Rural Living
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A cowboy sends a bull toward an awaiting trailer as John Hill stands by to shut the gate behind him at the annual Freestone County Bull Test sale in Fairfield.
Bull test yielding quality stock
For 15 years now the Hill family of Fairfield has been working to get the best performance bulls possible to improve East Texas livestock herds.
Their yearly bull test has helped make East Texas cattle some of the best around.
“The bull test here in Freestone County has worked 14 years to get where local cattle can compete in price with cattle from anywhere,” F.E. Hill Ranch owner Dickie Hill said.
Mr. Hill also noted that the Freestone County Bull Test sired weaned Angus+Vac45 steer calves had the highest selling price for the 750-pound weight class of steers for the August/September video auction.
“This was in direct competition with hundreds of thousand of cattle of all breeds and regions in the USA,” Mr. Hill said. “This wasn’t an accident.”
Mr. Hill admits he and his family have been blessed with the continued and improving quality of livestock coming through and from the annual bull test.
Every year they scour the Angus journals, along with a couple of other breeds, to ensure they are getting the best genetics possible. Good bulls are just half of the equation, though, it takes good cows to make quality bulls.
“We consistently have some of the top performing cows around,” Mr. Hill said.
The bulls sold from the bull test are measured from birth weight, weaning weight, mother’s weight at weaning, average daily gain on grass and cubes, post weaning weight gain, average daily gain on corn and grain, scrotum size, rib eye area, back fat, intermuscular fat marbling and estimated yield grade.
Along with those measured traits the bulls parents and grandparents records also are recorded.
Every year the quality of the animals improve — with this year not being an exception.
Dam’s weight at weaning was up 7 percent; weaning weight was up 16 percent; weaning weight as percentage of dam’s weight was up 8 percent; average daily gain was up 66 percent; backfat thickness was down 4 percent; intermuscular marbling was up 6 percent, to which Mr. Hill said, “proving that by testing and selecting that these two important traits (backfat thickness and intermuscular marbling) can be bent against the curve to make improvement.”
Ribeye area was up 12 percent and yield grade estimate, which Mr. Hill noted is unique to this bull test, was down 6 percent, which is a good number.
“The numbers we pass along are not expected differences,” Mr. Hill said referring to EPDs. “These are actual measured numbers on these bulls.”
The bull test sale was held on Jan. 23, but there still may be some bulls available. To learn more call (903)389-3617.
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