This past week I had the opportunity to visit Spain and view the daughters of Crockett Chicago. Chicago is a Champion son out of a Durham proven by Aberekin. We viewed 24 daughters of Chicago in three regions of Spain; Leon, Bilbao and Girona.
The best term to describe the Chicago daughters is “dairy strength.” There are few bulls that sire this combination of angularity and dairy character. Chicago does this consistently well. Many dairy producers with large herds desire this trait in their cattle because it adds to the longevity of their cattle in a very competitive environment. They have the desire to compete and withstand the stress of overcrowding, etc.
Another trait that stands out is their very strong suspensory ligament attaching the udder to the body of the cow. While the udders are large enough to produce large quantities of milk they are very strongly attached. This will keep the udder at a reasonable depth and yet make it possible to mature into hard working dependable cows.
The Chicago daughters are well above average for stature. In most herds, they stand well over their herdmates. He is definitely a stature improver.
Their bodies are deep with wide, open rib structure. This adds to their “dairy strength” and body capacity.
The rear udders are average in height and well above average for width. They remind me of the Champion daughters in the rear udder. The fore udders are well attached but can be slightly rounded. I believe that this will not become a problem as they mature in future lactations.
Chicago does sire some set to the leg. They are very consistent in this trait. While they tend to “slightly hock in” they do track very well and have excellent locomotion. They have very good depth of heel.
Their rump structure is very acceptable in width and length. Some of the Chicago daughters have slightly high pins while some others are slightly sloped. I believe that the maternal side may influence this trait in the Chicago daughters.
I believe that Chicago will work well on cows lacking body depth, strength and width of rear udder. Chicago is an excellent mating on daughters of the former Aberekin bull, Dandy. He will also work very well on Leadman grand daughters, adding depth and openness of rib. I also believe that Chicago will be an excellent mating on daughters of Shottle, Amateur and Ramos.
Special thanks to Jordi at Aberekin for being such a great host for our group. I highly recommend that you consider traveling to Spain to see the daughters of Chicago for yourself.
Respectfully submitted,
Gary Fassett