was double bred Emulation 31; Explosion was triple bred Emulation 31. It was pretty fun to go look at a set of commercial calves by those bulls and see how much one cross tightened the gene pool up.” Two years after Saunders left the N Bar, most of the cow herd was sold to Sinclair Cattle Company. “When Sinclair purchased the N Bar cow herd, I felt like they got a diamond,” Saunders said. “Tom did too. We had worked pretty hard at it.” Coming Back Three years ago, Saunders was asked to help manage the Sinclair breeding program. “I told them no two or three times before they finally convinced me to give it a try,” he said. “It’s been fun and I’m glad I did it.” Tom Elliott and Fred Saunders started planned mating the cattle the second year Saunders was on the N Bar. Toward the end of his time there, Saunders planned the matings himself. Now, planning matings for Sinclair cows is easier with computer technology to keep records at his fingertips. “This is such a unique set of bloodlines,” Saunders said. “My goal is to keep this Emulation line going and raise functional cattle that work in today’s world. That’s the challenge.” Saunders’ other full-time job is working with Northern Video, so he sees a lot of cattle every year. He still believes the Emulation 31 influenced Sinclair cattle are special. Saunders’ has a unique perspective on the Sinclair herd, since he came back to the breeding program after several decades away from the N Bar genetics. What Frank Elliott saw in Emulation 31 genetics decades ago, Saunders can still see running strong in the Sinclair cow herd. He sees the value of linebreeding within the herd, but is not afraid to use other bulls if needed. However, “an outside bull has got to have some Emulation blood in him,” he said. Carrying on the Sinclair breeding program is a job Saunders sees as a responsibility and duty to the genetic base built on the N Bar. While producing bulls to sell is a big part of a seedstock operation, that’s not what drives Saunders. The ideals Tom Elliot drilled into him all those years ago on the N Bar are still driving Saunders’ breeding decisions, whether an AI breeding or a flush of a donor cow. “My ultimate goal when I’m breeding a cows is to create another female out of that cow that can do what she’s doing or do it better,” he said. “I breed for females. I felt that way when I was at the N Bar, and that’s still in the forefront of my mind. How am I going to breed this cow to create a female as good or better than she is?” Saunders believes the Emulation cattle are very adaptive to any environment.
“They are able to survive in numerous places. They know how to go out and make a living; that is one of the top priorities to a cow. Can she go out and live on short grass with not a lot of water, raise an efficient calf, breed back and maintain in a year? That is one of the unique things about the Emulation bloodline; they could flourish about wherever you want to put them without a lot of input costs.” Cows need the ability to go out and work in the hills, breed back, produce a calf at 50-60% of body weight efficiency and last 12-13 years, Saunders believes. “She’s got to be able to work for the rancher,” he said. “I don’t care what her numbers are as long as she can produce me an above average calf.” Saunders said that for ranchers with tight margins, pushing the cows for better maternal performance will help the bottom line. “You can take that group of cows and turn the heat up,” he said. “Can you get her breed back in 28 days? Or 35 days? We’ll AI the heifers and the bulls get them for 21 days and they’re out. I’m a little more lenient on the two-year-olds, they get 35 days with the bulls. You can just keep turning “It takes everybody,” Saunders said. “Logan does a great job, and so does Steve. Duncan, the owner, is fantastic. This N Bar cow herd means a lot to him. Logan and his wife Jolene do all the records, and do a fantastic job managing the cow herd. They are a fantastic family. Logan is really good out in the country with the cattle and does a great job. Logan knows the cows better than I do, and is extremely sharp on the Emulation cattle.” “I take the responsibility of trying to enhance the Emulation bloodlines very, very seriously,” he said. “All we are is stewards, and right now it’s our turn to do it. I knew how good the cattle were years and years ago, but the uniqueness of the Emulation cattle is more prominent to me and means a lot more to me now than it did when I was at the N Bar.” the heat up on them to make better cattle.” Sinclair Cattle Company is a team effort.
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