It has been a busy fall and winter. We are excited about what 2015 will bring our way in both the cattle business and the dog business. Training has come to a halt for us this winter.....Kids and Cattle seem to occupy our time as well as the short days!!
The cattle business is in uncharted waters right now and with demand for beef rising and the shortage of cattle in the country the price of cattle has been on the rise. We have been fortunate to add numbers to our own cowherd and can't wait to send a few more females to embryo transplant this spring. The ranch I manage has seen huge growth this past year as well. The ranch has almost doubled in size and with that came almost double the cows! Doc makes the registered cow business lots of fun. We are excited to see the new calf crop this spring. Grady and Hudson really enjoy the cattle and this spring I'm guessing (hoping) they will be ready to help calve cows. Grady is looking forward to the Ft Worth Stock Show in January. He will show his January heifer calf in the National Maine-Anjou show. It's extra special for us this year. The breeder of his heifer, Mr Jerry Gibson, is being inducted into the Maine Anjou Hall of Fame at the show!! Jerry has been a true pioneer in the Maine Anjou business not only in his own herd but promoting the breed. Congratulations and thank you Jerry.
The dog business has seen a big jump in demand this year. My phone rings more and more with people wanting a good dog. Several dogs were sold this fall for a premium and it's nice that the value caught up with what a good one is worth. Great dogs are worth a bunch and until we figure out how to raise more GREAT dogs the demand should be steady. I can promise you one thing...weak dogs will always be weak and unless a dog bites the front end he will never earn respect!!
We have a couple of litters due the first week of January. The first litter will be out of Michael Johnson's good female Sadie and out of our male dog Rock. Sadie is an own daughter of Razors Zack and out of Meg (Tony). Rock is a son of Razors Zack and Gilbert's Belle. Michael and I partnered on this litter and I sure they will stay pretty close to our kennels!! The second litter due is out of our female Boo and sired by Ole Cye owned by Jeff Williams. Boo is sired by Cowboy and out of a Razors Zack x Meg female. She is also the mother to Kirby Ellenburg's Hoss and Jim Seal's great female Hope. Hoss was the 2013 Sundowner and 2014 Jack King Futurity Champion!! Ole Cye is a son of Gilbert's Boomer and out of a Razors Zack x Meg female. He has won a pile of money for Jeff at trials all over and is a REALLY nice dog in the pasture. TIME WILL TELL on these pups but we sure like how they are bred!! LOTS of Zack and lots of Meg and close bred top to bottom...
We only have 1 young dog at the moment to haul some this year. He's our 2015 futurity project. He's a little different bred than the other dogs. All Mccallum breeding.....once again TIME WILL TELL. LOL!! We like him so far and if he's the right kind I think he will compliment our breeding program as an outcross. He's going to spend 30-60 days at Paul Gilbert's in training while we are busy showing cattle the month of January and start calving cows in February.
Happy New Year!!
I hope that in this New Year, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you
are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, and changing the world. Your doing things you have never done before, and more importantly, your doing something!! Author Unknown
