Independence Ranch

Thanks much Josh, and thanks also to you Nick.

I won't lie and say the postings weren't about marketing because of course it is. But it is also about looking at pedigrees. I just really enjoy the heck out of it. I wish others would post their pedigrees. I know some don't because they feel it is some "big secret" what they are breeding with until after the breeding season is over. But I don't look at things that way.

I say everyone should have their own thread that they post pics and pedigrees on for everyone to have fun looking at. I know Russell likes when we utilize the forum like that.

Nick said:

Roger, This might be a dumb question but I will ask anyway. Why did you decide to A.I. Winnie to Updraft then back her up to him? Couldn't you just live breed her to him and save the A.I. straw? I was just wondering. I enjoy looking at the pairings you made.

Click to expand...

No dumb questions Nick. In fact it is a very good question with multiple answers.



First off when you read over the pedigrees you were only looking at the pedigrees of my does that I own. So you weren't seeing the pedigrees of the other does owned by the folks who have does by our place to be bred to Updraft.



I won't say who all has deer here because it is the owners decision if they want to tell the world or not. But there are several does here this fall to be bred to Updraft. And when a live breeding is sold we sell it as a LIVE breeding and not an A/I backed up to the buck like some out there do. (Unless prearranged that way which none were this season)



Of course Will Ainsworth the partner in Updraft has does here as well as part of the contract on Updraft.



When you add up all the does total being bred (both live and A/I) it exceeds the number of does I feel is too many for a 3 year old buck to breed. (This was discussed in another thread topic somewhere else on the forums)

So all the sold breedings and a couple of mine and a couple of Will's are actual live breedings. The rest of Will's and mine are A/I'ed to and then backed up to Updraft.



I chose to LIVE breed Kelly to Updraft because she is being sold by me at the Top 30 sale as LIVE bred. Again to me LIVE bred is LIVE bred and not A/I'ed and backed up to the buck. I want the best for my investors.



Another reason I chose to A/I breed Winnie and then back her up to the buck is a "test" of sorts for her. This is her first year breeding and I want to see if she takes to A/I. There have been trends seen in some does around the country that some take and some that don't take each year to A/I and it can sometimes be repeated year after year. I want to see if she takes or not before dropping a big dollar straw of semen in her next fall.



The straws of Updraft is of course not costing me the same as someone who would buy them so I don't have an issue using some of them in our program here.



I could have done the same with Downdraft this year but chose not to since he doesn't have as many does with him and therefore doesn't exceed the number I feel is safe for him in one year.



I hope that clarifies things for you. Again a great question and thanks for asking

Hi Nick and Susan. Glad the explanation helped you guys.



Susan, studying pedigrees is a lot of fun. I know I enjoy it a lot.



I also want to thank a couple of folks for your really nice emails to me about my postings on here. It is nice to hear that others see the benefits of line breeding and that some take interest in viewing pedigrees.

Now that I am almost home I will get those pedigrees you requested out to you for you to use as you wish.

I just flew in from Germany today and will be home by mid morning tomorrow. Once I get back home from work and have a chance to catch my breath I will get those sent out. For now it is time for bed.

Night all!

This is our ad that will be running in the Chupps sale book.

Thanks much guys.

I have decided to try and put together an article on getting started in the deer business. I started a couple of weeks ago and this won't get done overnight. It will take some time because I want it to be more than the basic info really.

It seems every so often we have new folks wanting info and it would be nice if they could get the basics and then some in one easy to read booklet form. I of course have my experiences and my opinions and they will be included in the writing. But I want to be sure I try and cover as many angles and aspects as I can.

I would be glad to get input from others about key items and ideas they feel should be included and would be helpful to new folks getting started.

You can post them here or send emails directly to me at

[email protected]

I will then try and put together the most comprehensive booklet possible.

Laurie and I are proud to say Independence Ranch will again be in the Top 30 sale this season. Our 5 lots will be selling on Jan 13th and 14th 2011.

We dug into some of our very best animals and they will be offered up with great excitement. Below is a detailed posting of what is being offered and we will of course be glad to answer any questions anyone might have about any of the lots or options that could go with them. Just contact us by phone or email to get detailed information about the lot that you have interest in. As of the date of this posting we have not seen any activity with any of the A/I'ed does listed below.



The lot I expect is kicking off the start of our sale this season for Independence Ranch is Babydoll. I kid you not, Laurie put this doe fawn on the “don’t touch my baby list� about one week after she was born. But I told Laurie that we needed to offer our very best for the sale this year, so here she is.

Babydoll (DNAS#81305) is a 2010 bottle fed and tame Poncho daughter. Now you might see some Poncho daughters for sale on the rare occasion, but I don’t think you will see many of this caliber. Many folks have commented to me about how cool it would be to see the results of breeding a powerhouse legend like Poncho to one of today’s DEEPLY bred and PROVEN does. So we did just that. The dam side of Babydoll is our very best PROVEN producing doe named Dolly. Dolly is the mother to both Updraft and Downdraft. Updraft at age 2 scored 268 4/8� and this past summer at age 3 he scored 317 6/8�. Downdraft this past summer scored 225 7/8� with a 25� inside spread and a mostly clean typical rack. Both of these bucks are being used in our breeding program and in breeding programs around the country. The cool thing is that these 2 brothers are only the first of Dolly’s sons to be born. What an amazing start she has had.

Take a close look at the pedigree of this doe fawn. You will see line breeding at it’s VERY best here.

Babydoll is offered exposed to a Shadow son from a Maxbo doe going back to the same fantastic bottom side as Dolly herself. ONLY BECAUSE WE HAVE TRIPLET SISTERS IS THIS DOE EVEN BEING OFFERED FOR SALE.

Note: Dolly is now co-owned with Dream Ranch so this could very likely be the last fawn ever to be offered for sale from this truly PROVEN ****.



The next lot I would like to let everyone know about is Blossom. ( DNAS# 81301 ) Blossom is a 2009 bottle fed doe sired by Flees’ Big Guy who is now owned by Jarrod Washburn of Clam Lake Whitetails. Big Guy has produced several very good sons over the past few years. Of course there is our very own womb brothers Updraft and Downdraft, but there have been others as well. Big Guy provides an early maturing influence that is needed in today’s markets. Both the breeder market and the hunt market demands this.

Blossom’s dam side is Kelly who is the womb sister to Max Thrust 262� at age 3. Again early maturing. Just look at the increase in profit margins if all your bucks were reaching hunt size by age 2 or 3. Blossom is A/I bred to Cardiac Kid who is the HOTTEST buck on the Flees farm with an inside spread of 35� and a 7x7 frame. The 7x7 frame of Cardiac Kid added to the 6x6 frame built into Kelly makes this cross a sure bet for high scoring, early maturing monster frames.

Now take a look at the 2011 fawn pedigree. Kelly is pure Flees on the bottom side with Maxbo for the out cross. Are you aware of the power Maxbo crossed on Flees has had? Then right back in with Flees 2 more generations through Big Guy and Cardiac Kid. Now take a look at how Pebbles (4 times), Bucky (3 times), Pretty Boy (twice), are all placed together in the pedigree. The filler spots have Buster, BJ, and Louie as well. Predictability of passdown traits is the key to this breeding. Again I can only let this doe go because I kept her twin sister.

The backup buck is Updraft just in case the A/I didn’t take. Check out Updraft’s pedigree put on top of Blossom. You will soon see it is a WIN, WIN either way.



The next lot has been said by many to be their favorite lot we have in the sale. (DNAS# 52097) Grace is a HUGE bodied, 2006 bottle fed doe who is so tame Laurie likes to lay across her back and just pet her. She loves peanuts but likes to simply have her ears rubbed just as much. Grace had a twin sister who we sold off our farm as a fawn. That doe was later sold by that farmer for $31,000. However Grace is now being offered A/I bred to none other than Poncho. Again Poncho is offered in a DEEP pedigreed modern doe with a PROVEN background. A TRULY RARE OFFERING! Grace’s mother is the grandma to Updraft and Downdraft making Grace the half sister to Dolly. We already have a Grace daughter out of Shadow so I will reluctantly offer Grace for sale. Again we are offering some of our VERY best to the bidders.

The Poncho semen was checked by Dr Mike Bringans and said to be very good, and was split only once. It is from the same lot of straws we used last year. The straw we used last year took in both does it was used in. Grace also took the last 2 years to A/I. I see no reason why she wouldn’t take and give Poncho fawns in spring. If she didn’t take to the A/I the backup buck is Updraft. Look closely at that possible pedigree option and you may well even wish that the A/I doesn’t take



Another lot we are offering is Y-129 and Y-130 who are choice buck fawns. As some of you are aware our farm is small in numbers but we have been producing with great success. This year we entered the fall with a total of 2 buck fawns on our farm. We decided to offer a choice of these 2 buck fawns to the highest bidder. If you take a look at their pedigrees you will see we are talking about some outstanding choices not often seen for sale.

The highest bidder will not only have choice buck, but they will have the choice of being 100% owner or sharing ownership with us 50%-50%. Should the buyer choose to share ownership they will get the benefit of our marketing program for possible semen sales. We will also house the buck and share in the expenses with the buyer. Should the buyer choose to take 100% ownership all we ask for is 10 straws for our own use.

One choice is Y-129 (DNAS#81303) a Shadow son out of the doe named Grace mentioned in the lot above. So you have Shadow/Maxbo on the grandma of Updraft and Downdraft. This breeding gives you Maxbo twice, Pebbles twice, and O-105 the mother to the famous Blue 37. You all recall what Maxbo on the Pebbles line has done right? WOW!

The other choice is Y-130 (DNAS#81304) a Poncho son out of a doe we have called Bubbles. Bubbles is a direct Bucky daughter out of Little Pebbles. Triple Pebbles, double Poncho! What more is there left to say? Haven’t you always wished you owned a pure Flees buck of this caliber?



Our final lot is 6 straws of Updraft semen. (DNAS#56502) I think by now you are aware of who Updraft is. A Big Guy son from a Bucky Jr doe going back into one of the deepest and most proven pedigrees in the country.

What many are not aware of is his stats. In 2010 Updraft had brows over 13â€�, G2’s 16â€� G3’s over 14â€�, G4’s over 10â€� and a G5 of 10â€� with beams of over 29â€� He had flyers that gave him an outside spread of 44 ½â€�. He had so much mass that the measurer felt he couldn’t use all 4 circumference measurements so he only took the 2 smaller ones on each side to use. The well known antler replicator doing the replica work said it is one of the most amazing racks he has ever worked on.

Updraft was used as a backup buck at age one and because of our A/I success that year he was used very little. However he did breed 2 doe fawns. They each gave a buck fawn who in 2010 as yearlings showed that Updraft is passing down his amazing tine length, and massive, long beams. They each had G2’s over 11� G3’s over 10� with very long beams and great mass, and are displaying the same characteristics for well placed extras for good looking uniqueness and score.

The semen was collected by Dr Mike Bringans and was packed to provide the ability to spilt each straw into 2 does. The straws were also tested at an independent lab and the results were outstanding. A post thaw of 75% and a stress test on the heads of the sperm of 73%. This semen is considered very good and is easily split between 2 does.

All our semen sales are limited and under contract. No straw can be resold, traded, or bartered. Also no more than 2 does per straw, but keep in mind it is very good for use in 2 does and we highly recommend doing so. This is all to protect the value of the offspring from Updraft which will in turn provide Updraft investors with a more stable market.



Laurie and I would like to thank you all for looking and we invite you all to stop by our booth. Details of a special appreciation giveaway will be coming soon. It always has been and will continue to be our goal to provide the very best in quality service to all our investors.

Hope to see all of you at the coming Jan 2011 Top 30 sale.