Family Owned Registered Angus.
Family Owned Registered Angus.
In an industry of semen catalogs and famous cow lines, it is easy first to forget maternal matters, and secondly, that a cow with no name may outcompete the best of established maternal lines. Elite sports players are picked for their individual performance, not their last name.
I promise you that you have never heard of the “Irene” cow family. It’s a story that needs told because it explains our process of maternal selection & it highlights a cow family that is very special. When I started purchasing and exploring registered angus cows, we would travel to any angus dispersion hoping to acquire some elite older cows or heifer calves worth the money. Although we did seek & acquire many cows from famous lines , we also added a few “no name” cow lines along the way. This is exactly what happened at the Ingalls dispersion at the sale barn in Sturgis, SD when we purchased a heifer calf sired by Grid Maker out of the cow IAR 3410 T T Touchstone 5510. I traced the cow back for generations and found the cow family name was inconsistent & irrelevant. So, for no particular reason, I just named our D71 heifer calf Irene. Irene D71 was a very good cow. She started her career here raising her first 5 calves with a weaning ratio of 107. She tapered off in her later years, but raised 9 calves for us. She only had 2 heifer calves and both were retained. 727 was a Rito 4612 daughter who raised 8 calves with a weaning ratio of 100. Her other daughter was Irene 960 who was sired by Power Box 6708. The Power Box daughters had a sub par weaning ratio of 96. 960 was one of the better Power Box daughters, but was sold due to lack of production after raising 3 calves with a 99 weaning ratio. However, we did retain one of her daughters who was sired by Sitz Thunderbolt 0189. Her name is Hoos Irene 212 and this is where things get exciting.
Let me shift gears slightly and talk about what it takes to be a cow competing at Hooscow. We put a lot of emphasis on a female’s individual performance. She needs to be in the top 2/3rd of her class at weaning, and needs to be phenotypically right to us. After she enters the replacement heifer pen she will get 40 days to conceive as a first calf heifer. If she conceives, then she will get an opportunity to raise her first calf here. This is where most of the evaluation is done, requiring them to meet the necessary standards for maternal instinct, disposition, feet, leg, teat, & udder quality. Once these standards are met and the young female has bred back, then we target the cows that excel for weaning ratio and cull the ones that don’t. A majority of the culling takes place when our females are 2 and 3 years of age, but the pressure is constant throughout their life. It is important to note that this is all done in a hay & range environment. This is a difficult task. In pursuing perfection, while knowing perfection is impossible, we hope to find excellence. I guess for me when we have a single cow that consistently meets our standards, excels for production and does it in a hay and range environment… that is something special. It is surreal finding an entire line of cows that has consistently accomplished just that!
The potential of Hoos Irene 212 was recognized early. She always raised a very good calf no matter how she was bred. Her bull calves were always well received, but not quite the sale features. It was when 212 got a little age on her and her daughters got into production that we realized how unique and special this cow was. Irene 212 finished her production before becoming a donor cow raising 9 calves with a 108 weaning ratio. She has 4 daughters in production that combine for 17 calves with a 104 average weaning ratio. Her top featured daughter is Hoos Irene 533.Hoos Irene 533 produced 5 calves with a weaning ratio of 110. She raised 2 bull calves that averaged $12,500 on our sales. She currently has 3 daughters in production. Her oldest daughter is Hoos Irene 712 who currently has a weaning ratio of 4@107.
In summary the Irene cow family has worked their way to the top at Hooscow Angus. In 2022 both Hoos Irene 212 and Hoos Irene 533 were retired from production to serve in our donor cow program and their progeny will be featured in our next several productions sales.
Bulls designed for people that make their living in the cattle business.
Hooscow is a family operated ranch owned by Judd and Brandy Hoos along with their 3 children Hayden, Hannah, and Hadleigh. Although our families have ranched in western South Dakota and Nebraska for 5 generations, we didn't buy our first registered Angus female until 1999. With heavy selection pressure over time, we have developed distinct type and kind that will work as hard as you do.
Hooscow Angus is a performance driven Angus seed stock ranch focused on building cattle that add value to every segment of the industry. Although we consider EPD's in our selection, our emphasis has been on selecting cattle that perform with a bold phenotype, excellent conformation and quiet disposition. We realize that our role as a seed stock provider is very important to your success. We are very careful in our selection, honest in our presentation, and sincere in our word.
Over 20 years of breeding registered angus cattle.
HoosCow Angus
Judd & Brandy Hoos
(308) 327-2179
(308) 360-3556
Email: hooscow@gpcom.net
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