A History of Double K Black Hereford Farm
Location History
The farm is located in North Alabama, and the house pictured was originally built in the early 1800s as a cedar log structure. In the gallery below a picture of the house in approximately 1894 can be viewed for comparison. The Neill Patterson family occupied the property in the early 1800s, and a handwritten note confirms the acquisition of 80 acres west of the house by Neill's son, Jacob Biffle Patterson in 1850 for the sum of $500. A son, John Wesley Patterson and the father of Annie Virginia Patterson, farmed the property until his death in the early 1900s. Annie Virginia received as her share of the estate the house and 188 acres of land. She later married William Edwin Knight from South Alabama and they continued to farm the land. Their oldest son John Edwin Knight farmed the land and raised cattle until his death in 2006. The property then passed to the only son John Jr.
Herd Development
The original cattle herd was comprised of Jersey milk cows crossed with Hereford bulls. As the generations passed, the continued use of Polled Hereford Bulls on the offspring resulted in a herd of cattle (even though not registered) that looked like Herefords. In the mid-1950s, John Jr. bought a registered bred heifer from the Weeks farm in Hanceville, AL. The first calf was a heifer; and as a part of the purchase deal, Mr. Weeks offered to breed to the same bull for a second calf. As luck would have it, this also was a heifer calf. These three females formed the nucleus of the registered herd; and by the late 1970s, all the grade animals were dispersed, leaving only a quality group of registered animals. AI breeding in the 1980s greatly benefited the herd as a focus was on mothering ability and calving ease.
John Sr. is pictured to the left with an AI son of Reinforcement (out of Enforcer 107H) - JK Bama Enforcer K251.
An AI son of Vindicator (a famous Sire of Distinction SOD) was also used extensively and three daughters earned the Polled Hereford breed Benchmark Dam status. This status recognized those calving as 2 year olds, calving annually at approximately the same date and achieving calf weaning weights in the top 20 percentage of the contemporary grouping. A daughter of one of these recognized Dams is still in the herd - her Herd ID is 0902 and she is the only remaining Red Hereford. Her offspring include one twin F1 daughter 1706; two D15 daughters 2001 and 2108; and a JO Dark Vadar sired grand-daughter 2101. 0902 was bred to JK D15 Classic Man 1601-2005 and JK Classic Red 2204 arrived May 11. 2022. 0902's Dam (9013) produced calves annually until she was 19 years old. 0902 and calf are offered for sale on the Cows For Sale page.
After the death of John Sr., a decision was made to pursue Black Herefords. An Angus bull was purchased, and two F1 females are currently in the herd. The first Black Hereford bull purchased was 3C's D15 of JB Classic Smith in 2017. D15 is a son of JO Bull Classic Smith 2008 HB003736. Our realization that daughters of D15 would require an out cross led us to revisit AI as a means to bring in additional Black Hereford blood lines.
In 2019 we bred two F1's and one D15 daughter to JN Balder D403. Of interest the F1's are twin daughters of JK MS HEADLINE 9013-0902 (9013 was one of the Benchmark dams referenced above -Note that an often utilized naming convention included the dam ID followed by the animal ID). One of the F1's is the dam of JK JN-D403 BALDER 2004. The D15 daughter also had a bull calf - JK JN-D403 BALDER 2003. The other F1 had a heifer calf - JK D403 BALDEE 1705-2002.
The 2020 breeding plans were even more aggressive - 2 D411/700 embryos and semen from Black Jack and Dark Vadar were purchased from JO Bulls and utilized in the breeding program.
In 2021 JO Bulls semen from Black Jack, Dark Vadar and Atomic as well as 2 8008/727 embryos were utilized in the breeding program.
In 2022 a continued emphasis will be to utilize JO Black Jack and JO Atomic in the AI program. It will be exciting to see AI females start to calve in 2023.
For additional details as to success and calving dates for the various AI/ET programs, see the Herd Sire page. Sale events are highlighted on the Bulls For Sale Page and Sale History page..
A photo gallery below highlights some current animals and assorted items of interest. It is periodically updated so a return visit might be of interest. Pictured in this Photo Gallery are some animals currently in the herd and scenes around the farm. Also pictured is a very spoiled Poodle named KoKo.