SPRING 2009
It’s been a while since we’ve communicated with some of you so we thought we’d drop you an email to let you know what is going on with us. Time has flown by as we enter our fifth year in business and your support over that time has allowed us to expand our sire lineup to 12 bulls (three breeds) currently. Our plans are to add more sires as they’re identified; however finding linebred bulls out of old, regularly producing cows is not easy. They’re rare and too, we’ll only ever offer bulls from breeds that were originally developed for real maternal traits and positive consumer eating qualities.
We’ve been in the beef business almost 50 years and it’s pretty amazing the changes that occurred during that time. For some reason, and we’ve been guilty too, we got in our heads the latest technology was going to save us from ourselves. Granted some of the information currently available is useful but where is it going to end? Every time you turn around there is a new EPD for whatever trait and the end result more often has a negative impact on profitability. Producing beef at a profitable level is not that difficult… minimize production input costs (propagate environmentally adapted cattle) and position yourself as close as possible to your end product user. Remember EPD’s are only measures of outputs…the most important trait is reproduction…without it the others don’t matter!
Pinebank Angus Stud, NZ
I’ve recently had correspondence with Gavin Falloon, the mastermind of the Waigroup Angus program in New Zealand. As the topic of genetic purity/integrity gains more attention, I wanted Gavin to clarify, for me, the foundation/establishment of the Pinebank Angus Stud on New Zealand’s north island. I think it important to share this with you.
After returning to New Zealand from a genetic fact finding trip to Scotland/England in 1956, Gavin began his quest for a linebred Mulben Embassy (by most accounts the most influential bull in New Zealand Angus history) sire to put into service at Pinebank. After an exhaustive search, he finally located and purchased the bull, “Escort of Ngawaka” a double grandson of Mulben Embassy. Gavin’s next step in the breeding program laid the foundation for one of the most unique breeding programs in the Angus breed. He used Escort across the Pinebank herd…took those resulting daughters and bred them back to their sire (Escort)…took the inbred (father/daughter matings) daughters and bred them to their sire (Escort)………two generations of father/daughter matings laid an unblemished, genetic foundation of superiority! More information can be found at the new Pinebank, NZ website http://www.anguspinebank.co.nz/index.php…its no wonder they can offer a four year guarantee of feet on the bulls they sell!
Often the More We Look Back the Further Ahead We Can See…
Boy howdy…isn’t the mainstream Angus world in a mess! Can’t say it wasn’t predictable though…when one abandons the basic animal breeding principals that Master Breeders adhere to…(for more bigger better)…what else could be expected? Don’t be surprised to see linebreeding become more in vogue….I’m quite certain the commercial folks will appreciate it. Two questions that still puzzle me (and I’d appreciate your input on this). 1) Why has it taken so long to address these issues publicly…and secondly why is there such an effort to identify genetically clean mainstream blood that were not profitable as commercial cows to begin with????? Stay tuned…this is going to be quite interesting before it is over.
Glanworth Waigroup 130-03 Injured
Several weeks back we received news from New Zealand that Glanworth Waigroup 130-03 was injured and could no longer be collected. When his current semen inventory is exhausted there will be no more. He had a hand-full of daughters calve in Canada in 2008…they’re what we expected…850-1000 lb two year olds…calved unassisted…strong mothering instincts…excellent udders…rebred (on grass alone) to calve at three years. The largest group of them is calving now in the US as twos.
Pinebank North America
Willie and Angela Falloon, Pinebank Stud NZ, have for some time wanted to expand their genetic program to North America. We had the good fortune of introducing them to Christoph and Erika Weder, Spirit View Ranch, Rycroft, Alberta, Canada in 2006. The Falloons and Weders formed a partnership to make available pure, old linebred New Zealand Scotch bulls to breeders in North America (no Pinebank females will be sold) . Frozen embryos from the most productive cows/bulls at Pinebank, NZ were transferred into Sprit View recipient cows in 2007, 2008 and will be again in 2009.
The first bulls from this partnership will be offered for sale in late April/early May. They’ll be offered in an E-bay type auction on our website. Details will be available very soon. Most of them will be sired by Pinebank Waigroup 41/97 and Glanworth Waigroup 130-03 from the very best cows at Pinebank, NZ. Their photos (and their sisters), sires/dams are available for viewing now on our website. We’ll let you when final details are available.
This will be a very rare opportunity to purchase pure, old linebred New Zealand Scotch Angus bulls from one of the world’s truly documented, premier breeding establishments.
Cattle for Sale
We frequently receive inquiries looking for cattle sired by Sustainable Genetics bulls. If you have SG sired cattle for sale, please let us know so we can pass the information along. We’re considering dedicating a section on our website for customer cattle for sale…more on that later.
Thanks again for your continued support and don’t hesitate contacting us if we can help you.
Bill Hodge
Sustainable Genetics
www.sustainablegenetics.com
(770) 605-6385