Missouri | 1066smoker - 3/17/2018 04:47 Beanplanter, could you tell me what it is you see in him already? Not questioning you, but when they are this young I struggle to see much as they seem to change so much so fast. Trying to learn is all. His pedigree sounds incredible and hope you really see some success from it.
If you was to take a string and measure his heart and flank girth, it would exceed any other bull calf I've had this year. If you was to measure him from hooks to pins and then extended a box down to the front and rear of his lower quarter that square inch measurement would also exceed any bull calf I have had born this year. When you lay your hand in his chest floor he's wider at that point than any other bull calf here that is not club calf breeding. He's not overly thick like a club calf would be when you lay your hand on his top, but he is thicker than several other calves I have had out of his sire at this age. His shoulder also lays at a nice angle when standing over him. When I first saw him I thought he'd weigh 95-100lbs but weighed him multiple times at 87. I believe a calf that tricks the eye like that has subtle differences that often get expanded on as they grow. He's not what I would call overly heavy boned, which might be where those few extra birth weight pounds would be if he was.
Some people will say you're crazy, but I picked up some selection theory from some pretty big names years ago that place some pretty serious significance on day 2. It was first pointed out to me by one of the biggest names in the club calf world at the time and people still respect a calf when he ties his name on a steer headed to a national. It was later reinforced by someone who helped me source steers in the late 90s. Both of these guys would notice calves on day two and revisit when they turned 2 months old and would often attempt to purchase on that day if they saw what they saw on day 2. I still can't see anywhere near as much as they could/can see at that age, but I am a believer that day 2 reveals a lot about a calf's future no matter what growth stages they go through as they hit their peaks at two months, ~9 months, and their final peak depending on how you finish them off.
Obviously environment can ruin what you saw and there are always sleepers who bloom late, but more often than not I think it's there to be evaluated if we can see it and not let our bias blind us. |
Big shoes to fill. (pics)
