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Welcome to Star Creek Ranch, the home of John Parmley and Darlene Aldridge, D.V.M. We became interested in Texas Longhorn cattle for their beauty and historical value. We began raising these magnificent cattle in 1996 when we moved to our farm in Cypress. Texas Longhorns became a real passion for us (as they do for so many breeders) and over the years we outgrew our farm in Cypress. We are now settled into our new home and ranch in Somerville, Texas. We invite you for a visit at any time. The longer we have had Texas Longhorns, the more we have come to love and admire this singular breed of cattle. Texas Longhorn cattle possess an innate robustness defined by their natural disease resistance, longevity, reproductive prowess, natural calving ease, intelligence and beauty.
We decided at the inception of our breeding program that the use of artificial insemination would be the fastest way to infuse premier bloodlines and superior hereditary traits into our calves. Since I am a veterinarian, and could do our artificial insemination work, this was a perfect fit. We have spent hours and hours studying pedigrees and characteristics of the original seven families, and the unique contribution each gene pool has made to the "modern" Texas Longhorn. We have attended many Texas Longhorn Sales around the country to stay in touch with the market and what people are looking for in the breed. Our goal is to utilize the desirable qualities each of the original seven family bloodlines brings to the breed with particular emphasis on preserving the essence of the Texas Longhorn. Horn length is probably the main charastic that determines value of Texas Longhorns. Therefore a big part of our emphasis is on horn production. We are striving for a well muscled, feminine cow that weighs around 900-1100 lbs., produces every year and milks well to raise a good calf. Since color variation is such a personal preference among Texas Longhorn breeders, we are striving for fancy, striking coloration with a lot of variety so we will have something to please everyone.
We have several premier bulls that are the highlight of our breeding program. FCF His Majesty, probably the best son of the great Monarch, is our pride and joy. In addition to proving himself a great herd sire, he is saddle broken to ride and has been ridden in parades and grand entries. Other premier herd sires in our program are Battle Star, a fancy grulla and white bull, High Sierra Star, Starbase Commander and Star Marker.
We also have an outstanding artificial insemination program utilizing semen from over 30 of the top bulls in the industry. We have cows bred to and progeny from many of the premier herd sires in the breed. Each cow in our herd is carefully matched with a sire to complement her pedigree, confirmation, horns, maternal ability and color. If a particular bull doesn't "click" with a particular cow, we have the unique ability to breed her to a different sire the next year. We feel our artificial insemination program is adding tremendous value to our herd.
We also use an extensive embryo transfer program. Over the years our embryo transfer program has grown as we have added to the number of cows in our program we are flushing. I feel this is another strong enhancement to our breeding program.
We invite you to visit us for a look at our breeding program.
