09/15/2026
THE BOB LINE: AN EMULOUS STORY
Carlton bred one of his top cows to Emulous 700, producing a bull whose story nearly brought an end to the Emulous line before it ever had the opportunity to make its mark.
“Bob was born in the highway pasture late in the summer. If you didn’t find them pretty quickly there, you didn’t find them alive,” Carlton recalled. With the heat and humidity came the ever-present threat of screwworms. Emulous Bob’s dam, protective to a fault, had hidden her calf, and by the third day Carlton knew he was going to have to outsmart the cow to get to him.
He finally succeeded late that night when the cow returned to her calf. Carlton’s fears were confirmed. Bob was covered with screwworms. After being submerged in warm, soapy water, the calf was freed of the worms, but not before they had taken their toll. Bob lost the tips of both ears and most of his tail, earning him the name that would follow him through the rest of his life.
“He was the one that went on with it,” Carlton said. “He didn’t get promoted like the others, but he’s the one that was responsible, and he was the first bull I was ever offered any great amount of money for.”
Emulous Bob went on to sire Emulous Bob 2, who was also used by Carlton’s brother, Murray Corbin. Murray had previously purchased an Emulous-bred cow from Carlton and bred her to produce Emulous Bob of K Pride, the bull many, including the Corbins, believed would permanently establish the Emulous name among the breed’s most influential bloodlines.
In 1962, Emulous Bob of K Pride accomplished something previously thought to be beyond the limits of British-bred cattle. At the Holdenville, Oklahoma Bull Test, he recorded an average daily gain of 4.29 pounds over 140 days, becoming the first British-breed bull to surpass four pounds of gain per day on the test. The achievement was considered the cattleman’s equivalent of breaking the four-minute mile.
His performance record extended well beyond his average daily gain. He recorded the highest 205-day weight, 565 pounds, in Murray Corbin’s 1960 calf crop and went on to post the highest 365-day weight, 1,140 pounds, at the Holdenville Bull Test. He was also the breed’s first 100% Certified Meat Sire (CMS) and, in 1962, established a world record for average daily gain.
The significance of Emulous Bob of K Pride was not limited to his own performance. He became a remarkable source of CMS genetics, ultimately producing nine sons, 17 grandsons, and 17 great-grandsons that qualified for the prestigious CMS designation. He remains the only 100% CMS sire of any breed known to have sired a 100% CMS sire who, in turn, sired a third-generation 100% CMS sire.
Among his most influential sons were Emulous Pride 70 and Emulous TN 70, full brothers whose influence would extend for generations. Emulous Pride 70 became particularly noted as the sire of Ankonian Dynamo, while Emulous TN 70 became the grandsire of Early Sunset Emulous 60E. The Bob line would also contribute to cattle such as PS Power Play, Lovana, and Sayre Patriot, among many others.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the Emulous line became extraordinarily dominant. Among many of the most dedicated Emulous breeders, there was a prevailing belief that the more intensely the cattle were linebred, the more consistently they would reproduce the traits that had made the family famous, including rapid growth and feedlot performance.
Emulous Bob of K Pride lived to be 14 years old, leaving an enduring legacy through generations of descendants in Angus herds around the world. His influence reached well beyond growth and carcass performance, extending into maternal ability and the kind of functional, productive cattle that could remain relevant across generations. At the same time, the line found favor among breeders competing in the show ring, demonstrating the breadth of the genetics Bob passed forward.
From a calf hidden in a highway pasture and nearly lost to screwworms came one of the most influential branches of the Emulous family. The Bob line would help define an era of Angus breeding, leaving its mark through cattle such as Emulous Pride 70, Emulous TN 70, Ankonian Dynamo, Early Sunset Emulous 60E, PS Power Play, Lovana, and Sayre Patriot.
