Black Grove: Sale


2/10/09

At Black Grove we breed them the way we would want to buy them, cattle are for sale year round by private treaty. Be sure to look at the current crop of bulls that we have for sale that have just finished their bull test.

Click to see our Bulls For Sale

Black Grove Production Sale Sunday, October 26, 2008.

View our 2008 sale book online

2008 Sale Features

Black Grove Lady – Confirmed heifer Pregnancy

N Bar Emulation EXT X Sinclair Lady 3R1 4465 due 11/26/08
A timeless blending of the proven genetics of the Pathfinder® sires N Bar Emulation EXT and RR Rito 707 descending from the Sinclair feed efficiency matriarch Ideal 4465 of 6807 4286 who has generated nearly $2 million in progeny sales to date.

The donor dam of this heifer combines a progeny birth ratio of 93 with progeny weaning and yearling ratios of 104 and 105 respectively coupled with a progeny ultrasound ribeye ratio of 105 on her first three natural calves, and she is a member of the same embryo flush as both the ABS Global sire Sinclair Rito Legacy 3R9 and the dam of the ABS Global sire Sinclair Picasso, who sold one-half interest for $80,000 as the top-selling bull of the 2008 Sinclair Sale.

A yearling full sister to this heifer serves as a joint embryo donor for Sinclair and Sterling Hunter. She combines an individual birth ratio of 98 with individual weaning and yearling ratios of 110 and 118 respectively along with an individual ultrasound ribeye ratio of 126.

Black Grove Erica 356 (12/18/06), Reg #15584154 +

DHD Traveler 6807 X Castle Hill Erica C035

A Special opportunity to buy a direct daughter of 6807 and Leachman Right Time’s greatest full sister Castle Hill Erica C035 who sold 1/2 interest for $60,000, valuation of $120,000 to Sauk Valley Angus in our 2006 sale. She is bred to OCC Missing Link 830M. Choose from this fantastic young donor or the other C035 Pregnancies. Click to learn more about Castle Hill Erica C035.

Black Grove Erica – Confirmed heifer Pregnancy
OCC Emblazon 854E X Castle Hill Erica C035
GAR Predestined X Castle Hill Erica C035
Connealy Onward X Castle Hill Erica C035

Black Grove Erica 174 (12/1/03), Reg #14748198 +

Bon View Bando 598 X Castle Hill Erica C035

A powerful donor out of Bon View Bando 598 and Castle Hill Erica C035, a full sister to the great Leachman Right Time who sold for $160,000. She is bred to OCC Emblazon 854-E.

Black Grove Donna – Confirmed heifer Pregnancy
Due Fall of 2009
N Bar Emulation EXT X Brooks Donna 403

A rare opportunity to purchase an EXT Pregnancy out of Black Grove’s newest donor Brooks Donna 403. She is a 14-year-old direct daughter of QAS Traveler 23-4 and AAR Donna 1853 who has the distinction of being a full sister to the timeless Pathfinder® Sire AAR New Trend. Click to learn more about the great Brooks Donna 403.

Black Grove Everelda Entense – Confirmed heifer Pregnancy
OCC Emblazon 854-E X BT Everelda Entense 566-H
A tremendously exciting mating of OCC Emblazon 854-E to BT Everelda Entense 566-H, a direct daughter of Leachman Right Time and Sitz Everelda Entense 1905. She is bred to be easy fleshing and low input. This could be one of the top pregnancies offered this fall.

Black Grove / TSF Everelda U2 (3/5/08), Reg # 16077657 +
TC Total X BT Everelda Entense 566-H
This natural heifer calf has tremendous EPDs and carcass numbers resulting from the mating of TC Total 410 to BT Everelda Entense 566-H.

Black Grove Everelda 817 (1/25/08), Reg #16096353
Leachman Right Time X BT Everelda Entense 814L
A powerful young heifer from mating Leachman Right Time to BT Everelda Entense 814L, a direct daughter of GDAR Rainmaker 340 and Sitz Everelda Entense 1905. This recently weaned heifer is deep and thick. She has unlimited potential.

Thomas Lucy 3834 (3/4/03), Reg. # 14405755
Twin Valley Precision E161 X Thomas Lucy 9596
A tremendous young donor who was the high-selling cow in the 2006 Sauk Valley Angus Ranch Sale. She sells open with her OCC Emblazon 543-E bull calf at side, born 6/7/08.

Black Grove Black Bell 702 (1/31/07), Reg #15683539
SAV 8180 Traveler 004 X Black Grove Black Belle 110

Black Grove Black Bell 705 (2/14/07), Reg #15946755 +
Leachman Right Time X Black Grove Black Bell 110
These are difficult ones for me to sell. They are beautiful, feminine, young donor prospects out of Leachman Right Time and SAV 8180 Traveler 004 and our outstanding feature Black Bell Donor 110 whose dam lived to be 23 years old and was still producing embryos at 22 years of age. Our Black Belles are the prototypes for low-input functional cattle. Both are bred to OCC Missing Link 830M. Click to learn more about Black Grove Black Belle 110.

Black Grove Lucy 701 (1/1/07), Reg #16081989
N Bar Emulation EXT X Rector Lucy 5000
This potential donor is a beautiful EXT daughter out of Rector Lucy 5000, a GAR Retail Product X Thomas Lucy 9083, the powerful 20-year-old matriarch of the Thomas Lucy Family.

Black Grove BT Everelda 695P (3/9/04), Reg #14854767
Leachman Right Time X BT Everelda Entense 579L
This is a powerful young donor out of Leachman Right Time and 579L, an AAR New Trend daughter out of Sitz Everelda Entense 1905. As a four-year-old, she is maturing and showing her potential as the great AAR New Trend daughters and granddaughters traditionally do at this age.

Black Grove Chloe 694 (9/9/04), Reg #14827136 +
Leachman Right Time X Black Grove Chloe 250
This young female is one of the deepest ribbed animals in the sale. She is feminine and powerful at the same time. This donor prospect sells bred to OCC Emblazon 854-E.

Black Grove Erica 728 (9/16/07), Reg #16075086 +
GAR Predestined X Black Grove Erica 054
This young donor prospect is the first natural calf out of Black Grove Erica 054 (SVF Bandolier X Castle Hill Erica C035). She weaned off at 715 pounds. 054 is a promising young donor for Black Grove and mating her to GAR Predestined we believe makes this heifer have the same donor potential.

Black Grove Forever Lady 727 (11/5/07), Reg #16075085 +
GAR Retail Product X Black Grove Forever Lady 02M
This deep-ribbed, moderate-framed young heifer will be the low-input kind we are all seeking. Her dam (02M) is an SVF Bandolier out of the great Leachman Right Time daughter 03E. She is deep-ribbed, perfect uddered and has a great disposition as does this calf.

Black Grove Longevity Index

At Black Grove we continue to believe fundamentals survive fads. We try to take a long-term approach to our breeding program. We believe the Angus cow is the most efficient and productive manufacturing plant in the cattle industry. We are concerned with the trend towards statistical selection based on individual breeder reported contemporary group data and terminal trait characteristics to the exclusion of or regard for the functionality of the Angus cow. While we use the multiple trait selection tools offered by the Association, we also focus on breeding and selecting functional low input cattle.

After years of study we have determined the best measure of functionality is longevity (a trait not presently measured by the Association). We believe logic dictates that cows who live a long time would have been culled if they were not functionally sound. If a cow did not have good feet, good teeth, good udder and teats, milk well or maintain her fleshing ability, remain fertile and productive, she would have been culled. It is also logical to assume these cattle will be easy fleshing, low input and low maintenance cattle which will reduce our annual operating cost. If we can breed cattle that live for 12-15 years, we will dramatically reduce our turnover in the cow herd and the huge capital cost of raising replacement heifers.

To that end, we have developed a new longevity trait selection index which allows us to identify animals which should have a higher probability of living longer. The result is less turnover of productive females (our factories), lower capital investment in replacement heifer, and therefore, higher profitability and improved return on investment. We believe longevity/functionality is one of the most important selection traits for any commercial or registered cow-calf operation.

To come up with the score that we used to determine a cow’s longevity, we sent letters to the last owners of the cow’s mother, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers and asked if they are still alive and if not, when they died. In case their owners did not know, we asked for written permission to access the American Angus Association records, to see when their last registered calf was born. (The Association would not provide information without written authorization from one of the owners.) We devised a formula (available on request) to calculate a weighted average of the lifespan of the cows in our subject cow’s pedigree going back three generations. We only used cows in our calculations that were born before 2001. The numbers we came up with fall into one of the following six categories.

Cows with a pedigree average of 6.9 or less = no stars
Cows with a pedigree average of 7-8.9 = 1 star
Cows with a pedigree average of 9-10.9 = 2 stars
Cows with a pedigree average of 11-12.9 = 3 stars
Cows with a pedigree average of 13-14.9 = 4 stars
Cows with a pedigree average of 15 or higher = 5 stars
Each cow that we know is still alive in a pedigree, but is over 9 years old presents a challenge for our formula. We solved this by adding a + symbol to the stars, to indicate that the value could go up as the cow’s mothers or grandmothers continue to produce cows. (Cows in the pedigree born after 2001 are not considered in any part of this formula.) For example: A cow with a score of 11 and a mother or grandmother that is 9 years old or older and still alive would get a score of +. A cow with the same score of 11, but with all of its ancestors that were born before 2001 having died would get a score of .

We also came up with an accuracy rating for each of the cows. This was necessary because we were not able to obtain permission to look at the records of all of the cows in our family tree, and some of our cows have mothers and even grandmothers that were not born before 2001, and therefore are not considered in this formula. If we were able to obtain the information on all of the cows in the pedigree, and they were all born before 2001, the cow would get an accuracy rating of 100%. For each great-grandmother not included in the calculations, the accuracy drops 8%. For each grandmother not included in the calculations, the accuracy drops by 16%, and if the mother is not old enough to be included in the calculations, the accuracy drops by 33%. To qualify for a rating, an animal can not be missing information on more than two ancestors.

We believe that star indexing the scores will provide breeders with an easy comparative analytical tool to evaluate relative probability for longevity and functionality. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at (803) 276-9385.