[Catherine Neumayr] This is our sixth year to have a Bull of the Year at V8 Ranch, and I think what's
been most exciting about the program is that when I look back through the years at the
bulls that have held the title, I can see their impact in both the customers who have bought
at the stall party as well as the impact that they have had on the breed.
[Jim Williams] What we try to do on Bull of the Year is pick
these bulls we think are going to have an impact in the Brahman breed.
Mr. V8 322/8, of course he would be the logical choice because he's
been very successful in the show ring. He's a National Champion. And I'll tell you this: he's
going to breed good cattle because I already got good calves out of him. There's no doubt in my mind,
because the calves look really really good. 322 is a very outstanding bull. He has a lot of eye appeal.
He's got a very long straight top line on him. A very desirable long, level hip. Excellent
breed character which is very important here at V8 Ranch. Very correct on his feet and legs. Very
nice sheath underneath him with a very nice angle to his sheath. He has good thickness and muscle
and is very masculine. He looks like a Brahman bull. He's an easy boy to work with. He's also a very
good bull as far as collecting semen on him. We collected semen almost from the jump.
This bull goes back totally to what we consider important and that's good cow families.
His mother was a cow +Miss V8 33/8. She would be one of the top five cows on the ranch.
A real outstanding long-bodied cow that came from a long line of great cows.
She was sired by +Mr. V8 191/7 who was Reserve International Champion Bull
and on the bottom side the mother of 33, the dam is the cow +Miss V8 209/6. She was Reserve
International Champion cow. We also had the Champion Cow that day too. In fact that's one of
the best show days for V8 Ranch because we had all four champions.
And she went back to a cow called +Miss V8 495/5 who was a Register of Renown cow and the cow
that we started the Rose cow family with, so the cow family behind the bull is just outstanding.
But he's sired by 380/6 who was sired by JDH Karu Manso 800, a very famous bull raised by
our cousin Bubba Hudgins and his sons. He was a National and International Champion. 380's mother was
a daughter of Superstroke, Mr. V8 287/5. 380 for the maternal side is just unparalleled. 380
has sired a lot of good sires but he would be one of the top two or three sons of 380 that we've had.
We have real high expectations for the bull. The first calves out of him are outstanding. We bred a
lot of cows to that bull. Light birth weights on them. He's going to throw too about 65% dark pigment
and then about 35% or so are the white calves. I think on any of these bulls the key to having them
be good breeders is to try to mate them ideally with the cows. Of course, here at V8 Ranch we know
these cows like the back of our hands because we live and breathe these cow families. You aren't
going to have to worry about pigment because he's got plenty of pigment. You're not going to have to
worry about breed character. You won't have to worry about hump placement on that bull. He'll be a bull
that breeds tremendous length of body. He's one of the longer bulls we've ever raised and shown
and exhibited here at V8 Ranch. He's an above average framed bull, but he's not a real big bull.
You wouldn't say that he's an extremely large frame bull. You could breed him to a lot of cows.
I've bred him to lots of variation. That's what iI do a lot on these young bulls is breed them to
cows that are different types to see where he'll work the best. But I would say an ideal type cow to
him, just to cut to the chase, is a cow that's got a lot of depth of body to her, has good thickness to her,
More moderate frame cows that need more eye appeal, more breed character, need more length of body.
And I think he's going to complement those type cows with length of body and balance. As a calf,
he was the Calf Champion, then the next year when he went back to Houston in 2020, he was
the Junior Champion Bull, and then he'll show one more time this year at the International which is
going to be in Waco, Texas. We've campaigned that bull all this fall trying to get points for 380
and he's been champion everywhere we showed that bull, including the National Champion show.
I don't have any doubt. I think he'll continue in that tradition of being bulls that were offered
that were bulls that are really good producers. Come to the ranch and look at the calves. We probably
had about 30 January calves out of that bull, and out of different type cows that we flushed him to.
I just say, come to the ranch and look. I'll be glad to show you the cattle. We'll look until you get tired.