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Gordon hit the road on June 23, making customer visits in route to the American Simmental Association SimConference and the 2010 BIF Conference, both held in Columbia, Missouri.
First stop was in Puryear, TN to visit with Jeremy Cox, a buyer for Power Genetics. Jeremy purchases a large number of calves from Gibbs Farms bull customers directly off the farm each year and can also list calves to be marketed on the Big Blue Sale Barn Internet Sales.
The next two days would be spent in Indiana visiting members of the Quality Beef Partnership group. This group of commercial breeders has done a great job of joining forces and resources to improve the quality of their cattle and establish a premium market for their product. Several members of their group have been purchasing bulls and heifers from Gibbs Farms for the past 2 years. Gibbs Farms sponsored a dinner one night in Bedford, IN and a lunch the following day in Mooresville, IN, meeting with producers owning over 2,300 cows. Gordon made visits to 6 of the member’s herds that were running Gibbs Farms herd sires in their pastures and was also treated to a tour of the Purdue University Beef Cattle & Forage Research Farm near Bedford, IN. Richard Huntrods, superintendent of the research farm attended the dinner in Bedford & took interested guests out for a tour afterwards. The cow herd at this facility is all SimAngus, rotating Simmental & Angus sires in past history and now including SimAngus sires into the program. This year’s calf crop included progeny of Gibbs Farms herd sires Rookie & Stetson.
The first two days in Columbia, Missouri was spent attending the ASA SimConference featuring Allied Genetic Resources CEO, Marty Ropp as one of the main speakers. The SimConference tour featured a stop at the Chuck Miller CLM Ranch, a Gibbs Farms bull customer. The SimAngus herd sire that Chuck purchased in the Gibbs Farms 2008 Sale was seen in the pasture doing his job along with his first calf crop. Lacy Robinson, Dr. Jerry Lipsey, & Dr. Wade Shafer did a great job presenting a very informational and producer friendly program.
The first morning of the BIF meetings, the American Red Angus Association hosted a breakfast to announce they and the Canadian Angus Association had made the decision to merge their genetic evaluation with the American Simmental Association Multi-Breed Genetic Evaluation, with the ASA handling the combined genetic evaluation in the future. This will add an additional 1.1 million Red Angus and Angus records into the only true Multi-Breed Genetic Evaluation in the industry. During this breakfast, Wade Shafer from the ASA gave a brief slide show describing the history of the Multi-Breed Genetic Evaluation, recognizing Gordon Hodges and Willie Altenburg as the individuals who came up with the concept of the Multi-Breed Evaluation and assisted in making it happen during their tenure on the ASA Board in the early 1990’s.
Most of the presentation during the BIF meetings was pertaining to the past, the present, and the future of DNA profiling for economic valuable traits in beef cattle. Anyone truly interested in being on the cutting edge of beef cattle production should be in attendance at the BIF meetings each year.
The trip finished with Gibbs Farms hosting a lunch for customers in Salem, Missouri and making customer visits to 2 southern MO ranches. |
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| Indiana QBP member and Gibbs Farms customer, Ben Lindsey. |
Randy Roberts & Gordon Hodges showing off one of the QBP member signs.
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| Two Roberts Farms SimAngus herd sires purchased in the 2008 Gibbs Farms Sale. |
QBP members & Gibbs Farms customers Norm Voyles, Joe Rode, & Scott Whaley. |
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Here is the SimAngus Lot 26 Major League son purchased as
the second high selling bull in the 2009 Gibbs Farms Sale by Whaley Cattle Company, in the pasture getting the job done
& in great condition. |
Here is the SimAngus Lot 63 Sure Bet son purchased as the high selling bull in the 2008 Gibbs Farms Sale, in the pasture breeding yearling SimAngus heifers at Voyles Farms.
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This is the high selling bull from the recent 2009 Gibbs Farms Sale, in the pasture at 4R Cattle Company. He is a SimAngus
Sure Bet son. Joe used him to breed 29 two year old first
calf heifers & the bull has remained in excellent condition
as a yearling, proof again that developing bulls the Gibbs
Farms
way makes a difference. |
Pictured is Bob Parsons, FFA Advisor in Salem, Missouri for the past 40 years, one of his sophomore students, Taylor Bell, who is showing SimAngus steers & heifers, & local producers and Gibbs Farms customers Connie Rushing and Jimmy Bell. |
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