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Basic Black Angus Cattle at Ohlde Cattle Company
The Basic Blacks program began with a commitment to producing low birth,
strong maternal, cost efficient performance cattle that are easy fleshing
and require minimum maintenance while working in a forage based environment.
Our appreciation for this type of cattle evolved over time and the
years of working with large numbers of cattle of several breeds gave
us the practical insight into the type of cattle needed to meet our
goals.
At Ohlde Cattle Co., balanced multiple
trait selection has always been the cornerstone of our breeding philosophy.
Most cattlemen today would admit that single trait selection has caused
more problems than it's solved. One need only look at the recent past
to see how an overemphasis on frame and growth resulted in excessively
large framed, high maintenance cattle that were not practical or profitable.
Despite this awareness, true multiple trait selection is often done
in name only--witness the number of people who use only milk EPDs
when talking about maternal traits or marbling EPDs when discussing
carcass sires.
We believe that cattle breeding is an
art. There remain essential cow herd traits not addressed directly
by performance testing and EPDs that Basic Blacks cattle must have.
These traits include fleshing ability on forage, capacity, excellent
udder quality, a gentle disposition and structural correctness. Mere
buzz words you say? Traits that are hard to define and quantify can
still be real. When differences exist between cattle, no matter how
subtle, selection pressure can be applied to those differences. Maybe
that's where the "art" of cattle breeding comes into play.
Making progress through multiple trait
selection can be a slow process but our long term devotion to that
process has resulted in cattle that we believe are unique. At Ohlde
Cattle Co., maternal is more than just milk, carcass means more than
marbling and performance is more than just pounds.
Many cattlemen, commercial and seedstock
producer alike, are finding themselves at a crossroads with their
cow herds. Years of breeding for increased production or using too
many highly promoted, unproven bulls has resulted in cattle that are--and
let's be frank here--big, bad and ugly.
Basic Blacks is one of the few programs
truly equipped to address this problem. While remaining solidly performance
based, our unique herd bull battery is also designed to moderate size,
add muscle, improve structural soundness and fleshing ability and
improve udder quality while maintaining profitable production levels.
Put simply, the Basic Blacks program is going beyond performance.

Angus II cow sired by DHD Traveler 6807.

Angus II cow sired by PBC 707 1M F0203.
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