920/M1: The Most Influential Cow in Australian Brangus

The legacy of a cow resides with the success of her progeny.   With over 81 registered calves, 116 grandcalves, 137 great-grandcalves in 25+ stud herds, and numerous record holders, Ms Center Ranch 920/M1 could claim to be the most influential cow in modern Australian Brangus.

A few of her achievements:

• 10 of the top 15 highest ranked animals in Australia for 200 Day Weight are her calves.
• Daughter set new record price for highest selling female in 2009 for a 7 mth old calf for $16,000.
• Two pregnant recipients sold carrying her embryos in 2009 that resulted in bulls with 122 registered calves.
• Daughter set new record price for highest selling female in 2010 for $20,000.
• Son topped Telpara’s Beef 2012 sale at $26,000.  Has 42 registered progeny.
• Daughter was the first Brangus in Australia to be cloned in 2013.
• Granddaughter sold for $22,000 at ACBA sale in 2013.
• Son sold for $50,000 ½ share privately in 2014.
• Daughter sold for $20,000 ½ share at Beef 2015.
• Daughter topped ACBA Rockhampton sale at Beef 2015, setting the sale record at $28,000.
• Granddaughter is one of the handful of AU donors purchased by an American ranch.
• Son, TH Real McCoy was the first black AU Brangus to sell semen to the USA in 2015.
• Son, TH Real McCoy is the current #1 Australian Brangus animal for growth EBVs

 

Still in production for Telpara Hills, this 920 cow family matron was calved at Center Ranch, Centerville, Texas on 28/2/2002.  Center Ranch dispersed and 920/M1 was purchased as a heifer by well-known USA ET technician Trent Wilson of Normangee, Texas as a show heifer for this daughters.

After winning her class at Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, 920/M1 was offered for sale to Stephen & Brittany during a trip to Texas.  “When we arrived at Trent’s ET facility a group of 920 ET heifers caught our eye,” Brittany explains.  “We then saw 920/M1 and were really impressed with her natural calf. We knew this cow could outbreed herself and we were right.”

Purchased with a classy Tracker of Brinks heifer, 920S5 on foot, this cow went into Telpara Hills’ USA donor programme in 2006.  She has been an extremely fertile producer of embryos which then achieved high pregnancy rates. To date, Telpara Hills has imported 147 ‘A Grade’ embryos from this female alone.

 

920/M1 stamps phenotype, performance, carcass, and udder quality onto all of her calves, even when paired with over 14 different sires.  They are standouts from birth and continue to mature into phenomenal animals that continue to capture the attention of cattlemen around the world.

Her breeding value can also be seen in the data.  920/M1’s progeny have been at the top of Telpara Hills’ and Australia performance recording EBVs year after year.  Ten of the top 15 Brangus animals for 200 Day weight are her calves, showing her dominance of the breed.

920/M1’s calves have raised the bar from the beginning.  In Telpara’s Beef 2009 sale, her 7 month old Csonka daughter caught the eye of many and set a new Australian breed record at $16,000, going to Boombah Brangus, Dingo.

Immediately following this, another top Csonka-sired heifer 920D2 set an Australian private sale record when purchased by Oaklands stud for $20,000. Developing into a super donor, this cow became famous as the first Brangus cow ever in Australia to be cloned.

Sons of 920/M1 have been in huge demand with 9 sons sold averaging an amazing $23,388 including the highly acclaimed $50,000 ½ share Telpara Hills Real McCoy 920J19.  He is now the first black AU bull to sell semen into the American marketplace.

It is possibly the females released by Telpara Hills that have had an even greater impact on the breed in Australia with record-breaking sales in 2015 including the $28,000 TH Miss Final Cut 920J22 sold to Lachlan Brown, Gracemere and the $20,000 ½ share 920J26 sold to CPR Brangus, Bogie. Overall daughters and granddaughters have averaged $20,214 for 7 head.

This cow has now returned over $300,000 to Telpara Hills in progeny sales alone, not including pregnancies and embryos or placing any value on 22 retained daughters in the elite stud herd. These figures have never been seen before in Australian Brangus and reflect the huge influence this matriarch has had on the breed.

The Pearce family were so impressed with 920/M1 that they found her maternal sister, 920N.  Telpara Hills purchased a flush that yielded 12 progeny including $32,000 Ali, $30,000 Liston and the record holding $32,000 female, 920J10.

Despite her importance, 920/M1 has never been pampered; she runs the same routine as the other USA Telpara Hills donors. Annually she enters the donor programme at Normangee ET centre, is flushed, and then sent out to spell in arid West Texas, where the resting donors are mated naturally to a bull in on the boundary of the Chihuahuan desert with limestone rock, cactus, and mesquite bush akin to outback western Queensland.

“Telpara Hills has introduced to Australia many outstanding donor females that include 468P6, 468D2U, 541L41, 392L, 11R5 to name a few but there is no doubt to us at Telpara Hills that Ms Center Ranch 920/M1 holds the mantle as the most influential female ever in the Brangus breed in Australia to date,” claims veteran stud breeder Trevor Pearce.

“This 920/M1 fairy-tale story of influence would never have happened if we had not recognised her potential on our USA tour about a decade ago and had such great success with her in embryo transfer,” explains Stephen Pearce. “It has allowed us to release her elite genetics and has greatly benefited the Brangus breed as a whole.”

Just a few of the herds with 920/M1 influence:

• Alkoomie, South Yaamba QLD
• Belview, Delungra NSW
• Broadlea Station, Nebo QLD
• Bullzye, Clifton QLD
• Boombah, Dingo QLD
• Cainable, Beaudesert QLD
• CPR Brangus, Bogie QLD
• Dalkeith Downs, Gracemere QLD
• Diamond Valley, Gatton QLD
• Double Creek, Wooderson QLD
• Jett, Emerald QLD
• Lake Majestik, Alabama USA
• MK Brangus, Tolga QLD
• Nindooinbah, Beaudesert QLD
• Oakdale, Blue Mountain QLD
• Oaklands, Kalapa QLD
• Palgrove, Dalveen QLD
• Rathlyn, Emerald QLD
• Russells, Tarzali QLD
• Telpara Hills (owners), Atherton QLD
• Thiaki Creek, Malanda QLD
• Triple B, Dingo QLD
• Tuan, East Palmerston QLD
• Shadow Valley, Gin Gin QLD
• Somerville, Gracemere QLD
• Swan Bay, East Coraki NSW
• Wetherby Station, Julatten QLD
• Wombinoo Station, Mt Garnet QLD
• Wonga Plains, Narrabri NSW

A Version of this story appeared in the Australian Brangus Magazine, Fall 2016

Written By Trevor Pearce, Telpara Hills Brangus, Assisted by Fiona & Brittany Pearce and Franki Richardson of ABRI