Saturday, October 24, 2009

Lucky Girl - The Family Farm

I have the opportunity to record what I do on our ranch everyday via my blog and my scrapbooking layouts. I get to share what I do with others. I've found a community of scrappers where there are a few of us on family farms or grew up on family farms. There are a few who are reliving childhood moments while visiting grandparent's farms through a post I write. It's a joy to connect those with where their food comes from. Yesterday it was Jenna who connected me to the family farm through her layout titled "Lucky Girl."



How can one just not sigh to see Father and Daughter sharing a portion of the day together harvesting corn. This is America's Bread Basket. This is what makes America Great. Thank you Jenna for sharing a day on the farm with me. It is my desire we never loose the values and lifestyle provide on the Family Farm Experience and move towards larger corporate farms. We are the backbone of America!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Flying J&L Lowline Bulls


I've spent too much time not writing. I've been so very frustrated with writing and listening to both sides of issues. So I stopped writing.

So now back with a different attitude to write about life, to hope my stories of the ranch and our lifestyle will be one bright part of my day.

Yesterday I spent taking photos for our website and a renewed interest in keeping up to date. My first photo is of the ranch, above, and one of our Star 5 weanlings. She is by far the best of last fall's calf crop of Star 5. She is an awesome heifer and one who will go on to be bred for a 3/4 Santa Gertrudis. She is due to be bred in late April of 2010 to one of our Lowline Bulls.

Speaking of the bulls I thought I'd spend the rest of this post on our Lowline Bulls.

LTL Peyton (LTL Dillion x Miss Jet's Raphael 258K). Peyton has done well in the show ring with 2 Division Championships and 1 Reserve Division Championship (against English and Exotic Breeds). His sire Dillion is a National Champion Bull and his dam is considered one of the greats in the breed. He's long, deep and a very complete bull. His first calf was born to EZ Tillie (EZ Houdini x Miss Panmure L361). A heifer that is really starting to come into her own. She is a very feminine heifer. She will be shown along side her mother at the Houston Livestock Show and in her own class.


EZ Undercover Agent was purchased this summer at the 3rd Annual Discover Lowline Weekend Sale held by Effertz EZ Ranch. It was hard to believe to see everyone bundled up because of snow. I was happy to be home in Texas and watching via Internet. Agent is a very powerful bull who has been shown and we will show him at Houston Livestock Show this coming March. It will be his last show. We are very pleased with him and he will breed some of our heifers this fall.


At this fall's Legends of Riverwood we purchased our newest bull, a fullblood, Riverwood Cadallic (Brambletye Transam x Riverwood Abby). Brambletye Transam is a half brother to Brambletye Tequila the sire of some of the most famous show cattle in Lowlines. Abby is sired by the renowned Bar J Sparks and out of the famous Bar J Nellie line. He also goes back to Brambletye Tequila through his dam. His pedigree is a who's who of famous Lowlines. He just turned a year old. A very well balanced bull with incredible extension through his stifle. Depth and length is all through this bull. He is exceptional! He should be a taller individual with his mother being 48" in height. Since his purchase we have sold 75% of Cadillac and the partnership will offer semen by this spring.


Our final fullblood bull is EZ 12S aka Murphy. He has been sent here to be sold. A mature three year old bull with loads of muscle mass and very high feed efficiency. He is an exceptional bull for a Grass Fed Operation.


Our only Percentage Lowline Bull is Flying J&L Diablo 11 W01 (JJ Bruzer 3S x PX 20L). Both sire and dam are 1/2 blood Lowlines with his dam tracing to a Gelbvieh cow and his sire's dam tracing to a Shorthorn. Diablo is a true composite bull with that look at me attitude. JJ Bruzer has some of the great bulls in his pedigree to include Admiral, Kaptain Planet, and Bell Brae Borus. His dam is an own daughter of the Great Quartermaster. One can't ask for a better pedigree. His conformation is perfect for the show ring with a club calf look. His first show will be the Houston Livestock Show. He's available for sale as a guaranteed low birth weight heifer bull. At birth Diablo weighed in at 53 lbs.