Welcome to Blackstone Cattle...

It is with great honor we invite you and your families to our Annual Fall Female Production Sale  at Blackstone Cattle Company in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

While still relatively new to hosting our own Angus sales, we feel like battle-tested veterans after holding our first sale a few weeks following the official discovery of the AM genetic defect. But like the Gardiner and Wehrmann programs where some of our greatest foundation female originated, we have weathered the storm of the three major defects, stood behind our product, and continue to work daily to satisfy the needs of our customers. Unlike some other breeders, we have chosen not to abandon the many great genetic attributes of foundation females like 2413 and 2V9. We have used DNA technology to identify daughters of them that are free of the known problems for us and our customers to use in continuing the advance of beef production. When you see the tested-free daughters of those great cows in this sale offering, I think you will agree with the course we have chosen.

Growing up farming and trucking, we have found that the ingredients of success are the same in all important endeavors – good equipment, good people, and good raw materials. Whether we buy seed corn or Angus seedstock, we have found that acquiring and using the most current and cutting-edge genetics is the path to success. That is why you will find our Angus foundation herd rich in the genetics developed by many generations of breed-leading females. And that is why you see references to previous sales records of the ancestors of many of the females that sell in this offering, so that we can all appreciate and remember the fact that these sale cattle descend from some of the greatest Angus females ever created and identified in the Angus breed and now you can buy their descendants at very reasonable prices.

While some seedstock producers we talk to are frightened by the changing times in agriculture and the breeding of Angus cattle, we could not be more excited. When we talk to commercial cattlemen with attainable visions of seeing weaned commercial calves for $2 per pound and harvesting cattle for $1.25 per pound, we see and feel opportunity knocking for the seedstock industry. With record prices comes even greater responsibility to be sure that we help our customers achieve all they possibly can with genetics that we provide them.

The arrival of DNA technology now allows us to know as much about the individual genetics of a baby calf as we have known in the past about a cow that has raised ten calves or a bull that has sired 20 to 30 calves with traditional performance gathering. Producers of all sizes can now evaluate the genome of individuals without the need for a “one size fits all” system that depends on large numbers to create and find the next generation of greatness. Genomic Enhanced EPD values will allow all of us to make more accurate selection and mating decisions at a much younger point in life of a seedstock animal. We encourage you to join us in embracing the future.

We would also like to thank our crew –Kenny, Tim, Blaine, and Dave for all they do.

Sincerely, 

Nick Hull