Our Angus Program
Our first 40 head of Registered Angus cows came from the Jim and Jean Brooks' herd of Hazelton, Idaho. With lots of Jim's help, cussin' and discussin', we started selling bulls private treaty and increasing our cowherd. We held our first Annual 101 Ranch/TLC Angus Bull & Female Sale in December of 1996.
Our breeding goals and parameters continue to remain the same as they were in the beginning. They start with a medium framed female. This size cow produces choice carcasses at 12-15 months of age. We breed for calving ease in heifers and ease of calving in cows. We feel the advantage of the extra weaning weight achieved by bigger birth weights is negated by calving losses, poorer reproductivity, and bigger mature animals. We use curve bender bulls with low birth, good growth, and sound carcass EPD's that emphasize marbling. To make this equation more complex, these sires must have the reputation of producing good udder traits as well as good dispositions in their daughters.
In the fall of 1994 Tehama 5204 Trav 641 moved to the 101 Ranch from TLC Angus. Because of the carcass evaluation work they had done "Trav 641" and the 101 Ranch were put on the Angus road map. In the Spring 1997, Sire Evaluation, "Trav 641" moved into the #1 marbling position in the Angus breed. Soon after we learned he was #1, our phone was ringing off the hook from all around the U.S., Canada, and Australia. We quickly started collecting semen and found ourselves busy marketing, advertising, and in a whole new arena of our Angus program.
Just when we started to feel like we had a handle on things, the Fall 1997 Angus Sire Evaluation came out. We not only maintained our #1 position with "Trav 641" for marbling, but found that our 101 Ranch raised herd sire, 101 Traveler B48 moved into the #2 position in the Angus breed for calving ease with a birth EPD of -4.7.
In the Fall 1998 Angus Sire Evaluation "B48" beat "Trav 641" out for the #1 marbling position. Both of these bulls are deceased now, but their progeny lives on in our program. Since 1990 we have been slowly increasing our registered herd. At the present time we have 425 fall calving cows
