Two of All West’s highly respected SMS Evaluators, Lisa Barkley and Randy VanWieringen, travel the roads of western Oregon and parts of Washington, evaluating herds for All West. Last year alone, these two evaluators looked at over 98,000 cows! They’ve seen what works and what doesn’t, so we thought it would be a great time to get their opinions on what they like the best right now!
Lisa Barkley, SMS Evaluator for 6.5 years
2017 evaluations = 27,000
Seattle, WA
7HO12344 RAGER-Red – They are balanced cows with great udders. Teats on the shorter side for sure. Usually, they are above average for stature with good open rib and nice strength.
7HO12212 HONEYBEE – Nice, smaller to medium-sized cows with a good shallow udder to them. Some do have a little set to the leg once in a while. But overall, a nice commercial cow.
7HO12157 GREGARIOUS – Relatively new to my list of just-fresh daughters, I have evaluated two so far, and there will definitely be more coming as we used quite a bit in my areas. Compared to another relatively newer bull to the table, Butler, I like the Gregarious daughters a touch more, as they have more strength and substance, and also have a more consistent, very nice udder structure to them. I would protect them both for straightness of leg.
7HO12095 MALLINGER – They are really good open-ribbed, short cows with decent depth. They can be a little higher in the pins, but not at a strong fault. They do have really good udders and milk really well from the start.
7HO12014 DAVINCI – A very consistent bull that I have been seeing daughters on is Davinci. They resemble the Moguls a lot, and are like cookie cutters of each other. They stand on a straighter leg with great heel depth, and a very nice frame. Of course, they have fabulous udders also.
7HO12353 BEEMER – I’ve evaluated a few Beemer daughters recently, and they are, of course, just what you expect them to be. Beautifully-framed, tall, slammed-on-chrome udders with short teats. Also, they possess length from hooks to pins.
7HO12165 MONTROSS – I’m seeing more and more Montross daughter calving, and they possess much strength and smoothness to withstand the +3000 pounds of milk that they are expected to give. The daughters I’ve seen definitely trend on the straight-leg side, but have a desirable heel. They look like they will stick around in the commercial herds and make our customers happy.
7HO12139 PETY – Pety daughters look a lot like the Moguls. They possess very good udders and stand on a medium-sized, compact body.
Randy VanWieringen, SMS Evaluator for 3 years
2017 evaluations = 71,000
Sunnyside, WA
7HO13094 TRENTON – I really like the Trenton daughters I’ve been seeing! This bull has it all – he’s a Sterling son from a Robust dam, he’s A2A2 and he’s extremely high on fat at +0.22%. They’re really nice, medium-sized cows with good high, wide rear udders. He’s also plus for SCR and DPR both.
7HO12236 BAYONET – Bayonet daughters have a nice balance of dairyness and strength, with well-attached udders and great feet & legs. He’s coded over +2.00 for fore attachment, rear udder height and width, and he’s also over 1000 pounds of milk. Plus on SCR and DPR, this bull, to me, spells balance.
7HO11314 MOGUL – He may be considered “old news” but I’m really excited about the 2nd and 3rd lactation Mogul daughters that I’m seeing. They are tremendous! They milk like crazy from beautifully-attached udders. In fact, he’s over +4.00 for rear udder width and height. They’re aging well, and that makes my customers happy!
7HO12165 MONTROSS – Like Lisa, I’m seeing more and more Montross daughters, and they have a pattern of being a little shorter, but have tremendous width and depth of rib and they’re milking really well! For 2-year-olds, some will definitely have enough udder, but they are so well attached, that won’t be an issue. They stand on a great set of feet and legs too. He’s a bull that does it all.
7HO12266 YODER – The Yoder daughters are really good cattle, with nice udders and feet & legs. If you’re comparing them to the Montross daughters, they don’t have the depth and width, but they definitely exhibit more dairyness. I think the Yoders can have some slope to their rump, and you’ll also want to protect them on width of pins. But they’ll definitely age well, getting better with each lactation
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