2010 Spring Update

As summer slowly begins to make an appearance we once again realize how blessed we truly are. With the arrival of spring we have had our share of moisture and are fortunate to have gotten caught up from the lack of snow last winter. Creeks, rivers, reservoirs and lakes are full and plentiful. The pastures are producing above expectation and it looks like we´ll have a pretty good hay crop.

The high light of this spring however has been the arrival of 2 brand new grand daughters. Josie Marie Wood was delivered to proud parents Dana and Ben and her big brother Levi on April 7th. She is a doll and getting more active every day always having a smile ready for Grama & Papa.

Then on May 17th Alena Faith Cates was born to her proud parents Angie and Jason and also her big brother Colter is pretty protective of his litter sister.

Breeding season began May 1st and the activity is tapering off now with only 3 weeks left. The new bulls are holding up very well and we look forward to seeing their offspring and evaluating their genetic contributions. We have made several improvements to the bull arsenal with this spring´s purchases. More rib and marbling rankings while maintaining our maternal, calving ease, and fleshing ability. Check out their stats in the sires tab.

We have 130 replacement heifers being exposed this spring and hope to market about half of them this fall. All together there are 60 registered heifers and 70 commercial heifers being bred in a 60 day window to start calving Feb 7, 2011. The registered heifers will have 6 sire groups initially and then pasture exposed in 2 groups to new bulls purchased this spring. The commercial heifers are in one contemporary group with 3 bulls. The dominant breeder is a 2 year old Mytty In Focus son, a black Red Angus used last year on heifers with excellent calving ease success with this year´s calves.

These heifers will be preg checked and guaranteed bred with approximate calving dates and will have had a full regiment of vaccinations and poured for parasite control. More information will be posted as it becomes available and we will begin distributing data and sale information by early Sept.

We would like to thank again all who participated in our Opening Day Bull Sale event. We were delighted with its acceptance and positive feed back on the bulls. We have increased interest in the herd sire Wood Optima 604 and Genex is also looking at him.

We want to congratulate Jesse Miller from Boise on her recent contribution to the Idaho Cattle Association publication, Line Rider. Jesse is the Idaho Cattle Women representative to the Board of Directors for ICA and was highlighted in a very nice article portraying Idaho Cattle Women. She has spent a lifetime in ranching and continues to give back to the industry she loves. Check it out at www.idahocattle.org. Jesse and her husband Paul are very knowledgeable cattle producers in the Boise area and we are proud to have them as our bull customers.

Hope spring is treating you well and you have a beautiful summer!!

The Wood´s Family