December 13 The Thorbardin Ranch 4th Annual Bull Test officially started on December 13, 2003 with the initial weighing of all the bulls entered into the test. The majority of the bulls went through the warm-up period with no problems, a few bulls were doctored and are now doing fine. The weather during the warm-up period has been mostly dry, cold and very windy.

During the course of the test, the bulls will be weighed every 28-days from now until April 3, 2004 when the test is finished. It is important to realize during these periods that bulls typically do not grow in a consistent fashion. A bull doing good or poor for a given period is not indicative of the overall quality of the animal. It is also very important to realize that these animals will drink between 4-8 gallons per day of water and that each gallon of water weighs 8.3 lbs. Some bulls are more fortunate than others in their timing when they drink and eat. But during the course of the test, these items tend to balance out and where an animal may be a high gainer for one time frame, it may come back down quite a bit for the next.

The Highland breed is starting to produce some outstanding bulls that are slowly competing with the non-highland breeds and with the composites. Composite bulls have the natural advantage of hybrid vigor by combining two different breeds. There are a number of high quality bulls based on conformation and disposition in this test. It will be a very good test this year.

January 10, 2004 The Thorbardin Ranch 4th Annual Bull Test completed its first weigh period with the weighing of all the bulls. This was a tough gain period as strong winds and low wind chills (0°F to -40°F) for much of the time kept the bulls from gaining significantly across the board. A number of bulls experienced snotty noses, which required them to be doctored. All the bulls are healthy at this point and one can see which bulls were sick during the period based on their poor performance.

Thorbardin moved the bulls from the pens at this weighing to another more sheltered location to improve the gains. This is the first time in 4-years of conducting the test, that the ranch has moved the bulls for weather related reasons.

Top gaining bull was a Highland bull named HHR Bravo with a 2.9 lb/day gain owned by Husker Highlands from York, Nebraska. This was closely followed by another Highland bull named Misty Morn Brutus owned by Misty Morn Farms from Ohio and a registered Hereford named Brae Arden 3267 owned by Talbott Club Calves from Laramie, Wyoming both at 2.7 lbs/day gain.

February 7 weigh. Thorbardin weighed the bulls on February 7th. The bulls are all healthy for this latest weigh period and are looking great. Unfortunately, the bulls did not perform as well as we hoped. The ration of brewers pellets and ground alfalfa is identical to previous years.

Top gaining Highland bulls were TCL Big Sky Wendell owned by Big Sky Highlands and FI Bob owned by Fran and Ira Feltz with a 2.3 lb/day gain. Both bulls were sired by Hannay Chestnut. The top gaining commercial bull was UPT 3146 owned by Talbott Club Calves.

One note of importance was that bull number 29 or UPT 3161 was removed from the test as a result of developing pulmonary edema. Pulmonary edema is a high altitude genetic disease where the heart and lungs lack sufficient capacity to move fluid around at high elevations. Fluid builds up in the brisket area of the animal giving it the common name of brisket disease. The only cure is to remove the animal from the current elevation to a lower elevation. Unfortunately, in many cases by the time it is identified significant damage to the internal organs has already occurred and the animal will die. This has been an on-going problem for many years to many cattle ranchers who operate in the western mountains.

The weight gains for the last period reflected the record warm and dry March that most of the West experienced. The vast majority of the bulls took a large pop in gains as a result of the great weather that they experienced.

The top gaining Highland bull for the period was HHR Chase owned by Husker Highlands from York, NE with a 3.8 lbs/day gain rate. This was followed by a couple of bulls at the 3.5 lbs/day gain rate including TBR Nate owned by Thorbardin Ranch, Napoleon of Tanner Ranch owned by Tanner Ranch, and TCL Big Sky Finley owned by Big Sky Ranch.

The top gaining non-highland bull for the period was a Hereford bull named Brae Arden 3267 with a gain of 3.4 lbs/day.

For the entire test period, TBR Nate was the top gaining Highland bull with an average gain of 2.5 lbs/day sired by Thorbardin’s Gandolf and owned by Thorbardin Ranch. He was closely followed by FI Bob owned by Fran and the late Ira Felz, who passed away recently. Fran and Ira are very long time highland breeders. Misty Morn Butus owned by Suzanne and Jim Pugh from Cambridge, Ohio finished out the top three Highland bulls on test.

The top gaining non-highland bull for the entire test was UPT 3146 sired by UPT Kophdrop and owned by Talbott Club Calves. The Talbotts did have one of their Hereford bulls as the top overall gainer; however, this bull failed his breeding soundness exam and cannot be quite called a bull at this point.

There were a number of bulls in the test with outstanding breeding soundness exams such as Flatheads Cutty Sark with a scrotum size of 35.5 cms. A couple of other Highland bulls also did quite well such as HA Sir Nigel owned by Gary Hart of Hart Acres and Prairie Thunder owned by Fountain Prairie Farm in Fall River, Wisconsin.

There were also a number of standout bulls with regard to ultrasound data especially in the ribeye measurements including Newton of Tanner Ranch and Owl Rock Atlas with both very large ribeyes for the size of the animal.

The Auction will take place on April 17, starting at approximately 1:00 p.m. There are a good number of outstanding bulls that will be sold along with 13 very fancy registered Highland heifers.