Welcome to the one of the first performance selected herds in the nation

"Would you like to look cattle?" One wonders how often that question has echoed through time. In the 1800s, it could have been an invitation to look at those newfangled Durham bulls being turned out, or in 1894, it might have been an invitation to view a new breed called Herefords just purchased from the JA ranch. Perhaps it's the turn of the century and Charles M. O'Donnell is going to try to sell you on the crazy new idea of buying yearling steers instead of four to five year old bulls. Maybe, it is 1933 and Albert K. Mitchell is taking O'Donnell's innovation one step further back and selling you weaner calves instead of the industry standard yearling steers. Or maybe, it is 1948 and George Ellis is showing you some of the first cattle selected from performance testing and not just visual appraisal. He may hand you a piece of paper with an unheard of "205 day adjusted weight" title at the top instead of just a pedigree.

Or maybe it's today and you can look at RedBell composites and genotyped cattle on the pilot project of progeny testing. Or did you know that one of the Mule Camp seedstock herd sires, Double Tender, has tested homozygous for the MuCalpain (TenderGene) tenderness marker. For 2004 Double Tender and his sons were turned out at the begining of the breeding season alone to increase the frequency of these genes in the herd. Also in 2004 the genotyped commercial replacement heifers were AI'd to black Angus bulls with favorable alleles for tenderness for marketing purposes. For more information check out:Bell Ranch RedBell breeding systems

More cattle information can be found at: Research

Heifers and cows calve unassisted on open range	The spring branding is done from "the wagon"	On the wagon commercial calves are identified and DNA samples are collected	In the seedstock division calf, dam and birthdate are recorded.
The seedstock division also records birthweights and the dam's body condition, udder and disposition.	The commercial division runs spring and fall herds	Commercial calves can be sold at weaning or ownership retained	Weaning weights are collected on the genotyped calves, and the seedstock division measures yearling weights as well.
Feedlot and carcass data has been provided on the project calves.	By 2008, this system will produce an all genotyped progeny tested herd bull battery