The present Caldwell cowherd has been under continuous development here since 1974, although several animals representing pre-1970 breeding were included. In October, 1974 seven cows and three heifer calves were purchased from Hayes Hereford Ranch in Alvin, Tx. Most of these cows were bred to Winrock D4. One of these cows was HH Miss Mischief H155, purchased in dam by Hayes in the 1970 CHR dispersal. This allows at least some claim to a continuity of this herd going back over 40 years and, as fate would have it, this cow was a grand daughter of Mischief 678 and out of a grand daughter of CK Colorado D34 (see part 1 of this history).
In the summer of 1975 we enrolled the new herd in the AHA's TPR program. In September, 1975 Sammy Caldwell died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident which occurred on Hwy 28, directly in front of the ranch. The herd then passed to his daughter and only child, Ann Caldwell Zimmerman.
Other incidental purchases were made from breeders in the region over the next several years. In 1977 several females were purchased in the Enshallah Ranch dispersion in Carriere, Ms. In 1980 three pairs were purchased from the Healey Bros. in Davis, Ok. Today, two of the original Hayes purchases can be found in pedigrees of our cattle, Miss Colorado 429 and KR Lady Onward 58; one of the Enshallah Ranch cows is present, JD Markette 1026; two of the 1980 purchases from Healey Bros, FL Wetmore Lass 626 and FL Lady Wetmore A016.
Over the period from 1974 until 1981, herd sires came and went in the herd with little impact, with the exception of CHR Mischief D4 16766018, the Winrock D4 son of Miss Colorado 429. This bull was calved enroute from Ft. Worth, Tx to Hazlehurst, Ms. He is represented today through a single daughter of KR Lady Onward 58. This cow line has produced generation after generation of our finest cows as well as an outstanding herd sire.
In 1981, after being suitably impressed with the performance of the Healey Bros. cattle, we returned and purchased Flying L Latigo 14 17922263. This bull had a profound affect on our program through his daughters. Latigo 14's current (Spring 1998) milk EPD is +31.
During this period we also acquired some females from the Percys in Alexandria, La. The Percys purchased the outstanding son of CK Colorado D34 in the CHR dispersion and some of the cattle purchased from them were descended from that bull, MHF Colo Nugget 515.
In December, 1984 we purchased 3/4 interest in GK Big Bang 835S 18627498 from Glenkirk Farms. This bull was intended to be used on Latigo 14 daughters. The resulting cross was exceptional. While frame was the rage at that time, our herd truly was in need of more size and 835S' first calf crop averaged a full frame score higher than any previously measured at CHR. His daughters were the most uniform set of females we had ever seen, and in addition to the frame every 835S daughter had an outstanding udder. Finally, Latigo 14's birth EPD was +1.4 while 835S' was +0.5 which left us at this point with a very low birth weight cowherd.
The 835S cows were excellent mothers, had the frame we were looking for, were well pigmented, and had wonderful udders. They definitely lacked thickness, however. This was in stark contrast to the thickness we had become used to in our cattle, despite their other shortcomings. While most of the breed was embracing the long, tall, and narrow we never really felt comfortable with it. In 1988, the search for a new sire to use on these 835S cattle led us back to Healey Bros. that March. Again, the top selling bull was bound for Hazlehurst. This time it was a son of FL Robin Hood, FL Yeoman 2 18841460 (renamed CHR Bedevere). Bedevere traced back to FL Bold Lad twice and to B Stanway DP Lad 9C 4 times. He was the heaviest quartered, thickest Hereford bull we had seen in years. Bedevere was possibly the best performance bull we ever owned. His greatest contribution was not through the 835S daughters as we expected, but through the few remaining Latigo 14 daughters. This produced another herd sire, CHR Percival 19327998 who has several daughters in the herd. Percival's dam was a Latigo 14 daughter and a grand daughter of our foundation cow, KR Lady Onward 58. Percival produced more calves with weaning weights in excess of 600 lbs. than any other bull ever used here. Bedevere left a generous supply of semen and is still in use today.
Later, in the summer of 1988 3 cows were purchased in the Healey Bros dispersal. One of these cows was FL Daring Lady 528, represented today through a son. Another was FL Annie Oakley 370, the dam of our donor cow, CHR Ygerna 128.
In 1989 we purchased the Plantation House herd in Brookhaven, Ms from Peter Swalm. This included two herd bulls, Lift-Off ET 18485689 and GK Applause 439T 18702685. 439T is the heaviest used sire at CHR in the last 25 years. His EPDs surpass those of his sire, GK Encore 609R, in nearly every trait. The average weaning weight ratios of all calves out of his daughters is 105. 439T stood 63 inches tall and weighed 2650 in late summer after 3 months of pasture duty.
The herd remained closed from 1989 until 1995. During that time we used 439T, CHR Percival, and a 439T son out of FL Daring Lady 528, CHR Uther 207. The cowherd was 85% bred and owned by CHR. This is still our desired mix, but in 1995 we doubled the size of the herd through two purchases of two-year-olds from Hawk Volunteer Herefords in Blountville, Tn and Thompson Herefords in Sylvania, Ga. All these females were Line 1 breeding, something that CHR cattle had never had in any significant amount.
In 1995 we also purchased two bulls. The first was EE 9012 L1 3203 19394680 from EE Ranches in Winona, MS. The other was S+ Alpha 8 19438067 from Southern Cross Ranch in Davis, OK, the successor to the Healey Bros. Flying L Ranch. Both of these bulls sired the thick, growthy kind of calves we were looking for. EE 9012 L1 3203 is a particularly thick, heavily muscled bull and most of our 1998 Farm to Feedlot group was sired by him.
The biggest changes in the breeding program occurred in 1997. It started simply enough. For several years introducing a polled Hereford bull had been discussed, and after the AHA merger the search was stepped up. The herd chosen in this search was Witherspoons'. In the fall of 1996 there was a particularly oustanding bull calf there and in December we purchased an interest in WNH CHR MCA Decathlete 23900838. Decathlete is a son of Feltons 517 out of a daughter of MSU Optimum Z03. While he was selected as a compliment to our herd of large, high performance 439T daughters, the success that Witherspoon was having with all his Feltons/Optimum crosses did not go unnoticed. Harkening back to the earlier Mischief/Regulator blend that had been used so successfully here in the 60s, we set about acqiring two more bulls; Feltons Endurance 979 23933072 and WNH Optimum 264 9705 23948232. This set us up to not only linebreed using Decathlete, but also to perform the same outcross that produced him.
But the association with Gary Witherspoon had an even deeper affect on the CHR program and resulted in some fundamental changes in our approach to cattle breeding and also changes in our standards and goals. We no longer turn a blind eye to economically important traits that seem to be in the way at times, such as birth weight. At the same time, there is no substitute for performance. We do not breed cattle assuming some particular role in someone's crossbreeding scheme. We breed cattle under the assumption of a closed, sustainable beef production system. We demand that our cattle do it all; calve easily and regularly; milk, rebreed, and perform on grass; convert efficiently and gain rapidly on feed; return the greatest carcass value (whatever combination of quality and quantity that implies) net of inputs at slaughter. This is an approach that is so difficult that few breeders even attempt it, and many opt out by simply claiming that it cannot be done.
This performance philosophy also led to the addition of one of my favorite bulls. This would be JV General 603 19562897 from Venhuizen Herefords, Manhattan, Mt. At the same time we were in the process of following through on Feltons Endurance 979, we asked the AHA's research director, John Hough, to help us locate other young bulls with the similar blend of high growth, high maternal, and unusually low birth weight. This resulted in identifying 603. Within two weeks we had managed to get 603 added as an extra lot to the Venhuizens' sale and purchased our interest in this amazing young bull. He exemplifies the concepts expressed above. There is literally no cow on the ranch (or anybody's ranch) that this bull couldn't be used on effectively.
From 1988 until 1991 we participated in 4 bull tests conducted at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Ms. The 7 head we entered averaged 4.24 lbs. per day. Our contingent was the high gaining Hereford group in 3 of those 4 tests. In 1998 we participated in Mississippi's Farm to Feedlot Program. Our steers averaged low choice and 12.1 in2 ribeye area. Overall, 67% graded choice.