I want to take a moment to thank all of the bidders and buyers of the mature cow herd dispersal at the Form To Function Sale. It has been a heck of a 22 years raising Shorthorns through 4-H, college, professional careers, and the blooming of new families. We love Shorthorn cattle and the people within the breed, whether we have the same philosophies or not. Although I am a strong proponent of pushing outliers on whether it be sires or principals in order to get the mean to shift a little in the progressive direction, we do appreciate anyone who has stuck with the breed.
I want to publicly thank my parents for their time and commitment to the farm and herd. “Amazing” is how my dad described my mother in his presale speech, and I thought it was a perfect description. Phil & Linda started raising these cattle for a fun project to keep the three of us siblings off the streets of Greens Fork, but today their goal is to help others see the benefits of raising Shorthorn influenced cattle. Their romanticism or religion to popular sires, or famous cow families changed to “Which genetics likely cost us and our customers the least and likely pay the most over their lifetime, but also are a joy to own.”
Naturally, cost is fiscal and mental in the cattle biz. I am sure I will talk about each topic during separate blog submissions in the future, but I wanted to say that even a week or so before the sale, I never felt there really was a brighter time in the Shorthorn biz.
Thanks to Mom & Dad for cultivating the profitable kind, willing to pay for new juniors’ memberships, providing semen on your hottest sires to youngsters, and getting all the cows genomic tested for the Spring BOLT EPD run.
I love you.
-Luke