12/17/2025
One month shy of her 14th birthday, U2 Duchess 36Z is doing what she always does, just being a good ol' Angus cow. She raised another heifer this year, as she's never had a bull for us since buying her at the U2 dispersal in 2019. One daughter is working in the Everblack herd at Vermilion, and when I toured pastures with Jordan Gibson this summer, Duchess 2H was a treat to see fitting in at their place. Every daughter since has remained in herd, and we will be flushing Duchess 36Z in the new year to the exciting import sire we found 3yrs ago, Taimate Roy. If all goes well, we may do an additional flush to something special from the archives of our inventory, mainly because I have to use some of that stuff up or why sit on it, right? I could go on and on about this cow, her linebred pedigree of HF Grizzly, which includes Riverbend Powerline, HF and Duralta Echo cows, HF Kodiak, Jay En Dee Masterplan, Everblack Duchess and so much more. But what's more important than paper and numbers, is hooves on the ground and real data. This ol' girl has straight claws and the right angle, a level udder, a tail switch, a wide muzzled Angus head, angular lines, low set tailhead, tremendous fertility that has passed through to her daughters, and mothering instincts that just can't be calculated, scored or algorithmed. As soon as she calves, she cleans the head off of her baby. She nuzzles and roosts them to their feet. She gives little moos or grunts and her baby is never more than a few feet away. It's the little things that make Angus cows great, and this one does it all for us. We used a grandson this year for cleanup, and another grandson in this year's pen is the heaviest bull so far, pushing 1100lbs last week when he crossed the scale, without creep feed and only been on grain a week before weigh day.
Enough rambling for now, cows to feed and pens to bed. Coffee is always on, beer fridge and card table is setup in the shop. We'd love to host visitors anytime.
