all hooked into our Gizmo Angus farm web page come home excited about my new endeavor write a couple more entries and then as my daughter in law would say waaaa loooo reality!

Back from Colorado with my sister, now I need to get back to the office and catch up with the stack of stuff the elves didn’t take care of. Thank goodness for the super elf (Wanda) that did keep the stack down by half and still managed to get all her stuff done she is my hero! Ok now for a break-down of the past couple of months to get my blog caught up:

October 6, 2009 arrive home from Colorado just in time to wish Jacob my baby boy at the age of 28 a happy birthday! Home for three days then leave for Georgia and Abby and Curtis’ wedding, which was absolutely beautiful! I am so thankful that my sister was getting well and I could get home in time to attend. Back from Georgia in time for the first of the embryo calves to arrive and to pack for the Sunbelt Ag Expo which we ended up not going to due to the death of Ronnie’s cousins AJ and Ruth Mercer in an automobile accident . I still can’t believe that two such wonderful people are gone from our lives, but know that God has a plan for all that he does and some things we are not meant to understand we just have to accept. The next week was busy with work getting ready for the annual business meeting with our accountant and attorney always a stressful time for me. Then the big trunk or treat event at the church for Halloween and wow October is gone!

November begins with a trip to Nashville to pick up our new border collie Rock he is an awesome dog! We left right after church on the 1st (7 hour drive) picked up the dog first thing Monday morning and drove home that day. On Tuesday our vet Dr. Hank Lee was scheduled to come to the farm to semen test the bulls that we had consigned to the Alabama BCIA Fall Round up Sale in Union Town Alabama and the bulls that we had selected to use on our herd this season. While he was on the farm he also took care of the horses CHIP (Color Him in Pink) and Sonny. Back to work at the office Thursday and Friday. Friday night we head to the lodge at the farm to start cooking for the Paulk family reunion to be held on Saturday. Ronnie and I cooked (smoked) two Boston butts and a brisket and 40 pounds of chicken for this event. Leave the farm on Sunday morning at five a.m. to go to Alabama for the Twin Oaks & Stevens Cattle Company Dispersal where we purchased five lots (which I will tell you about in a future blog). Get the new cattle loaded then go to another farm to pick up the recipient cow purchased from the Coleman sale that I have yet to blog about. Then head back home where we arrived sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Did I mention that a hurricane is predicted to hit on Tuesday? Go to the office on Monday with about two hours sleep then home where I crashed and slept for about fifteen hours I am so thankful that the good lord sent the little hurricane to visit it did no damage other than offer us some down time. Back to work on Wednesday (Tuesday was a hurricane day) leave the office and go the Weaton Worldwide Moving convention in Destin. (Did I mention that we are also agents for Weaton Van Lines?) Leave the convention on Thursday afternoon go back to Pensacola pick up Jacob and drive to Alabama for the Union Town Bull sale (Lance delivered the bulls Thursday morning while we were still at the convention) Back home and a weekend off! Back to work, Doctors appointment for Mom then get everything together for the Leon Branch retirement party at the Lodge on Saturday. Sunday is the Thanksgiving family dinner at Ransom Middle school for our church, it was wonderful they did a cardboard testimony service that really touched all of us. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful church family! Monday its back to the office Lance is on vacation so Ronnie and I have farm duty (mostly Ronnie I have a frog in my pocket when I say we) ok Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday work at the office then Turkey day! Cook, Cook some more then add a couple of pies and stuff ourselves and call it a day! Spend Friday Saturday and Sunday getting over Thursday then head back to work on Monday. Did I mention Christmas shopping? Well got most of that done during spare time now going to get busy on Christmas cards decorating and Party’s that start up next week.

Now we are into December and I am already pooped but have to admit I really love the Holiday’s so it is a good kind of pooped. This weekend Ronnie and I will decorate the lodge to get it ready for the company Christmas party the following weekend. At some point I am going to decorate the tree at the house, but I haven’t figured out when and in my spare time I am going to do more of this blogging stuff!

So hopefully I will get the hang of blogging if not I have figured out they have a delete function on the blog site!

Alabama BCIA Fall Roundup Bull Sale Update

2009-11-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

Dr. Hank Lee and his assistant Leigh Ann of Lee Veterinary Clinic came to the farm yesterday, (November 3, 2009) to semen test the four bulls we have consigned to the upcoming BCIA sale on November 13th. I thought I would share the results just in case anyone is interested.

Lot 16
Gizmo Matrix 0711 065 4132
Registration #16029560
Weight 1680
Scrotal 39.0

Lot 17
Registration #16029567
Gizmo Matrix 721 010 4132
Weight 1795
Scrotal 45.0

Lot 18
Gizmo RT 724 416H 464
Registration #16029569
Weight 1595
Scrotal 39.5

Lot 19
Gizmo RT 730 102 464
Registration #16029574
Weight 1595
Scrotal 39.5

All bulls were tested according to the guidelines established by the Society for Theriogenology and determined to be satisfactory potential breeders. While we had Dr. Hank at the farm we also had him test three of our yearling bulls that we have selected for use this year one is an embryo Gizmo New Day 816 658 8005 Registration # 16333727 while another is the natural calf Gizmo Right Time 834 658 464 Registration #16333740 of our donor RB Bridget 658 C11 111 cow Registration #14913872 . The third calf is out of our WA Peg 0066 cow Registration #13615779 this calf is Gizmo Midland 808 0066 430 Registration #16358619. Each of these young bulls was tested and determined to be satisfactory potential breeders the exciting thing for me is that they not only passed but how well they scored. Keep in mind that these are only twelve and thirteen month old bulls that already have scrotal measurements of 31 to 33 cm. The embryo calf had the 33 cm scrotal with 96% normal cells and the best thing about this is the fact that we have five full brothers on the ground!

Alabama BCIA "Fall Round Up" Bull Sale

2009-10-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Alabama BCIA “Fall Round Up” Bull Sale is scheduled for November 13, 2009 in Union Town Alabama. Gizmo Angus Farm has four lots consigned to this sale. There is an error in the sale catalog listing the 721 bull as a virgin bull when he was actually used on a group of heifers last year. The calves out of this bull are looking really good with no calving problems.

Please check out our brochure and feel free to contact any of us here at Gizmo Angus is you have any questions on these bulls or any other cattle we have available private treaty.

Gizmo Matrix 721

Gizmo Montana Tour

2009-10-11T19:41:00.000-07:00

We have been in the Angus business for going on twenty years. We have been blessed to have the opportunity to travel to many Angus farms in the southeast. We have also attended National Junior Angus shows in Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Kansas. We try to make the National Western in Denver every couple of years but for some reason we have never had the opportunity to visit any Angus operations in Montana or Wyoming which are two states we have always wanted to visit. So this year we started to make plans for a trip to this part of the country. When we told our friend Craig Guffey of Rainbow Angus about the trip he said he was also trying to plan a trip to visit Montana he had purchased a new bull from Coleman Angus and wanted to get out to Coleman to preview their sale offering. We finally got dates that would work for the four of us Ronnie and I our son Jacob and our friend Craig. We tried to talk our daughter-in-law Carla into going but her response was that although she would love to visit that part of the country she just didn’t have any desire to see every black cow in it. Did I mention that Carla is not a cow person (I will save that for a future blog.) We scheduled the trip to fly out of Pensacola on August 7th and come back on August 14th. Ronnie began calling some of the operations that we really wanted to see to schedule our visit, they were Sinclair Cattle Company, Sitz Angus, Van Dyke Angus and Coleman Angus. Also on our schedule was Genex and Origen bull studs. Overall we traveled over 1500 miles and we really did look at a bunch of black cows!

Day One

The first day after arriving in Billings, our first stop was ORIgen of the bulls we looked at we all agreed that our favorite was the B C Emblazon 854E 8023 after completing our tour of ORIgen we traveled to Cody Wyoming in route I saw the rainbow and just knew this was going to be a great trip. We had reservations at Cody Cowboy Village and it was wonderful, nice people and nice rooms. We arrived in Cody it had been a long day so we decided to go out for some dinner then call it a night. Did I mention the awesom beds at the Cody cowboy Village?

Day Two

We were scheduled to go to Powell Wyoming to meet Lewis Hagen Western Operations Manager of Sinclair Cattle Company at 8:00 on Saturday Morning. We met Lewis at a bit after eight at an embryo facility. We looked at some of their donor cows as well as a large group of embryo calves housed at this location.

We spent the entire day looking at cattle with Lewis we were able to view a large group of calves out of the new Scottish sires and have to admit they were quite impressive. We were also able to see some of the Scottish bred cows in production and again impressive. It was a great day came away with renewed interest in utilizing some of the Scottish genetics in our herd. We finished up the day with a meal at the Irma Hotel in Cody then called it a day.

A 707 son at sinclair's

Ronnie was really popular with the equine set

Day Three

Craig Guffey, Jacob, Debbie and Ronnie Gilmore

Sunday we traveled through Yellowstone National Park we did not make it to any church services but all we had to do was look around us to see and be able to feel God’s presence! The beauty of this part of our country for me indescribable! After a wonderful day of being tourist we traveled to Three Forks Montana and stayed at a wonderful little motel the Broken Spur Motel .

Ronnie and Debbie

Jacob Gilmore

Craig Guffey

The Entrance of the Park

Day Four

Oops I forgot my camera!

Ok I forgot the camera which to be honest helps me recall items we saw on the trip since, I as the children in my Sunday school class have told me have a gold fish brain. We went to visit with Bob Sitz of Sitz Angus Ranch while there Bob told us that he also had a group of Australians coming in for a tour. In addition to a call he received from the Oian's from MN. We started out looking at his bulls that are located at the home ranch then Bob explained that he had a funeral to attend that afternoon but if we wanted to drive to their Summer pasture location Dan would meet us and continue the tour. All of us opted to head to the mountain pastures and I am so glad we did. Dan looked like he was riding straight out of Lonesome Dove and was so very polite as well as knowledgeable. Sitz Angus is just a wonderful operation and I am so glad we had the opportunity to see it. I will have to say my favorite sire group at Sitz was Game Day. We stayed another night at the Broken Spur.

Day Five

Group of Cattle at Van Dyke Angus

We left the hotel and headed to Lee Van Dyke’s ranch. Lee couldn’t have been any nicer we took a ride out to his pasture and looked at a group of really nice cow calf pairs.

Being from Florida we don’t find ourselves having to deal with freezing temperatures so we were both fascinated with the portable calving shed we saw at Lee’s. We then headed over to his brother Keith’s and looked at another group of cows with heifer calves. It is obvious when talking to the Van Dyke brothers why they have been so successful in the Angus business. You can see their commitment to the breed as well as their customers. I didn’t realize that the Van Dykes had started out in the dairy business but it made me realize why they do such a good job of developing these highly maternal cow families. I wish we could have spent more time with the Van Dykes but had to move on toward Charlo.

Ronnie, Keith Van Dyke and Jacob

Day 6

After leaving the Van Dykes we headed toward Charlo Montana and our last stop Coleman Angus, this portion of the trip took us through Butte Montana and the unique beauty of this area was incredible. We spent the night in Missoula then headed to Coleman. When we arrived we were met by Larry Coleman who took us out to see his Coleman Foundation 972 calf and he was really nice. We also looked at a number of their donor cows, cow calf pairs and open heifers. Again super nice folks with a wonderful program, unfortunately we had to get back on the road heading back to Billings and a long plane ride back to Florida.

Day 7

A Scottish bull at Genex

Our last day was spent touring the Genex Cooperative, Inc. bull stud where we saw Traveler 004, Grass Master, Bismarck and a number of others. We then headed out toward Fishtail Montana to see a friend of Craig’s that is involved in the club calf business. Zane had some awesome calves we toured his place and saw some really good cows and bulls.

Well that pretty well covers our trip to the Big Sky Country. The hospitality that we were shown by Lewis Hagen, Bob Sitz and his crew, The Van Dyke brothers, the Coleman family and Zane will never be forgotten. As Tom Burke would say Happy Trails!

Debbie Gilmore

Gizmo Angus Farm

2009 AI Calves

2009-10-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

We set up 25 head of cows to AI on December 28, 2008. I feel at this point that all of the cows that were going to have AI calves have already done so. We are totally amazed that we have 23 AI calves. I don't care where you live that is a dang good conception rate! Mike Childress gets to take the credit for this he does all of the AI work for Gizmo Angus, and we feel blessed to have him on our team. For the 2009 season we used:

• Image Maker

• Sitz Alliance

• Morgan’s Direction

• Sinclair Excellency 5X25

• Boyd New Day

• Traveler 878

• BC Matrix 4132

• Nichols Extra K205

We have used Boyd New Day heavily in the past with excellent results, I used him very lightly this year but only because we want to keep some semen back on this bull. We used Morgan’s Direction several years ago all we had were bull calves and didn't feel we were getting enough growth from birth to weaning, so we cut all of them. We have diversified our operation to include a freezer beef program (more about that in another blog) and put these calves into our mini feed lot......what an eye opener they exploded and made some of the best feeder calves we have ever raised. We hated to learn (of course after we had already AI'd everything) that Morgan’s Direction tested positive for NH so now what do we do we have five calves on the ground our plan is to steer out the bulls and test the heifers. We saw several 5x25 calves when visiting Rainbow Angus in Ashford Alabama and were impressed with the depth and thickness of them so we sampled him this year. Another bull that I used heavily the last two years was Matrix he worked very well in our program his heifers look really good they are calving their first calves this year and they are looking even better their udder's are beautiful and they are just so far looking like our kind of mammas. My favorite bull of 2007 was a Matrix out of Gizmo Forever Lady 010-036 which is a B/R New Design 036 on the top going back to Rainmaker 340 on the bottom this bull for me is just the complete package. He is Gizmo Matrix 721 010 4132 and we used him on a group of 14 heifers last year his calves are on the ground and looking really nice. I only bred Matrix to one cow in 2008 and that was again the 010 cow and she has a full brother on the ground as of 9/25/2009 I hope he is as good as his brother. 878 was used on some deeply bred performance cows and the K205 bull was used on some low growth cows to get a little more balance in the progeny’s pedigrees.

Gizmo Matrix 721 010 4132

Well I think that covers our AI breeding for 2009 calving now we better get busy selecting the bulls we are going to use for 2010 calving. The bulls we are looking to use at this point are:

Sinclair Excellency 5X25
Sinclair Rito Legacy 3R9
Sinclair Extra 4X13

We haven't made all of our selections as yet but the above bulls are on the short list.

God Bless
Debbie Gilmore
http://www.gizmoangus.com/

We're blogging!

2009-10-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

We're entering the blogosphere! We wanted a more up-to-date and interactive way to communicate with our customers and friends (often one in the same!) about the latest activities at Gizmo Angus. As we start blogging - we'll look forward to your responses and comments.