Donor Dams
The Cranview Gelbvieh Donor Dam Philosophy – Our donor dams are the heart and soul of our business. Most current donor dams have been raised in our system, and we also purchase donor dams to complement our program. For example, the Z133 “Zula” cow was purchased for her muscle mass and rib shape, and what a job she has done! The 402B cow was purchased for her extremely good udder and the carcass traits she possesses. Our donor dams are responsible for approximately half of our sale offerings each year.
CRAN “Buttercup” Z251 ET - (AMGV 1225850) – BA50…Black & Homo Polled - This cow is better than I thought she would be when we sold embryo interests to Eagle Pass Ranch, Jumping Cow Gelbvieh, and Beastroms Gelbvieh in the 2014 National Sale. She has had multiple entries from these progressive breeders into the Balancer Futurity and she has had sale topping progeny including her Secret Brand calves from our 2018 sale. She is a daughter of S493 that Andrew showed in Denver as one of his Jr projects…she stood 2nd in class to the National Champion Female that year. Z251 also stood 2nd in class to the National Champion Female in 2014. This balancer female was bred to incorporate many desirable carcass traits that were tough to find in the Gelbvieh gene pool while maintaining the skeletal advantages that many of us appreciate with Gelbvieh cattle. She ranks in the top 20% on 4 of the 5 carcass traits that we evaluate. For people that prefer to use indexes to purchase cattle, this heifer ranks in the top 30% for $cow (index that accounts for the specific EPD’s contributing to value added females).
DCH Z133 “Zula” – (AMGV1226373) –BA50…Black & Polled - This cow has sold more $’s of progeny off our farm than any cow we have owned. She has also sent more animals to more states & provinces than any cow we have owned. The progeny from her Sandhills flush is still one of the more talked about flushes we have ever produced. She is a female that offers a lot of opportunities to mate multiple ways depending on what your desired outcome is. We targeted value added carcass traits in the Sam calves exhibited in this year’s sale. I think you will like what you see.
CRAN “Zula” C557 (AMGV1330353) – BA50…Polled & Red – This heifer was part of the Sandhills flush from Z133 that generated a ton of interest when we exhibited her at Agribition and the 2017 NWSS. This will be the first set of calves sold from C557 and if you are looking for mainstream type cattle that will excel in phenotype and carcass traits; you should consider tapping into these genetics.
CRAN 935C “Tiara” – (AMGV1330281) – BA75…Homo Polled & Black - This cows grand dam was purchased in the National Sale from Eagle Pass Ranch and her dam “Tiaramasu” Y157 also had a very successful show career but unfortunately we lost her last year. This cow will play an integral part of our breed up program as we keep phenotype in line with improvement in carcass traits. Bone and skeletal structure are key features this cow will bring forward.
CRAN A313 “Princess” – (AMGV1259724) – BA50…Homo Polled & Black – This cow is the first female we kept from BSF Princess W2 – the cow that is the dam to the two-time NWSS Reserve Champion Angus Bull “Opportunist” and the popular “Hot Lotto” Bull owned by Bull Barn Genetics. What interested us in owning W2 was the fact that she possessed much of the same skeletal characteristics of the Gelbvieh cattle. These characteristics are what drew many people to comment on her when we exhibited her at the NWSS…Princess A313 has produced embryos that have been sent to several states and provinces. She excels at both performance and carcass characteristics.
