Josephson Angus – The Cow Herd
Through over 60 years of selection and improvement, the Josephson Angus cow herd has been the backbone of our quality seedstock operation. The first registered Angus bull was purchased in 1914 to use on my grandfather’s commercial herd. In 1949, the first registered Angus heifer was purchased to start my father Raymond Josephson’s registered herd. Since that time, the herd has undergone intense selection, resulting in the good, productive Angus females we have in our herd today. Starting with the first performance-tested Angus bull purchased from Dale Davis and the Rolling Rock Angus herd in Montana, followed by extensive early use of A.I. breeding, the quality and performance of the Josephson Angus cow herd has improved with time.
Quality Runs Deep
Quality runs deep in a number of established cow families in the Josephson herd. Cow families such as Josephson Primrose, Josephson Blackbird, Josephson Pride, Josephson Blackcap, Josephson Erica and Josephson Princess provide the factory to produce top quality bulls and females that are offered for sale each year.
Over the years, attention has been paid to structural soundness and correctness, femininity, sound udders, quiet dispositions, adequate muscling, milking ability, calving ease, carcass quality, growth and performance. Constant culling has resulted in the problem-free type of cattle that everyone likes to own.
Success In The Show Ring
Although our target customer for Josephson Angus is the commercial bull buyer, we have sold cattle that have been successful in the show ring as well. Josephson Primrose J801 was sold as a heifer calf in the North Dakota Select Sale to Mitch Becker and went on to become the “Winningest female in North Dakota” after compiling many grand champion and supreme champion honors. Show heifers have been sold into Iowa, Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.
Disposition Matters
I like to tell the story of a bred heifer I purchased from another Angus breeder. She was a little hard to handle in the chute, but she produced a heifer calf that I kept back for replacement. Her next calf was also a heifer and I noticed that all three of these animals were harder to handle and had poor dispositions compared to our cows. That fall I made the decisions to sell all three of them based on their disposition alone. I have found that life is much easier when you select for good disposition in your cow herd.
Raising Productive Cows
Our main emphasis, however, is to raise productive females through our program of estrus synchronization and A.I. breeding to some of the top A.I. sires available. EPD selection is for balanced traits including low to moderate birth weight EPD’s, solid growth and milk EPD’s and excellent carcass potential.
Learn More!
We invite you to give us a call and stop in to see our cattle. The coffee pot is always on and we would be happy to give you a tour.
-Kirby Josephson
