Big Ridge Dubh Mathan T 2 Gorgeous George
Magic has a thick, heavy rear to balance out his deep wide chest . When you look at "Magic" you can see he has balance and great proportion.
Too many Highland Bulls have Narrow rears, skinny thighs and no second thigh. (and U shaped topline and/or Rear higher than back)
Magic is wonderful with our calves and all the bull calves live with Magic after weaning. Like a long time breeder told me "The best way to make a calm, respectful bull calf, is to raise him with a calm, respectful Bull". Magic gently teaches the calves there is a power greater than they are, and that calm and quiet is good.
Our Big Ridge multi generation breeding plan has culminated in the production of a Sire to pass on the best of Big Ridge Highlands !
Haydn Calves (below)
Co Owned by Big Ridge Highlands and Trails End Farm ( John and Beatrix Masotti )
Genetically tested
"MAGIC" BIG RIDGE VOODOO MAGIC 11/19/11(51522)
Semen Available Below at 2612 pounds Magic's calves average 55# birth weight! Magic's calves are easy on their Dam, but grow fast to pass most larger birthweight calves. Perfect for Heifers
MAGIC Calves (below)
SIRES of BIG RIDGE
BR VooDoo "Magic" x Sobhrach of Big Ridge "Rose"
Regardless of whether Magic is stacked like a show dog,( above at 22 mo. old, after finishing breeding our herd) or standing lazy in the pasture or grazing, He exhibits the proud traits of the Scottish Highland Cattle Standard. Magic is a calm bull with Correct and Excellent Level and Straight top line, strong Muscular neck, Low Wide horn set, Broad short head, Bushy Forelock down to his muzzle, And a Thick Slightly Wavy coat. Magic was a planned breeding of ours for the purpose of spreading the incredible Maternal traits of his dams line and superior maternal traits of his sire throughout our herd. We have owned 3 generations of Magic's Dam's line that have tight udders, small teats, have 50-60 pound calves unaided, and their calves nurse unassisted almost immediately. Magic has been producing beautiful structurally correct Black and red calves for us. We Just love his calves!
Haydn was a gentle bull that added incredible spring of rib and depth to his calves. As you can see in the picture with Haydn sharing his feed with the tallest cow in our herd, Haydn was only a couple inches taller, but was twice as wide and one and a half times as deep as Flicka's 1100+ pound frame. Haydn's Forelock, horns, Huge head, and large bone also passed on to his calves along with that wonderful Level Straight Top Line!
"Haydn" Ridge Top Haydn's Choice (42523) 6/29/2002
Exciting NEWS !!!! Semen ! InternationalShipment Available !
Contact us at: BIGRIDGEHIGHLANDS@gmail.com
We used a bull one year that was known to produce LARGE calves and large cattle. It was a terrible calving season with 2 dead calves and injured dams. (calves 80-100 pounds) We used Magic's sire because of his 55 pound average birth weight calves. We keep Magic as our herd sire because he produces beautiful vigorous calves with about 55# birth weights, that grow fast. Our only calf that has been shown was about 50 pound birth weight , from one of our smallest cows. At 9 months, at the National Western Stock Show, she was 571 pounds. 25# to 120# pounds larger than the other 9 month old heifers in her large class (About 10 heifers). The next year a Grand Champion at the North Central Specialty
Other sires used
BIG RIDGE MAGIC'S LAD (ET) CE-0
CROP EAR FREE ! And Myostatin Free !
Our experience at Big Ridge Highlands and with other animal breeding we have done over the last 40 + years has taught us that you have to live with a bull, cow, pig, goat, dog, etc. for years to learn that animal's traits, qualities and behaviors. With cattle it is at least 4 to 5 years to see how feet, udders, birthing/calf traits, breeding, thriftiness, conformation, etc. turn out. More years are better. If you have owned/raised the parents and grandparents of the animal, the evaluation can be relied on with much more confidence. Kae and I handled all aspects of our cattle husbandry and we abhorred having to trim or doctor feet (our pasture is very soft and wet clay), or Assist with birthing and nursing. In our breeding plan we leaned heavily on using animals we raised for 5 years or more to plan the next 7 year breeding plan to reach our goals of:
Excellent Feet
Excellent udders
Sturdy self birthing cows
Mid size calves that don't need birthing assistance or nursing assistance
Level toplines (cattle bred for steep slopes)
Scottish type and Scottish conformation (form follows function)Feet and udders were our greatest concern. We stopped breeding animals without good feet and at least average udders. We bred cattle with our best feet and udders and other traits to the same type cattle and built our herd with the calves exhibiting excellent feet, udders and Scottish traits. We were just getting to the end of that 7 year breeding plan when Health issues dictated that we sell our herd. I asked for 2 calves of my requested breeding back from Terri Thelen when she requested my 2 favorite cows. Ladd is one of those calves. We lived with Ladd's siblings, parents, Grandparents, Aunts and uncles and Great grandparents. Many of them for over a decade. We knew what we were building when we made our plan and the results have proven this repeatedly. If you like our Scottish type Highland Cattle, Ladd will bring it to your herd or reinforce what you already have. He is the sum and culmination of the best Big Ridge Cattle ever. Sorry! But he can't do miracles (fix ugly, or many negative traits all in one generation). But he can be used on outcrosses to genotypically and phenotypically change some negative traits or reinforce preferred traits. Ladd is genetically tested to not have crop ear or Myostatin and can be used to breed crop ear out of your best lines, if the animals in that line possess superior traits you do not want to lose/discard.
I usually don't collect semen from animals that are not thoroughly tested with many proven offspring on the ground. I like to have used a sire for my own breeding for years before offering his genetics to others, because it is so important to the herds involved. But with Ladd, We have lived with 4 generations of his ancestors for many years and knew everything about their attributes and traits. We bred those ancestors and have good knowledge of their genotype and excellent knowledge of their Phenotype and the phenotype they pass on to their offspring. Ladd will make a big difference to a herd being doubled up on his Scottish Phenotype for generations. With the stringent requirements for international semen shipping, we made the decision to collect Ladd at 2 years old because we knew Ladd's Siblings and ancestors and are confident in his genotype/Phenotype.
Kae and I own Ladd with Trails End Farm (John and Beatrix Masotti) and want to give breeders alternative genetics to use with their herd. Ladd's semen is what we were searching for years ago. We had an impossible time finding sires that we could get clear and accurate information on the feet and udders they came from and produced. We could get plenty of info on shows they won or number of offspring they produced but not detailed info on the size of their calves, if their feet needed trimming, if they improved the udders in a herd and what ways they improved or negatively effected udders in a herd and other traits. We could get one picture of the potential sire and no pictures of the parents and grandparents. Never pictures (or info) of feet and udders of the sire or parents and Grandparents. (Kind of flying blind) We have found that the BULLS we have used have had the greatest effect on udder traits. It is the primary way to improve udders and calf early nursing (which means whether or not birthing/nursing assistance is needed. We prefer NOT!) This is the foundation of our cattle breeding, not show wins or flashy looks. Kae and I did not want our time spent just keeping the cattle well. We wanted easy keepers that we could turn up the mountain for months at a time to graze and clean up underbrush, And be able to breed, birth, and nurse without our assistance. Form follows function. The function of Ladd's breeding was primarily improved feet and udders and Scottish conformation for steep slopes and easy keeping. Ladd will make a big difference on the herds he is used on.