by
Molly Clubb
| Feb 06, 2013
Hired Hand is proud to announce that Split Rock Cedar Ranch now is utilizing Hired Hand for their first ever website to promote their Longhorns via the internet. You can view their new site at: www.splitrockcedarranch.com.
Mike MacLeod, owner at Split Rock Cedar Ranch says "We have been blessed with advice and counsel from people like Russell Fairchild from whom we purchased our first 10 longhorns in order to secure an agricultural tax exemption (like so many who have started in the business of breeding Longhorns). Other people who have helped to shape our approaches to developing a first rate program and who have become friends include Felix Serna, Bob Loomis, Mike Bowman, Ron Marquess, Joe Valentine, and Zech Dameron, MD. Becoming a Longhorn breeder would simply not be complete without a visit to ranches like El Coyote, Panther Creek and ZD in Texas, Loomis Longhorns in Oklahoma, End of Trail in Kansas or the DCCI in Ohio. Each visit and conversation taught us something. One of our key learnings is that you can breed for a lot of the single components for Longhorns (horn, color, size, disposition or confirmation) but the best becomes the complete package that is sustainable over time when it comes to breeding a great bull, cow or steer."
Mike goes on to state: "And so, as il-equipped as Kim and I were to be “real breeders”, we embarked on a “new Longhorn experience” in 2007. Lethal Rose, a very average but majestic parker brown 10 year old cow delivered the first longhorn calf at SRCR on July 4…a uniquely colored bull calf out of a very average sire. None the less, the spectacle of seeing him suckle for the first time became a “lock” for us as “breeders of the future. We named him Liberator in honor of our country and the freedom we all enjoy and feel when we are around our Longhorns. He became a steer and as our private herd 1/1 will always reside in the Palo Pinto countryside of Split Rock Cedar Ranch."
The MacLeod's hope that their website provides visitors with an opportunity to “Take a Closer Look” at their entire breeding, foundation animals they've purchased and the offspring that are hitting the ground. Over the years, they've utilized multiple Horn Showcase and Longhorn World Championship horn winner Safari BL Chex. They've also purchased semen from top bulls in order to inject contemporary genetics into our herd and are quite pleased with the direction but realize that they still have a way to go. " If there is one thing we’ve learned—you can’t make’m grow faster than they will and breeding quality Longhorns takes time," says Mike.
The goal for each of you who visit the new Split Rock Cedar Ranch portal is that you are able to get that “up- close look” you were seeking. Mike and Kim say that they hope that you’ll come back often as they highlight the new calves, their dam and sire and acquisitions on our "Take a Closer Look" and “Hall of Firsts”.
