Cows do not become "elite cows" in my herd until they have produced calves that exceed my expectations. All cows in my herd must produce a calf every year. If a cow is open at fall pregnancy check, then she is "asking to leave the herd". How can a cow make you any money if she does not get pregnant in a 65 day breeding season? My cows are not pampered in any way, in fact, they are treated like commercial cows because they live every day with a herd of commercial cows. If my cows live in the "real world environment" then they will produce bulls and females that can go to your herd and live in your "real world" environment.

ID	Picture	Breed	Description
218B		Purebred Gelbvieh	This cow may be a once-in-a-lifetime cow. At 15 years of age, she still looks like she is in the prime of her life. She has an excellent udder and her structure is ideal. She has three bull calves that have weaned off at over 850 lbs. with no creep feed and has done this while having a 365 day calving interval. When someone says you can't have a cow that has tremendous milk production, growth and fertility, I just point to 218. It was a sad day on October 31, 2007 as that is the day 218 went to market. After 15 years of age and 14 calves weaned, she was open at fall pregnancy check. Her genetics live on due to her numerous bulls I sold and her daughters I have kept.
4M		Balancer	If you know me very well, you know I would not put a 5 year-old cow on my elite cow list without much thought. This cow may be my best cow. As I have been breeding cattle for over 35 years, my goals have not changed dramatically over the years. Yes, back in the 80's I chased growth too much which led to cows that were too big, but for the most part I have had a commercial mentality on producing cattle. My cattle need to be calm, fertile, moderate framed, high milk, high growth with great carcass. As I look at this list, I say "yes" to every trait when thinking about 4M. Her very first calf won the very competitive IBEP bull test with 219 bulls on test. He had awesome growth, fantastic EPD's and a very good carcass ultrasound report. Check out her 2008 bull calf at teh IBEP sale in April 2009 at Springville, IN. He is a 'hoss'.
6J		Purebred Gelbvieh	This cow just keeps getting better and better. Every one of her calves has been kept for a breeding animal (she is the dam of 4M above). Her bull calves have gone to the IBEP test and done very well. Her heifers have been kept for replacements or sold for top dollar to other seedstock herds. We flushed this cow to Sinclair Net Present Valus (Angus) last year and recovered 5 embryos and got two pregnancies. The heifer (60U) is for sale and bull will be for sale private treaty next spring. Her natural calf from this year is heading to IBEP along with 4U. If you want a 'no brainer' Balancer female, bring the trailer and take 60U home with you. Don't buy her and I'll keep her and have another $3000 bull to sell in 2010! 6J's grandson was the high indexing bull over all breeds at the 2005 IBEP and sold for $4000 to Jim Orr and Sons from Orleans, IN.
5M		Balancer	This 2002 daughter of my old 5Z cow (Rolls Roych) and TCA Blackhawk (Angus) is a 3/4 sister to 4M. She produced a very nice 6I6 heifer her first year, an Exclusive bull that did super at the IBEP test and sold to Billy Frank Harnad of Kentucky, a very growthy K503 daughter in '06 that sold to Ginger Ertel in Missouri, my best bull in 2007 that sold to Allan and Skyler Boyden from Illinois and she is the dam of the 5U heifer picture on the homepage of this website. She made her way onto my elite cow list the only way a cow can do so - she earned it. We flushed this cow to EGL Tenderloin last spring and got four viable embryos. All resulted in pregnancies; 1 heifer and 3 bulls. The 50U heifer is also for sale (as are ALL of my 2008 heifers) and the three bulls (Mo, Curly and Larry) will be offered for sale private treaty in the spring.