ABOUT THE BULLS
The bloodlines Godley Angus has followed for the past 17 years has not varied much. Consistancy in calving ease and maternal is what we strive for. Basically, the blood lines have stayed within the Traveler, Windy Ridge Commodore, and Quantum sire groups, which includes using sons and grandsons within these groups. For instance, every bull in the Godley offering will trace back at some point to either Really Windy or Windy Ridge Commodore, with the exception of three bulls.
Likewise, all but eight bulls in this sale will trace back to a Traveler line at some point in their pedigree, with ten being directly out of Travel Power daughters. We feel that this provides consistancy in the bull offering as well as consistancy our customers calf crop.
To try to further this consistancy, a majority of these bulls have been bred as 3/4 brothers. For example, Lots 1, 2, 11,16, 22, 27, 29, and 36 are Vice Versa sons from HARB Outcross dams, making them 3/4 brothers.
There are nine head of Vise Squad bulls. Every one is out of a Travel Power dam, making them all 3/4 brothers. For even further consistancy, Vise Versa and Vise Squad are full brothers, and sons of Really Windy.
There are six Alberda Right Time sons, five of them out of direct Really Windy daughters, making lots 9, 10, 23, 41, and 47 all 3/4 brothers.
Bairds Really Windy is a son that we bought and used mainly on heifers, so these are only half brothers, with Lot 50 having Really Windy on the pedigree twice.
Both of the 7X Traveler bulls are from Vise Squad daughters, and out of first calf heifers.
The Waylon sons are generally more for use on cows rather than heifers. The bulls in this group are not quite 3/4 brothers, but close. All are out of Really Windy daughters or Really Windy grand daughters, with the exception of lot 6, which is loosely linebred to Alpiere Marsh.
This type of approach provides a larger groups of bulls that are tight in their breeding. We hope that our consistancy will translate to even sets of calves, predictability, and provide the option of buyer larger groups of bulls that will have similar characteristics.
A DIFFERENT FEED PROGRAM
This year we have tried a new approach. For the past seveteen years we have focused on developing a solid calving ease and maternal base in the cow herd . When we switched to raising two year old bulls, many of the bulls we were selling were weighing 1600+ pounds, and were physically too big for heifers. So, last year as yearlings, the bulls were wintered only on hay, mineral, and protein tubs. They were then summered on pasture grass, and then as two year olds, again wintered only on hay, mineral, and protein tubs. They have not been fed grain at all, and so far, I have been very pleased with the results. What you see is what you get, without a bunch of fat covering up potential defects. Also because of this program, their size and weight is a little smaller than in the past, but the genetic base remains the same, and with this test is perhaps even stronger. The bulls can be taken home and turned out on hay with the rest of your bull battery, and they won’t have to be “put on a diet” for the upcoming breeding season.
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