Cattle.com

Blog Archive January 2010

Walks on Water

One of the more talked about bulls in The Yards this year...

Video of Walks on Water


Stands Alone

One thing to note, a black bull with a contrasting background.  Insert those Guinness "Brilliant" guys toasting each other here.

Video of Stands Alone


The Hangover

A very interesting smokey bull out of Friction...

The Hangover Video


Time Saver

A bull with a different look than most of the other bulls in The Yards this year.

Time Saver Video


Slick Willy

The sun really caused trouble getting video of this nice profiling Hereford bull...

Slick Willy Video


Total Improvement

One of the squarest high percentage Angus bulls with the most hair of a 3/4 I've seen.

Video of Total Improvement


PVF Windfall

While obviously not as clubby as the clubby bulls, he's got excellent thickness for an Angus bull.  At first glance, I thought he was a purebred, seedstock orriented Maine-Anjou.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=235


Shaggy Swagger

One of the longer bodied/more extended bulls from The Yards this year...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=234


Passin Go

He's got that Monopoly look to him and reminds me a bit of a slightly less square version his sire when he was on display.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=233


Optimus Prime

Purebred Steel Force son...

Optimus Prime Video


Nasty Habit

For some reason, every piece of footage we got of this bull had some dust on the lens.  While that happened from time to time on other bulls, it was somewhat rare and it happened all four different times we video taped Nasty Habit.

If I were one of those Ghost Hunter dudes, I'd say this is absolute proof of paranormal actvity.  I'm not, so I guess we were really lazy about cleaning the lens by that stall.

Video of Nasty Habit


Off Road

Video of Off Road


Two Bulls

Serious Business

The oldest bull I've seen in the Yards and he looks pretty good for coming right off of cows.  The heifer in the video is out of him.

Video of Serious Business

NoX Chaser

This is a bull that I'm hesitant to post video of.  I liked him significantly more in the back when he was covered with wood shavings just tied up.  The display pen was quite cramped and there's not a good representation of him.  The best way to describe him is he's a bull that looks like a bull and that doesn't come through in the video.

Video


Schedule

The current plan is to upload ten videos a day, which should take through Friday to complete.

0

SULL Muscle Man

Speaking of Shorthorn bulls, I liked this one quite a bit in person but completely forgot about him until I got to the video.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=226


D&D Metro

One of the very few Shorthorn bulls on display this year and a son of the hard to get Bloodstone...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=225


Max Out

Video of Interview About Bull

Video of Max Out


O'Neills Lucky Boy

An Angus bull that was in The Yards last year as well...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=222


It's Complicated

There was one sure thing this year in Denver.  If you walked through what I call the Caldwell corner you were going to hear somebody talking about the sire mix up on this bull.  There was evidently a mix up on the embryo to recip records and they aren't sure who the sire is.  They just know it wasn't Heat Wave, Heat Seeker, or Hairy Bear.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=221

Rather sadly, I kept picturing Heat Wave and Heat Seeker in some messed up version of this.


Heart Throb

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=220


Flying B Cut Above

AKA "Fat Butt".  Folks, my Sunday school class knows about this site now.  It was awkward enough explaining to those city church people that I was going to video tape bulls that will make a living selling semen.  Could we please take that into consideration when naming bulls next year?

Fat Butt Video

Please note the birthdate on the bull.  You don't see many four year old bulls fresh off of cows in The Yards.


Eye of the Storm

The new owners only had him for about a week before Denver and he looked a bit green in The Yards but was still a solid red bull.

Video from The Yards

Earlier Promotional Video


Keeping it Rural Blog

We've added another blog to the blog roll...

http://www.keepingitrural.com/

It's another blog by Terrell Miller from Cattlemax.

(I also fixed a bug that was preventing Feedburner blogs from appearing)


Double Shot

It's hard to come up with a better maternal pedigree than Meyer 734 x DHD Traveler 6807.  Something tells me that while he's a nice bull, there was a bit of disapointment when somebody picked up his leg as a calf and noticed the nuts.

He had better muscling than his pedigree would indicate but that expression didn't quite come through in the video.  He doesn't have the look of the other bulls but let's be honest, his daddy would have been completely overlooked if he were in The Yards too.

Double Shot Video

Double Shot Interview


Detour

A Red Angus bull that was reserve in his division at the World Red Angus Forum...

Red Lazy MC CC Detour 2W


BPF Detonator

A seedstock type bull selling in Busy Park Farm's sale...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=215


Boardwalk

It's hard to get more big name bulls in a pedigree than this young guy.  Heat Seeker, Who Made Who, Heat Wave, Monopoly, it's hard to think of something else to put in one.  A bit younger bull than the rest of the display bulls, he's got quite a clubby look to him.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=214

On a personal note, I just went to the living room to show off to my wife that I'm now able to breathe in and out of my nose with little to no effort.


Avatar

If you can't spot the Ali sons by now, you simply aren't looking at enough cattle.  This Ali son has that Ali look and the BW to match to be considered as a calving ease sire.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=213


Interview

"A" for "Aussie guy".

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=210


American Dream

In order to keep is simple, we're going in alphabetical order from here on out so American Dream is up next.

He's a purebred Simmental bull with some look to him out of Dream On...

American Dream Video


Update

No, we haven't stopped on the videos.  I'm not sure why but the Denver crud hit me harder than ever this year, I'm pretty sure it's because I got cocky about my sure fire cure.  I'm still living on an extremely healthy mix of Tylenol Cold & Flu and Red Bull but hope to get all videos out no later than tomorrow night so I can spend some time at the NCBA Convention.


January Cattle Site Visitor Report

I’m going to be on the road today heading to A&M Kingsville to talk with a group of Dr. Williams’ students about using Showcattle.com in their class rooms.  The videos will start up again tomorrow.

  1. Cattle Today Sites 18.35%
  2. CattleNetwork.com 15.65%
  3. Cattlerange.com 11.32% (4)
  4. Cattle.com 10.65% (5)
  5. Beefmagazine.com 10.55% (3)
  6. Showsteers.com 7.32% (7)
  7. Drovers.com 7.15% (6)
  8. Cattlegrower.com 6.68% (10)
  9. Steerplanet.com 4.33% (8)
  10. Cattlepages.com 3.24% (9)

Full Report Here

What is this?

If you haven’t visited us before, the cattle site traffic report is a triangulation of three third party approximatations of how many unique visitors various sites get.  It’s based 40% on Compete.com data, 40% on Quantcast.com, and 20% on Google Ad Planner.  We don’t use toolbar programs such as Alexa and would likely drop sites that add the tracking codes for any of the tracking programs in their code.

It only approximates unique visitors, not page views or visits.  For an example of what that means, let’s compare this site to Steerplanet.com for the month of December based on Google Analytics data for both sites…

Steerplanet (source)

Unique Visitors – 12,187
Visits – 97,785
Pageviews – 1,799,387

Cattle.com

Unique Visitors – 24,548
Visits – 39,413
Pageviews – 247,570

The metric tracked in the cattle site traffic report is unique visitors, which is why this site ranks so highly despite the much lower overall traffic numbers.  This isn’t a surprise, there’s a similar relationship between the traffic of this site and our site Showcattle.com.  In fact, that extreme clicks/visitor ratio is even larger for Showcattle.com.  It's because of this little fact that we're changing the name to the "Cattle Site Visitor Report".

Sites that include forums or an online game such as Showcattle.com burn through clicks and visits by a smaller group of visitors.  Content sites such as this one generally are a visit and leave kind of deal.  Visitors come here, get what they want, and leave.

I just want to make sure it’s clear what this ranking is.  By traffic, it means unique visitors, not pageviews or traffic which is something completely different.  If there were an unbiased source of other metrics for all of the sites we rank, we'd include that data as well.  Unfortunately, unique visitors is the only data available.

Hits

There's one site out there that likes to mention hits as a metric when selling advertising.  I'm an absolute stats hound but haven't checked the amount of hits any of our sites have gotten in a few years.  It's an absolutely meaningless stat and if somebody mentions it while attempting to sell you something, imediately question their competence and/or trustworthiness.


Uno Mas

A different type of smokey bull than Holy Smoke.  This bull is a bit more moderate framed with a smoother build.  Like the Salty Dog bull with his sire Hired Man, you can definitely tell the Alias influence.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=208


Holy Smoke

One of the more requested bull videos in the group.  I don't play favorites but this guy did stick out in my mind.  I'm a sucker for a long spine, thick rear, and bone....which reminds me that I can never let certain people know I write this stuff.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=207


Blind Side

A solid Monpoloy son with just a touch more extension than other bulls out of his sire...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=206


Videos

Delay

My grocery store run was for Kleenex, three bottles of V8 Splash, and four family size cans of chicken noodle soup.  It’s my sure fire cure for the Denver crud.  After a wasted day, I’m getting back on top of the videos.

Double Shot Interview

Here and Youtube


Black Powder

A more maternally oriented bull out of Macho...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=204


More Denver Videos

If you're really struggling to get to the end of the day at the office, there's even more Denver video to watch over at Brad Hook B.S....

http://www.youtube.com/jbradleyhook#p/c/A2FBDE3676418160


Copying Video

As with anything posted on Youtube, you are welcome to copy the video we post there.  If I space out and forget to post one of the videos there, let me know and we'll post it there.

I'd also recommend using the Youtube videos instead of our version because of the functionality they provide.


AKA

This is a bull I'm happy we got video of in the back instead of just his stall and an excellent example of why we like to shoot them back there if given the opportunity.

He takes the prize for most interesting color pattern hands down...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=197


Servers

If our video server doesn't crap out, I'll be surprised.  Some of them are being viewed 10+ times in the 20 seconds between the time I post them and come to the site to check that it posted correctly.

Don't forget, the same videos are being posted over on our Youtube channel at...

http://www.youtube.com/user/Cattlecom

I'm going to post one more video tonight and then the bulk of the interviews since they require very little editing.  The bull videos will start up again tomorrow night about 6-7 PM with Black Powder, Uno Mas, and Eye of the Storm.

After organizing the clips, it appears we have content for right at 60 videos. 


Smilin Bob

A clubby Heat Wave son that we were able to get footage of in the photo area...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=196


Perfect Wave Interview

Interview with the owners of Perfect Wave in front of what is always the best display in The Yards each year.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=195


Salty Dog

A freakishly large amount of hair on a bull that reminds you of his father Hired Man as soon as you set eyes on him.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=194


Sahara Video

An orange paint bull with a bit more Southern look to him than most of the bulls in The Yards.

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=193


Sahara Interview

First video is up...

http://www.cattle.com/video/watch.aspx?id=190


Update

The videos are currently downloading from the DVI tapes to the computer, first few bulls should be up later today.

True Blood

True Blood is not just a series about vampires convincing Anna Paquin to take her clothes off any longer.  It’s now the most popular AI sire name out there with three of the Denver bulls using it.


PHA and Phenotype

If there was a chance of me being convinced that there is no impact on phenotype with PHA carrier status it was blown out of the water yesterday.

Based on what I was told I used to believe it was just a genetic defect that didn’t play a role in what an animal looks like.  Over time and numerous sales where I would pick a bull (sometimes female) and find out he was a carrier, what my eyes were seeing finally overruled what I had been told.

Yesterday was about as close to a blind test as you can get on the subject.  The Maine sale is supposed to be completely free of PHA/TH carriers.  After looking through the 94 or so bulls in the sale, I and three others from back home all selected lot #184 (if you are looking at the catalog, his picture is flat out terrible).   We all prioritize bone and muscle mass more than many up North because we’re slick sheer people.

Well, it turns out #184 was actually a PHA carrier, the only PHA carrier in the sale.  We had no clue or reason to even consider the possibility he was a carrier before the sale.

While never as blatant or against the odds of that situation, this type of scenario has come up way too many times.  To believe that PHA doesn’t impact phenotype I must believe that a gene that kills cattle has been passed down generation after generation for no reason at all and I must ignore case after case of selecting for a certain type of cattle resulting in finding PHA carriers.  While my wife may disagree, I’m simply not that stubborn.

I'm not saying PHA is nearly as potent or noticeable as TH and I'm not saying every carrier shows the signs.  I belive it's like everything else genetically speaking in that it moves that bell curve a little bit more in one direction but there are still cattle all the way through the curve.


Saturday Report

I'm pretty darn confident we got all of the bulls on tape.  If we didn't it wasn't due to a lack of effort.  We have about 3 1/2 hours of footage to go through and put up over the next week.

Sale Reports

A full sale report for the Maine sale will be up tomorrow morning.  I didn't quite make it through the end of the Western Elite sale.

Quote of the Week

"We look at it as they are all Heat Waves." - Christy Collins at the Embryos on Snow regarding listing embryos as sired by Heat Wave vs the clones.


Embryos on Snow Sale Report

Full Report

Embryos averaged $1,123, down about $150/embryo from last year.

Semen averages...

  • Steel Force - $220
  • Heat Wave - $257
  • Monopoly - $128
  • Cunia - $338
  • Whiplash - $700
  • Sooner - $300
  • Friction - $160

The Monpoly semen actually went from $50 for the first set to $180 for the last.


Friday Update

Another great day in Denver.  If you didn’t make it this year, you missed out.  The bull stalls are fuller than they’ve been since ’07, there are a ton of cattle going through the auction barn, and the weather simply could not be any better.  As mentioned yesterday, the videos will start posting Sunday night/Monday morning.

The Bulls

The bulls are solid all around and there are bulls for virtually every type of operation, unless you need more skin.  If anybody tells you there was a ‘best’ bull, they’re full of it.  There’s a variety of kinds of bulls that will provide options for virtually any type of operation or female.

Thanks for the Help

Rachel Williams was great as usual in getting interviews throughout the day.  We got a solid hour’s worth of just interviews.

The folks at Cattle in Motion saw the short microphone cable we were working with and took it upon themselves to come and loan us a longer cable for the day.

Western Elite Sale

The best way I’ve heard the cows selling in that sale described is they’re they type you wish you were an oil man for.  That’s one deep set of cattle.

Self Promotion

A good day got a lot better when a steer buyer from last year called to let us know an American Heat Wave x Simbrah calf we sold them took reserve overall against 75 steers of all breeds at their county show.  The Charolais heifer of the cow I bought up here in Denver last year also won overall at her county show.

Embassy Suites

I need these people to start paying me for my endorsements.  Even the restaurant it great and as you know, hotel restaurants are like Simmental front ends.

Comments

Yeah you little jerk, we do moderate the comments.

Facebook Moment of the Day


Rachel Williams - the nwss started playing "eye of the tiger" over the mic when the champion dive in the angus came in. seriously. like it is choreographed.
4 hours ago via Facebook for BlackBerry

Lynnae Slavik - Well it is "The Business Breed"!
3 hours ago


Complaint

This wouldn’t be Cattle.com if I weren’t continually griping calling something as I see it.  This year, that would be my brother.  The little fart gets a free trip to Denver for helping with the videos each year.  He allowed himself to be bumped two hours on his flight and got a $250 voucher for airfare which he didn’t pay for.

After that delay, he was supposed to get to Denver at 9:30 PM.  About 1AM I start calling him and he doesn’t answer.  At 1:30 I start wondering if I need call our mother and tell her that I got her other son raped and murdered by some anti-Texan Coloradans (they really do hate Texans up here).  The son of a gun then shows up at The Yards sober and ready to go at 9:30 AM after a night of partying with some guys he knew from college.

I got old too early.


Thursday Summary

Video

I shot 48 minutes of video today but about 13 minutes of that was a likely illegally recorded conversation when I forgot the record button was going.  Unfortunately, this new laptop does everything but have a firewire port and we won’t be able to post videos until Sunday night/Monday morning.

Weather

Is absolutely perfect.

Everything Going Great

There’s a tradition with me and Denver, and it’s that something always goes horribly wrong.  I’ll be the first to admit I was a bit cautious about going this year but I was flat out impressed with how nice everyone was today.

Sale Cattle

As posted here last year, the sale averages were down significantly across the board for the clubby type sales (Maine/Chi) vs 2008.  This year there are a ton more cattle and the economy hasn’t really turned.  It will be interesting to see the result.  Of course, the next Collins sale that doesn’t have an insanely high average will be the first.

Shoes

If anybody sees me in an Academy the week before Denver next year shopping because “these boots really are worn out and I need some new ones before I go”, kick me in the rear.  I had my new Droid phone tracking how far I walked today and prior to 1PM it was at 2.6 miles before it went all haywire and thought I had walked the 1,000+ miles back to my house and then to the hill in two minutes.


Monopoly Semen and Clones

I had an opportunity to talk with Matt Lautner in The Yards this afternoon.

Rumors that Monopoly stopped producing semen are false.  He was collected on Tuesday but isn't producing nearly as much as he was last Fall.  He had a full examination and a chiropractor is working on him now to help relieve some stress (comfortable bulls produce more semen).

The first clones are on the ground right now.


Blind Side

Sired by Monopoly, owned by Randy Goddard, Garrett Kalvig.

Sire Profile Page


Anarchy

Anarchy Profile Page

Out of Monopoly and owned by Todd Kirkland, Raymond Gonnet, and Russell Dietz.  He won't make it to Denver for display but is being promoted.

(If you have a bull you'd like up here today, just shoot me an e-mail with details to jeff@cattle.com.  I'm going to be at the ranch yelling at my dad that I told him so about running heavy breds on rye grass and then disposing of two dead calves but we'll get them posted later tonight.)


Mile High Classic Sale Results



Status Lots Average
Bred Heifer 3 $4,750
Bull 6 $6,325
Embryo 9 $658
Heifer 22 $3,543
Semen 9 $61

Full Sale Report


Ricky Schroeder

I wonder whether the sale catalog that just came in the mail addressed to Ricky Schroeder was somebody's idea of a joke or somebody's data entry person has an unhealthy obsession with Lonesome Dove.


Showsteers Forum

The first forum to censor the phrase "Cattle.com" has finally closed it's doors.  It served its purpose in its time to develop the Showsteers.com brand to what it is today but hasn't really added much to the site in quite some time.


Morning Stuff

By this time next week…

A bunch of people with inflated opinions of their own intelligence will have crowned a dozen different bulls the next big thing.  A bunch of people who like to bring everyone else down will have pointed out every possible fault of those bulls and ask why they were even left in tact.  The holier than thou people will ask why you irresponsible folks are still breeding to carriers.  I will have gotten my rear chewed by somebody.

Nobody will have a clue which bulls work for a good two years.

Videos

Unless asked to by an owner we’re not going to start posting bull videos until I get back and have a clear head to edit videos on Monday.  I’m going to err on the side of getting the videos out right rather than quickly this year.

Bull/Video Comments

Don’t forget our comments are moderated now because one of you little jerks posted a bunch of anonymous smack last year.  I’ll attempt to stay on top of them as much as possible this year.

This comment is a great example of the desire some people have to be critical of bulls.  The irony of questioning whether they were attempting to hide a fault of a bull on a banner that will be hanging directly over the bull himself is just too much to let pass without comment.

San Antonio Steer Show

Am I just hanging around a group of people who all listened to the same person spread the same rumor or is there legitimate talk of San Antonio switching back to a haired show?

Sale Reports

In my goal to post more free and complete Denver sale reports than any other website I posted the two from last night…

I think that just about means I’ve accomplished the goal.


Collins on Twitter

http://twitter.com/CCollinsInc

Trust me folks, it's just going to get more and more annoying to hear about everyone that's on Twitter.  Just give in.


Various Updates

Sites Updated Spider

Based on the data from this post, we've changed the sites updated spider to check for new/updated sites at 12, 4, and 8 PM instead of 5 AM and PM.  This will list sites sooner.

Blog Updates Spider

The blog updates spider no indexes the blogs we post updates from every hour.

New Blog Additions

I've added crystal.cattle, YPC Cattle Call, and the Cattle Today blogs to the blogs indexed and listed here when they are updated.

Bills

I mailed three bills out this morning and forgot to include checks to actually pay them.  At least I didn't put 09 on the date.


Facebook

The next time I complain about South Texas heat, I'm going to open Rick Frye's Facebook pictures and thank God I'm down here.


Updated Bull Plan

Heat Wave

On about 15 of the better Angus and SimAngus cows.

Jazz Man

On a blue roan and a show heifer with a smaller pelvis than I’m comfortable with.

I’m Tired of This Muddy Crap, Just Sort and Turn Them Out With the Bulls

Approximately 120 Angus, Simangus, Simmental, Brahman, Simbrah, Brangus, Maine, and Clubby cows.


Denver Videos

Yes, we’re doing the bull videos again.  I’m no fool, it’s the only reason half you have heard of this site at all we’re going to keep doing it as long as we can.  Most of the blogs posts for the month of January will be devoted to it.

Last year every video was viewed a minimum of 1,000 times.  The top bulls by views as of a few weeks ago were…

  1. Womanizer 5,417
  2. Captain Morgan 4,489
  3. Ivy League 3,925
  4. Babe Ruth 3,837
  5. Chopper 3,099
  6. Nevermore 2,620
  7. ATM 2,472
  8. N-Charge 2,467
  9. Full Moon 2,419
  10. Wave Goodbye 2,355

We’re going to do a few things different this year.  First, we’re going to cross post videos on Youtube for increased viewership.  Secondly, we’re going to offer all bull owners the opportunity to video bulls away from the stalls if desired.

We’re going to shoot videos of the bulls Friday and Saturday.  A good portion of Friday will be consumed by our interviews (which Rachel Williams has graciously volunteered to help us with yet again) and Saturday will be almost completely dedicated to shooting footage of the bulls when possible.

-As always, we’re not going to shoot footage of bulls that the owners do not want us to shoot.

-We attempt to be as fair as possible and put the bull in as good a light as possible but we’re not hired photographers.  If you see footage of your bull that you don’t like, call us ASAP and we’ll see what we can do to fix it. 

-As much as we bust our asses to get as many bulls shot and up as soon as possible, without fail we miss a bull or don’t get one up as soon as possible.  Getting in contact with me to make sure your bull gets done virtually guarantees that won’t happen.

Something we did a bit last year but will offer everyone this year…

If you are taking a bull to Denver and you would like a better view of the bull than what we are able to get in the stalls, PLEASE let me know and we would be more than happy to shoot footage of your bull on halter or in his overnight stall.  It can be done before or after they go on display (I recommend before) and will take 5-10 minutes tops because of the ease of shooting the footage.

Shooting the bulls by the railroad track or by the show barn allows a 360 view and a view of the bull walking as long as the conditions allow for it.  You can get them setup perfectly, avoid the persistent lighting issues, and quite frankly it makes them look better.  We’d even be happy to shoot that type of footage on Thursday or Sunday morning if you have the bull fit.  However, you have to contact me so we can coordinate it with you.

If you’re taking a bull, call me at 210-380-7459 any time between now and Denver (or when you get to Denver) and we’ll work with you on shooting the bulls wherever you want in the yards.


Past Posts