Legendary “150” Cow Family

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Legendary Cow Family, by Peyton Waldrip

The Brangus breed has grown to be one of the most reliable and profitable breeds available to cattlemen. International Brangus Breeders Association (IBBA) member breeders have worked hard to help the breed evolve and to help the breed be successful. The history behind Brangus cattle today is important not only to the breed’s genetics but also to the breeders behind the cattle. It takes the work of each and every breeder to propel the progress of the breed and its attributes. The relationships that form in the process are invaluable and irreplaceable. See how multiple ranches and families were intertwined, with a cow family as the common thread.

Ten-year-old Camille Burns of Wharton, Texas is in her second year of showing, and she has seen success that some showmen work toward and never achieve. Last year, Camille’s heifer, DDD Miss Jana 150B22, was named Grand Champion Heifer after being selected the division Champion Senior Heifer Calf at IBBA’s National Junior Brangus Show (NJBS) in Oklahoma. She was the reigning champion as she entered this year’s show in Mississippi, but the pressure didn’t bother Burns as she won NJBS Grand Champion Heifer again. DDD Miss Jana 150B22 was selected as the division Champion Junior Heifer at NJBS prior to being named the Grand Champion Heifer.

“I’m very excited and proud to see progeny and donors, that we selected nearly 20 years ago, come out and win the nationals back-to-back,” says Mike Doguet, of Doguet Diamond D Ranch in Poteet, Texas. Doguet has watched many showmen and women be successful with cattle from the 150-cow family. In 1999, Doguet bought his first cow from the 150 family from Terra Verde Ranch at its dispersal sale.

 

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Photo Credit: Taylor Burns’s Facebook Page

 

“There’s a lot of history in that calf,” says Past IBBA President Robert Vineyard, DDS of DDD Miss Jana 150B22. Vineyard owned one of DDD Miss Jana 150B22’s predecessors, and he knows the genetics of the 150-cow family back to the beginning of the Brangus breed.

From the beginning, the 150-cow family has offered genetic excellence. Vineyard says his cow, RSV-WSR Anna 650-101, was one of the first two donors in the Brangus breed in the 1970s. He also says the genetics from RSV-WSR Anna 650-101’s son, VCC Cracker Jack 101N2, still contribute generously to the performance of Brangus cattle today, especially in regard to weaning and yearling weights. RSV-WSR Anna 650-101 is the maternal great-great-grandmother of Miss VCC Shasta 150Z. Sired by BBI Exacto 55W3 Map 6, embryo-transfer calf Miss VCC Shasta 150Z was born in December 1990. She would be the great-great-grandmother of Camille’s heifer, Miss Jana 150B22, years later.

Back-to-back NJBS Champion Camille shares in show-ring success similar to her father, Taylor. In 1997, Taylor won Reserve Champion Heifer at the State Fair of Texas. In 1998, Taylor won the Fort Worth Stock Show, the Houston International Open Show, and the Houston Livestock Junior Show. In 1999, Taylor won Champion Cow-Calf Pair at Houston Livestock Show with Miss VCC Shasta 150Z and Ambrosia.

“What makes this story special is the fact that it was a father-daughter combination,” Doguet says about both Camille’s and Taylor’s individual successes.

“In January of 1997 Clay Meyer, the manager of Terra Verde Ranch in Boling, Texas, asked me to come with him to look at a set of calves on a satellite recip herd in Cedar Lane, Texas. At that time, I was hauling and showing the Terra Verde show cattle so I was eager to see what our fall [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][embryo transfer] calves looked like. Little did I know that I would find a heifer that day that would have such a big impact in my life,” Taylor recalls about the first time he saw TVR Miss Alpha 150F2, who they called “Ambrosia.” Taylor says Ambrosia immediately caught his eye the day he looked at the group of cows with Meyer.

Later in the spring of 1999, Terra Verde had its dispersal sale. Taylor says, “at that time Mike Doguet was in the beginning stages of building what would become an awesome set of cattle. Mike stepped up that day and purchased Ambrosia as the high selling female of that event. On her side was an MVP heifer calf, 150J. Mike would go on to exhibit 150J at the American Royal in Kansas City the following year and she was Reserve Champion Female in that National Open Show.”

Doguet says it’s extraordinary to have had the cow family for as long as they have, with continued success. “We’ve had a lot of success in the show ring with lots of different cow families,” he explained, “but the 150s have been a family that have done super well for us.”

The 150-cow family’s show ring success is not a new trend. Like Doguet, Tim Lucherk, of Rafter L Ranch in Poth, Texas, has seen Taylor show and now gets to watch Camille grow up and show cattle out of the same cow family. Lucherk showed RSV-WSR Anna 650-101 in the 1980s. RSV-WSR Anna 650-101 is the sixth-great-grandmother of DDD Miss Jana 150B22, the heifer Camille shows. In 1980, Lucherk won Champion Heifer at the Houston Livestock Show with RSV-WSR Anna 650-101.

“It’s really neat how champions go back to champions,” Lucherk says about the success of the cow family.

Years later, after Doguet, Lucherk and Taylor all experienced show ring success with the 150-cow family, it was Camille’s turn. Taylor knew just who he would call when it came time to find a female for Camille.

Doguet says he asked Lucherk, several years back, to be looking for a female to name Ambrosia again. “I wanted another one to name Ambrosia to continue on the legacy,” he says, “but it had to be one good enough to give that name.” DDD Ambrosia 150Y10 is the female Lucherk picked, and continue the legacy she did. She produced DDD Miss Jana 150B22 and full sibling, DDD Wall Street 150C, which was the Grand Champion Bull after being named Champion of the Junior Yearling Bull division at the 2016 Brangus Futurity.

Taylor and Lucherk both remember the day they set out to choose Camille’s calf. “In May of 2015, as we rode through a set of weaned heifer calves, it was pretty special when one heifer stepped out from the bunch and hit me hard at first glance,” Taylor says, “I had no idea what she was at first, but I immediately asked.”

Lucherk recalls a similar story. He said Taylor was riding with him in the pasture and spotted a heifer. Lucherk said Taylor didn’t know anything about the calf. “I said ‘you would like that one; she’s a 150,’” Lucherk recounts.

“DDD Miss Jana 150B22’s grand-dam was the calf on the side of my show heifer that Mike purchased 15 years earlier and was exactly what I look for in a Brangus female. I knew this was the one I wanted to try and purchase for my daughter Camille to show,” Taylor says. “She was huge-boned, showed a lot of breed character, and was really neat through her front one-third while being an incredible brood cow prospect.”

“I was so excited to be able to add that female and cow family back to our herd after all this time,” Taylor says with pride. “Little did I know that heifer would go on to do something that has never been done before in the Brangus Breed.”

Of course when Taylor says “something that never been done before in the Brangus breed,” he is referring to Camille’s back-to-back championship.

“In her first show 150B22 was selected as the Champion Female at the National Junior Brangus Show in Duncan, Oklahoma as a calf under Judge Ryan Cummins, which was in itself a dream come true for our family,” Taylor says. “We would then return to the National Junior Brangus Show in 2016 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi under Judge Tyler Norvell, and she was selected champion once again.”

Taylor is excited about Camille’s success, and to have DDD Miss Jana 150B22 as a part of the family. He says: “[DDD Miss Jana 150B22] has been incredibly special to our family, and we can’t wait to get her into production and see what impact her offspring will have on our herd and our great breed.”[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]