Diamond H Herd Sires

When you read this page, you will notice something.  Two senior herd sires, selected and purchased because they were proven in the pasture and/or of superior quality.  We looked for, and bought superior genetics that fit our long term goals. The remainder (and the majority) of our herds bulls have our herd code on them.  We believe our cows can raise superior genetics.  We are constantly testing and breeding our own bulls in search for the next great one. We recently found two more in 22E and 19E (more on them below). I believe diligence in testing and a consistent breeding program are our ROAD TO EXCELLENCE.  

Ranger 11R  (PB53600)

Though he’s not alive, we consider Ranger11r our senior active sire.  We still AI most all our cows to him, and He is, without doubt, the foundational sire of our breeding program.

Any breeder of cattle will tell you he/she had a favorite. Maybe it was because of personality, or maybe performance….but just like kids, we have a favorite.  Ranger 11R is/was mine.  He was easy to load, had a great personality and it has taken 10 years of focused breeding to develop bulls that could come out of his shadow. He passed away on November 16, 2013 and I sure do miss him.  There are lots of good “Ranger stories”, but suffice it to say, he liked to breed. At first he was very difficult to load.  BUT, he was smart too….so when he figured out that when he got on the trailer, he got off in the midst of fertile cows….he LOVED the trailer.  In fact, we just pulled into the pasture and he jumped in!   He was “Angus black” and has been DNA tested homozygous black and homozygous polled.

Two things impress us about Ranger. First, he is extremely consistent, he brings quality to every breeding.  He has a very broad top, massive depth and volume (yes black Braunvieh can have depth) and a superb rear quarter. His results are well documented in the pasture and feedlot tests.

Second are his birth weight to weaning weight curve.  We used Ranger as a heifer bull when he was young, and consistently AI our heifers to him today with no birthing problems. In Fall and Spring of 2011/2012 his average birth weight on over 30 calves was 74.5 pounds.   His dam is a long bodied black cow out of Final Answer, making Ranger double bred of the well known Phenomenon cow.

 

We have both conventional and males sexed semen on Ranger 11R.

 

                     Ranger produces a consistent offspring. Another beautiful udder

]


 

X002 copy

X002          Xerox            PB72603

(owned in partnership with Alexander Braunvieh Farm)

When Xerox became available, I studied him hard.  The result of my research, told me he is a definite part of the breeding puzzle for the Diamond H.  I had been seeing his daughters at various sales for three years.  Two things struck me.  First, they were phenotypically correct…..  “the right type and kind” as they say.  Thick, very clean fronted, good feet.  Second, they topped most of the sales they were in.

His EPD is in the top 1% of birthweight bulls in our breed.  In two years, he has put LOTS of sub 70 pound calves on the ground.  He puts depth of flank and spring of rib in his cattle.  And, a key component for lots of folks, he cleans up the front.  Ranger cattle carry a lot of dew lap.  Honestly, that’s ok with me, it serves a purpose in cattle.  However, there are a lot of people that want ’em clean fronted.  Prior to his life on the Diamond H, he was not necessarily considered a performance bull.  However, after having bull calves in several tests, he has proven that he is one of those bulls that bends the growth curve from birth to yearling weight!

His calves have proved themselves at the bull test, his daughters are proving excellent in the show ring, and he has proven a heifer bull to boot!  This is a bull that will add many pieces to the breeding puzzle, that’s for sure!

 

y41calf

B16 calf

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 22E     DHR Peterbuilt      BC94113      DOB  10/10/2017        BW  88     Adj WW 691       Adj YW   1298

ADG   4.68    RFI  -.60  REA 13.73  (114)    IMF  4.19  (134)     BF  .39 (127)    RUMP FAT .38

Well, if I ever thought that the money I spent on bull testing was not worth it….finding this guy was proof…bull testing DOES pay off!  I found two great bulls in just one test (see 19E below)!  This one, was an OUTLIER in every category! His test started with 320 bulls, 14 breeds.  He was number one on ADG, beating #2 by .60 pounds, doing so with a negative RFI!  And he is packed full of carcass traits.    All bulls have a hole…his is that he is a 7/8 percentage, he is out of a 3/4 blood cow (the other 1/4 is Wagyu, that’s where he gets that carcass performance.  He is also scurred…and on the other side, he is homozygous black, Angus black.  This guy is the real deal, so we collected him in fall of 2020.  Peterbuilt,  is a very stylish bull that produces good calves with lots of growth.  His birthweights are not low…he is no heifer bull, but is a great choice on cows of every type!

 

19E       PB94119       DOB  10/8/2017      BW  64         Adj. WW  631        Adj. YW 1033

ADG   3.50    RFI  1.1  REA 11.10  (92)    IMF  4.68  (148)     BF  .44 (143)  RUMP FAT .22

 

When this bull came home, I had in mind..”OK, he did reasonably well on ADG, not as good RFI,  has great IMF.  Truth is, I was hoping for a decent heifer bull.  I bred him to a handful, and sold most of them.  Sure enough, they were all calved with no issues, but the big surprise…..I weaned two calves and they both weaned over 700#, one male, one female.  And they were good, no very good phenotype.  So, I bred him to all the 2019 heifers and about 20 fall cows. The result was great looking low BW and high weaning weight calves. He has several females in production, and his sons have dominated their test.  This guy is the real deal, and I consider him our top herd sire!

 

 

 


 

 

3W

 

3W    “Lonestar Vernon”    OB52132

We bred Lonestar and sold a half interest in him to our friend Dwight Alexander, and  he has certainly proved his worth as  fullblood herdsire for the Diamond H.  He is a Northstar Vernon son, out of a cow that was a top selling heifer at the first Broken Oak production sale.  His dam is a Vernon grandaughter and the bottom side of her pedigree has Erle,  Sampson 629, Sambo Jordi, and Swiss Way Marshall 53.    He has yet to miss (produce a poor calf)  in a breeding.  When you saw him in person you saw a smooth; very balanced bull, front to back.  His birth weights are very consistently in the mid to low 80’s and calves have lots of bone and muscle, and are very stylish, with LOTS of growth.   His sons have done very well at both Navasota and Green Spring testing facility  Perhaps one of his best traits was his disposition!  He was a teddy bear!  The calf pictured below is 6 months old, out of a 1000# Ranger daughter. His genetics available to the public, via conventional semen for sale.

black purebred braunvieh bull

 


 

 

31W   “Zorro”  BC93069    BW  81  Adj WW   740    Adj YW 1209

Well, until the recently, I have never bought back a bull that we had sold.  This guy was the second.  The reason is simple….a successful breeding program should be moving forward, at as rapid a pace as possible.  Current genetics should be superior to past.  Well, there have been two recent exceptions and 31W is one of those.  He was bred in 2009, out of a cow whom is granddam of our Y47 sire (yes a very good cow family).  I intended to flush her, but she was taken early by a blood borne infection.  SO…..he was sold in the formative years of our program, before we tested.  As a young bull, he certainly looked the part, but looks can be deceiving.   When our customer made the offer, the genetics he offfered were interesting, but I simply could not be certain based on the picture.  I decided to take what was a small financial risk, and it turned out to be.a good one!  As you can see, we have no testing information, but he certainly has impressive growth numbers, and his phenotype is typical Ranger11r…..wide top, huge butt, and solid stance.  While he is retired, his genetics live on in our herd.


 

Reference Sires…these guys worked on the ranch and have since been retired.

 

 

An all swiss Braunvieh herd sire

Mr. James   AS50405

A friend told me about James.  My research revealed that he was a low birth weight bull with strong weaning and yearling weight performance.  A very high percentage of his prodigy were still in registered herds, which told me they were functional, working in the pasture.  My thinking was to put him on my polled and black Ranger daughters, thus stacking the low birth weight, high performance genetics of these two, big butted, big footed bulls.

His daughters are superior.  I recently sold a James son to a commercial guy.  Now that son’s calves are weaned, I should probably buy him back!  Consistently thick, and deep calves!

I sold James to a good friend who is a Braunvieh breeder near San Antonio.  James lived his twilight years, doing what he loved, producing great calves.  He is buried under what became his favorite oak tree, something he was not used to here in Childress County!

Semen available.

 

 

77ZA

 ZA 77         “DHR BEEFMAKER”       PB 82446    BW   82      Adj WW  714     Adj YW  1237

Test Results      ADG 3.27 (ratio )  REA  15.37 (115)  IMF 4.14 (101)  BF .23 (109)

 

This Ranger 11R son is out of a consistent fullblood cow.   He calved on 10/5/12 at 82# .  He went on to wean at a whopping 725# and a 1237# yearling weight.  That gives him a WDA of  3.45…that works!  During the Navasota test, he had a top five performance in both ADG and RFI with 3.12 and -.84, respectively.  He ratioed 1.27 in REA and had a 4.08  IMF.    We first bred him to the spring 2014 heifers and several cows.  No birthing problems, good birthweights.  His calves are consistently  among the top wean weights….this guy is the real deal.  And although he sports a limp from sparring with his pasture mates, he is still getting the job done.  He is breeding a group of heifers as I write this post.  We have his semen available at only $15 a straw.

 

 

 

Y47     “A Bit of Quinto”     PB76603      BW  74       Adj WW 626         Adj YW 1180

REA 14.94   IMF 3.82  BF  .24  ADG 4.27

Y47 comes out of a dam that is part of a top cow family on the Diamond H.  If you have visited here you met “011T-Bitsy”, you can’t miss her, she won’t let you!  She is a black, polled Ranger11R daughter.  This bull was AI sired by Quinto a well known full blood bull out of England.  This bull was in the last group tested locally.  And though the results are reliable, we did not have the resources to test RFI nor ratio the group.  Y47 had the top ADG of nearly 30 tested.  He has some great girls in our herd, including the dam of our newest sire 22E.  He also had one two many pushing matches and got crippled.  He gave his all to the ranch fall of 2018….great hamburger!

21Y     “Andrew”       PB 79266      BW  78       Adj WW   630 (119)   Adj YW 1155

REA 12.85     IMF 1.98    BF .29     ADG 4.44      RFI -.38

This bull has quite a history.  He was bought by the father of the man that ran the bull test in Navasota.  The test manager had seen three sets of Braunvieh bulls go through the test and told his dad he should buy one.  Andrew was bought and put to work as a 16 month old. Reader’s Digest version….he bred 29 of 32 cows in 30 days!  Click here for the entire, interesting Braunvieh story (from a Diamond H friend, Tony Dean).  Anyway, when the owner had need to change bulls, he called and said he could not find a buyer and asked if I knew anyone that might be interested.  When I sold Andrew, his dam was a very young cow, Ranger11r was young, and unproven.  Much had changed in the following years.  So for the first, (and one of only two) time I have ever bought a bull back, we put Andrew back in the herd.  I always say breeding is a puzzle, one bull seldom does it all.  Andrew has definite weakness’ in the carcass department…but….he gains big, and does it efficiently.  AND he is homozygous black to boot (yes I know he is not black…he, like many Braunvieh carries a diluter gene….that is too much to write, but call and ask and I’ll explain it to you that don’t understand)!  So, breaking protocol, I took a substantial risk and bought back a bull that was bred 6 years earlier.  It has paid off.  He has brought several great calves to the ranch including our new potential star….22E!  He is growing towards the end of his career, but I have little doubt his influence through 22E (and others) will impact our herd for years to come!

 

 

Y34

Y34        “DHR  Cha-Cha”      PB 76599

Y34 was chosen for several reasons.  First, performance.  He had a 4.37 ADG, a 1.52 REA/CWT, and a 3.42 IMF.  He is tested Homozygous Black, and his coat is pretty much “Angus Black” .  His own birthweight was 64 pounds, and he was the first calf for a cow that has not had an offspring over 67 pounds.   He is certainly a smaller framed bull, but currently weighs 2030.  He definitely has the power and phenotype that I am looking for.  He produces thick fancy calves that perform.   He was sold to a customer that works closely with us on genetics.  He is listed on this page because of his strong genetic influence on our herd.