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Cattle breeders are experts in family lineage — of their herds

Life is Simple: My dad was no exception. He could rattle off pedigrees with the best of them.

Jerry Crownover

July 29, 2022

2 Min Read
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Almost all purebred livestock breeders I have known have possessed the ability to point to any animal in their herd and recite that animal’s pedigree, backward, through at least 10 generations. I’m not sure I can go back any further than three generations in my own personal pedigree — and even some of those might be questionable.

However, for cattle producers who raise their own replacement females, knowing which cow family or sire is represented in a particular animal is important for genetic improvement, as well as a source of pride in knowing they continually try to raise the best. Even as a commercial cattleman, my father could rattle off a cow’s family tree that would rival those “begat” chapters in the Bible. I used to, just for fun, point to a single cow and ask, “Now, who is her momma?”

And then it would begin.

“Well, let’s see. Polly begat Molly, [Dad and Mom had every cow named] and Molly begat Millie, who begat Tillie. Then Tillie had a bunch of bull calves before she finally calved Snowball, who begat Sweetheart. Sweetheart birthed Toots, and that is the cow you asked about.”

I’d just smile, let a couple of minutes pass, and then ask, “Who was Beauty’s mother?” And off we’d go again.

The most confused I ever got though, concerning cow lineages, was when Dad would try to explain his favorite cow family — the Blackies.

When we moved from Arkansas to Missouri in the mid-1950s, we were still milking about 10 cows. Dad’s most productive milk cow was an old Jersey-Angus cross named, unsurprisingly, Blackie. Through the years, as we transitioned to a beef operation, Blackie’s offspring were continually upgraded with exceptional Angus bulls, and we ended up with a cow herd that contained the original, whose name had changed to Old Blackie. Also in the herd was Young Blackie, Little Blackie, Big Blackie, Fat Blackie, Skinny Blackie and at least a half-dozen other descriptive Blackies.

It should be pointed out that one of the few times Dad ever brought in a female from outside of our herd was during the late 1960s, when the Charolais breed was just gaining popularity. Dad had been to the sale barn and purchased a young Charolais heifer calf to raise into a cow to try this new breed everyone was talking about. As you might expect, Mom and Dad named the new snow-white-colored calf … Whitey? No, Charmin.

Before Dad passed away, he had semiretired enough times that he was down to about five cows on his 10-acre farmette. When he was diagnosed with inoperative cancer, I helped him load up the last of the cows to take to the auction. As the last old cow made her way onto the trailer, he commented, “You know, that cow right there is Big Blackie’s great-great-granddaughter. Ain’t she a good one?”

She sure was.

Crownover lives in Missouri.

About the Author

Jerry Crownover

Jerry Crownover wrote a bimonthly column dealing with agriculture and life that appeared in many magazines and newspapers throughout the Midwest, including Wisconsin Agriculturist. He retired from writing in 2024 and now tells his stories via video on the Crown Cattle Company YouTube channel.

Crownover was raised on a diversified livestock farm deep in the heart of the Missouri Ozarks. For the first few years of his life, he did without the luxuries of electricity or running water, and received his early education in one of the many one-room schoolhouses of that time. After graduation from Gainesville High School, he enrolled at the University of Missouri in the College of Agriculture, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1974 and a master's of education degree in 1977.

After teaching high school vocational agriculture for five years, Crownoever enrolled at Mississippi State University, where he received a doctorate in agricultural and Extension education. He then served as a professor of ag education at Missouri State University for 17 years. In 1997, Crownover resigned his position at MSU to do what he originally intended to after he got out of high school: raise cattle.

He now works and lives on a beef cattle ranch in Lawrence County, Mo., with his wife, Judy. He has appeared many times on public television as an original Ozarks Storyteller, and travels throughout the U.S. presenting both humorous and motivational talks to farm and youth groups.

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