We are pleased to share with you a little of what we truly enjoy. We hope you like your visit to our site and we welcome your thoughts, comments and questions. 

     Red Rose Farm was purchased in 1985 and we bought our first Shorthorns in 1989. The farm is 133 acres, with 50 acres being woodlot. The soil is a coarse-textured sandy composition which is free-draining but susceptible to dry weather conditions. After several attempts to grow the usual crops for this area we decided to seed the farm to hay and pasture and to concentrate on our main interest... the cows.

One initial purchase was from Kingsburgh Kyle and some of the descendants are still here today. In establishing our own herd we have tried to purchase females from well-established and successful cow families. Our herd currently consists of 25 to 30 breeding females.

The farm is owned and operated by Martin and Liz Mason and Sons. One of our two sons, John, is establishing his own herd of shorthorns under the prefix J.W.M.

The Cows and Cow Families

We have been fortunate that in our early years of operation we were able to buy young animals from good cow families that our now the foundation of our herd.

Our predominant cow families would be:
    - the "Roan Lady" family from RaeLynd
    - the "Raggedy Ann" family from Lednura
    - the "Countess" family from Glenrothes
    - the "Miss Lea" family from Crawfdown

Breeding Philosophy
All of our home bred females are resultant of A.I. breedings. A.I. has allowed us 
    ● to utilize genetics we probably would be unable to acquire
    ● to sample a wide range of genetics all at the same time

Only now after 18 years are we considering the use of a herd sire.