Spring 2012 / Leonard Limousin is 'Where the Bulls Are!'
Message from Mark
Mark Leonard
Bull sales and calving are upon us and it's an exciting time. Our spring "By the Numbers" Private Treaty Bull Sale is underway, with feed test data available on every bull. We are offering red and black, polled Limousin, Lim-Flex and Angus for sale. Give me a call at 712-368-2611 and we'll find a time that's convenient for you to come and make your selections.
As we've done the past several years, all the yearling bulls spent part of the winter at the Hays Beef Development Center on feed trials. We have full feed test data available with ADGs and feed efficiency numbers on the entire group. We have bulls with F/G as low as 3.3 and our average for all bulls for the past three years has been 4.9. We also have EPDs and pedigree data on everything and as always, every bull is sold guaranteed. Eighty percent of our bulls are sold to repeat customers and we've been in business over 40 years. We've gotten to know two generations within families in a lot of cases and it's been our pleasure to work with you.
In the years we have been testing bulls for feed efficiency, Leonard bulls have always topped the tests and none of our bulls have ever been below average for feed efficiency or cost of gain. Next to being alive, feed efficiency is the most important factor in beef cattle profitability. If you feed your own calves, you’ll reap huge dividends in cost of gain with Leonard bulls. This is a real issue with over $200 difference between animals in cost of gain during a normal feeding period.
I want to tell you about a 2-year-old Angus bull we are selling this year. He's a standout and we liked him so much we used him ourselves last season. He is LR 840, a Mainline son born in March 2010, with a birthweight EPD of 1.5; weaning weight EPD of 58; and yearling weight EPD of 101. If you're looking for a great performance Angus bull with the prospect for superb calving easy, who already has a breeding season under his belt, look no further.
Congratulations to all of our friends who have been showing and selling at winter events and holding their own sales. Limousin genetics are in great demand and sales we've seen so far this winter are bearing that out. It's great to see.
I wanted to visit with you about our private treaty bull sale philosophy. Many folks have asked why we don't have an annual bull auction and sell them all in one day. The answer is simple: With our private treaty sales program we can spend time with you, discover your needs and goals and help you find the bull that best fits your individual situation. We have one of the largest private treaty Limousin bull offerings in the nation and we've sold lots of bulls this way for four decades. We market our Angus bulls the same way. We prefer the opportunity to work with you one on one, go over the numbers and walk through the bulls. Our customers often bring their families and we really enjoy visiting with you in a relaxed, personal setting. Thanks for your trust and your friendship - it means a lot to us.
The Iowa Limousin Association celebrated 40 years in 2011 since its formation. Congratulations to our good friends Don and Dorothy Faidley, Leland Dudley and Dr. Fred Wood for being inducted into the inagural class of the Iowa Limousin Hall of Fame. We were there alongside those great breeders, promoters and friends when Limousin first gained a foothold in the U.S. Reminiscing with all of our fellow Iowa breeders sure brings back good memories.
Bill, Gloria, Lori, Billee, Mark, Ringo
It all started in the late 1960s when Limousin and other "new" breeds were the talk of the industry. I was a teenager when Dad and I started talking about how to improve the genetics of our stock cows and which of these breeds with the exotic-sounding names had the most promise. We researched them all over the years, and the more we learned, the more people we talked to, the more live cattle exhibits we saw, the more we were sold on Limousin.
Prince Pompadour was the first Limousin bull imported to the continent; landing at the Gross Isle quarantine station in Canada in 1968. Decor, Dandy, Diplomate, Prairie Danseur and Prarie Pride followed in 1969.
This photo of the family was taken the same year Dad bought our first ampules of Decor semen in 1969. In 1971, we included Dandy, Diplomat and Pompadour, and in 1972, we also used Edmond and Eros. We've all experienced a lot since then, but we intitially added Limousin to our genetic mix because of the carcass traits, performance and hardiness, and in all these years the cattle have never let us down.
We were looking to add muscle to our Angus and Hereford-based herd, improve feed conversion in the calves, raise cows that were good mamas and could handle the rugged Western Iowa winters and still get along fine in the summer when the heat and humidity soar. We found all that, and more, in Limousin.
Mr. Texas, our first fullblood herdside, with Mark and Bill
This was the late '70s and we all were involved with upgrading foundation herds to purebred status. It was also a time when the only color we could imagine being of value was red - my sister, Lori, a former National Limousin Queen, still feels that way in fact. Mr. Texas was one of those rare bulls who could pretty much eliminate the white face on Hereford cows and he saw some widespread use because of that.
Mr. Texas "Tex," our very first full-blood herd sire, had the highest yearling weight of any bull sold in a National Limousin sale up to that time with a 365-day weight of 1,283 lbs.
Those were some good ol' days, but we keep look forward, striving to improve our genetics with each passing year. With the herd practically growing by the hour this time of year, we have high hopes that while you're reading this, that's just what we're doing.
Come on out to the far and let us how you "Where the bulls are!"
All the best,
Mark Leonard
