Tiger Ranch Holsteins - Now Dispersed
Tiger Ranch Holstein Stud was founded in 1977 by my parents Brian and Fay Colbeck two years after the family took over the property at Wilmot. For me it will be a sad day leaving the place which has been home for most of the last 25 years. In saying that it will be a pleasure to invite you to visit our new property at 116 Allisons Road, Lower Barrington to inspect the cows, or for a social visit from 1 June 2000 onwards. This has been a very difficult climatic season for all dairy farmers, couple that with the uncertainty of the market and of pending deregulation it has made for a stressful existence. At least for those who have stuck it out there is now confirmed compensation in place to soften a little the blow of deregulation, and down the track maybe a turn for the better for those who choose to remain. We can live in hope.
As prefaced in previous catalogues, the major influence within the Tiger Ranch Herd is without doubt the cow family we refer to as the “Royals” all stemming from Tiger Ranch Legato Queen 2SBC. In the year since our last sale Tiger Ranch and the Royals have continued accumulating milestones. Tiger Ranch Valid Royal herself achieved the classification of Excellent. Her Grand daughter Tiger Ranch Broker Vixen [ET] classified maximum VG88 fresh on her second lactation. Tiger Ranch Fox Vixen VG89 achieved Star Brood Cow status [dam of Broker Vixen ET VG88, Buck Vixen VG87 2 lactations, Raider Vixen GP83 1st lactation] as did several other Royal females. Tiger Ranch Buck Vixen VG87 sadly died within 12 hours of calving with a ruptured uterine artery while I was in hospital getting a new back. Two of her sons are featuring strongly in the catalogue and the herd, and will continue to impact in the future; both classified VG as 2 year olds Tiger Ranch Broker Fox [ET] VG and Tiger Ranch Lindy Fox VG87 [3yrs]. Several of Broker Fox’s daughters have already calved and demonstrate Buck Vixens outstanding traits of great frames, width of pins and outstanding udders. Lindy Fox will be offered in this years sale, but will have semen collected first. Several very promising looking juniors were born during last spring calving and he has been this years senior herd sire. Unfortunately Buck Vixen did not bless us with female progeny so her legacy will be through her sons and her sisters. We also took the step or risk of further quality assurance by testing for Bovine Johnes and are now MN1 johnes free status.
Our first ever maximum score VG86 two year old Tiger Ranch Mason Andros (Tiger Ranch Prelude Anna VG86 Imp. ET by Shoremar Mason) will also be offered in this years line up and will have semen collected prior to the sale. Andros is a truly impressive individual and was last springs junior herd sire. We also have several very smart daughters by his ET Juror brother purchased last year by Raebey Edwards. I would like to thank all the people who have supported our sales in the past and hopefully in the future and appreciate the positive feedback both direct and through other farmers to whom our animals have been praised. I apologise if I have not been able to fulfil my promise to visit and see the progress of your purchases, but full time work teaching during the week means that most weekends are playing catch up with the farm labouring.
This years catalogue has been harder than ever to compile as we are having to sell many animals that were intended to contribute to our breeding nucleus and direction. Some people love to have a herd of outstanding cows both bred and selected [who wouldn’t]. It is my goal however to be able to showcase a herd bred, developed and recognisable as Tiger Ranch. With the number of animals that we are able to take and develop on the new property it came down to which animals do we want to be known for in ten years, and it has to be animals that are associated historically with our Stud name. In terms of depth of pedigree that may mean that arguably superior genetically backed animals will be sold; so be it. It is our intention to sell animals of this quality and hopefully better if possible each annual sale so you can utilise the best of our genetics in your herd.
Current Herd Classification 2 – Excellent, 41 Very Good, 23 Good Plus, 10 fresh awaiting classification.
7 Star Brood Cows, 3 Superior Total Performance [STP]
Last Years Herd Average – 7360 ltr 294kg/f 4.0 236kg/p 3.21% 300 days
HERD CLASSIFICATION PRIOR TO OUT FINAL ANNUAL SALE OF 2004
Current Herd Classification 3 – Excellent, 39 Very Good, 11 Good Plus all 1st classification
ALL ANIMALS 2nd LACTATION OR MORE ARE CLASSIFIED VG85 OR BETTER!!!
9 Star Brood Cows, 3 Superior Total Performance [STP] herd average age – 4.6 years
This Years Rolling herd average 7807litres 245kg protein 316kg fat.
Three consecutive years 2001 – 2003/04 recipient Weekly Times Award in National top 5% Dairy Farms
For minimum Somatic Cell Count Average Scores.
Cow Families represented
The Royal’s of Tiger Ranch
Current "Royal" family classification history - 4EX, 53VG (10 Max score) and 14 GP on 1st lactations to date.
The Penny’s of Donnanview (Imp. Canada)
The Anna’s of Hanoverhill (Imp. Canada – Starbucks maternal family line)
The Belle’s of RAB’s Elite Program (Imp. U.S.A.)
The Ladylike’s of Donnanview
The Beets of Calthorpe
More Royal’s of Tiger Ranch
(including Royals, Duchess, Wellingtons, Princesses and Queens)
[not to mention a few Royalty’s, Dukes, Princes or Kings]
For those who follow the Holstein Black and Whites and our valued clients - Thank you for you patronage.
Neil Colbeck