Bringing Quality Back
Studying pedigrees for a number of years, we believe Conan of Wye was somewhat of a blemish in the kind of cattle that Jim Reid and Jim Lingle were trying to produce. As we studied the growth pattern, it became evident that the more growth that was injected into the blood of the Wye cattle, the more inconsistent the cattle became.
If Jim Lingle was alive today, we believe he would have brought back the original Scottish influence by recreating the cattle of the 1950s and 1960s. As we have spoken to people familiar with that era of cattle, the true Angus genetics were on display at that time. I once asked a very good cattleman to describe Conan of Wye to me. He had a very quick answer. “He looked like he was put together by a committee.”
Although the vast majority of our herd has Conan blood in it also, we see a wide variation in type, quality and consistency.
There Is a New Day Coming!
There was one cow left in North America that has no Conan blood in her. The late Ed Oliver and Bill Hodge once told me, someday there would be a need to use this cow to bring back the original breeder type Angus characteristics. Cow 3769 is a Manning/Federal 5838/Favor 1735/Fabron 935/Gordus. People who have seen those cows, believe this is one of the most flawless pedigrees in Wye cattle.
We would never use a bull with Conan blood on 3679. We now have daughters by her that are non-Conan. We pledge never to use Conan on those daughters.
Every time an embryo transplant calf is born out of this line of cattle, it represents the 1950s and 1960s.
As we study the ultrasound data when older Wye sires are used, we are convinced it was the superior quality, producing high marbling, large rib eyes and excellent on the back foot.