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The Story of 106Z
By Luke Keller
She would go on to produce over $1,000,000 dollars in direct
revenue from her progeny and some of the Simmental’s most
influential sires and donor cows. But she was more than that.
Some people like anecdotes when it comes to cows and she had
plenty of them! In the summer of 2019, she was pastured with a
bull that had injured his penis. We figure he bred the first two cows
to come in heat and then was no good after that. Unfortunately, we
did not realize he had hurt himself, so his entire pasture was open
except those first couple he bred…and 106Z! 106Z was so fertile,
she literally jumped out of the injured bull’s pasture to get bred by
our red bull late that summer when she realized that guy was not
getting his job done. She’s been one of our most prolific donors in
terms of embryo production, producing as many as 55 embryos in
one flush. She had 7 direct progeny go to a feedlot to be finished.
6 of 7 graded Prime, and a couple of them finished as our most
profitable feedlot cattle in terms of retail carcass value per day of
age. She was an easy-going cow but never a pest. As many times
as she went through the chute to get shots for flushing, she always
behaved well and flowed through the chute in the most ideal way.
She had intelligence that most cows don’t. It’s like she knew if
she cooperated with the process, it made it easier on everyone.
The last few years, she was also the baby-sitting cow. She’d stay
with a group of calves while the other cows grazed. She knew how
to take care of her calf better than most. It’s a trait I see in her
daughters too.
We bought 106Z in 2014 from Bar CK Simmentals out of Oregon.
At the time I worked at the American Simmental Association as
director of Seedstock Operations. In the summer of 2013, I made
a trip out west for the Western Video Auction in Winnemucca,
NV. I traveled out to Bar CK ranch to visit them and some large
commercial operations in NV and OR. The Bar CK Tebow sired
females I saw were impressive in the maternal strength his bulls
provided his customers. Commercial females were out walking
the mountain valleys that at that time, would put most purebred
herds to shame. It gave me an appreciation for the importance
of API and life cycle indexes and how they can positively impact
maternal strength and overall physical productivity of a herd.
In February of 2014, I saw Bar CK was selling a bunch of first
calf heifers in their sale that year. Several of them were 3/4 bloods
that were of great interest to me because they were some of the
highest API 3/4 Simmental cows in the database at that time.
Mike was doing something unique. He was retaining the calf at
side of the cow so delivery on the cow would not be available until
later that spring. Greg Comstock, former Executive officer for
the Red Angus Association, was Mike’s sale consultant. I called
Greg about heifers and he told me there were two we should be
interested in. One he called a “North Dakota” cow. He said she
will be big and powerful and probably the one you would like best.
The other one, he said, is the best one. She may be moderate, but
she has a ‘beautiful look’. The kind you wished your whole herd
looked like. We bought both first calf heifers. We only spring calve,
so Mike turned them in with Tebow and a PB Angus bull over the
summer.
We lost 106Z this summer due to injury. She hurt her stifle joint a
few years ago bad but it healed up and she was able to get around
ok and still bred back every year. This year, I thought we’d try a
conventional flush on her to get a little higher quality of embryos.
She was synchronized with 10 other donor cows. Unfortunately,
they ended up wrecking her stifle permanently. We found her the
next morning with her calf standing over her and bellowing. It was
heart wrenching. He ended up a pail calf, but still made the bull
sale, he’s Lot 29. He will be the last natural calf 106Z produced.
She made her mark on our program and the industry as well. We
didn’t get her stuffed, that wasn’t her style. She was just a real
good cow; the kind you’d like a herd of. She is certainly missed on
our place. We just liked having her around.
They were shipped to us the Fall of 2014. When we got the
pair of cows, it was clear 106Z had that special look to her Greg
had described. That spring, her first natural calf at our place
was KBHR Quigley which was the result of the Tebow mating in
Oregon. Quigley has been an API leader in the SimAngus registry
for far longer than any rival. By her third calf, who became the
E197 donor, we knew we had something special and we started
flushing her.
Background photograph by Becky Graner
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