The seller had a range of bulls, some Hereford, some solid in color. One immediately caught my eye. He was a nicely built Hereford looking bull, mostly white with big red splotches on him. Out of all the bulls there color aside, I firmly felt he also had the best conformation- deep barrel and straight topline.
Alan argued against him because at the salesbarn white cattle bring less per pound. The trend now is solid colored (black or reds). He didn't want to bring that bull home for fear of a herd of goofy mixed up red and white cattle.
Well, we ended up bringing him home. I named him Target due to the big red splotch on his side. He was a nice, quiet bull and threw calves that were decently built and easy to handle (which counts for a lot). We've gotten: red's with white heads, whites with red dots and splotches and even reds with white bands (they looked like a Dutch Belted).
Eventually the time came to get rid of Target. He'd been here for several years and we needed fresh blood into our breeding program. I was unhappy to say the least. There was something to soften the blow however, Spots and Dots, two of his white and red-splotched daughters. Alan decided to give Spots to our son Russell and Dots to Carleigh. Each year when they have calves, the money from selling them will go towards the kids for savings/allowance ect.
Last spring one of Target's daughters (Spots) had a heifer calf. I was so excited! Since it was Russell's cow who was the mother he got to name her. Being the avid tractor fanatic he chose "Allis", as in Allis-Chalmers' tractors. She's got the goofy dutch belted marking, looks like someone took a paintbrush to her.
Alan decided to give Allis to me in exchange for me trading my cow Hallie (who was getting old and will need to be sold pretty soon). At least this way he can blame the goofy colored cattle on his wife and kids. Farmers have a funny sort of pride when it comes to things like that.
Spots the cow and her baby "Allis"
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