Buying the right bull

The overall goal of any beef operation should be to increase net income. This can be accomplished by bringing in more total dollars than you spend.

It’s not a real complicated fact to understand, but for some reason our state and national governments rarely seem to be able to grasp this concept.

Buying the right bull for your operation can increase your farm net income by helping bring in more dollars. This will normally be in the form of more pounds due to higher weaning weights in calves.

Crossbreeding can have a major economic impact on your herd. Using a breed of bull that is unlike the makeup of your cow genetics is one easy way of receiving crossbreeding advantages.

For example: A group of black, Angus based cows would not benefit from crossbreeding by using a black Angus bull as the sire. If a continental bull such as Charolais, Gelbvieh, Limousin, or Sim-Angus, (to name a few) were selected instead, the benefits from heterosis alone would make the calves worth more due to the extra weight they add. In addition, the replacement females retained from these offspring would have better maternal characteristics.

After you have made that important decision to try a second breed of genetics for the bull you need, the next item to consider is what type of bull do you need.

Usually when I ask people what kind of bull are they looking for I get a response similar to this: “Well, I want all black calves, I don’t want to pull any calves because I can’t always be there, I want good weaning weights around 600 pounds, no horns, I might breed him to a few heifers, and I want the replacements to be good milkers. Oh yea, and I‘d like to not spend over $2,000 because my cost-share is only about $1,000.”

There may be about a half dozen of these “perfect” bulls around the country but I seriously doubt you could find one for $2,000 and even if you did, you would have already spent about $500 traveling around to find him.

Of the five types of bull categories available, Balanced Trait, Heifer Acceptable, Terminal, Low Maintenance, and High Productivity, a producer should try to find a bull that meets the traits of one category that will satisfy your calf crop needs.

In many cases, a solid Balanced Trait bull will usually meet these needs without being too heavy or light in a specific area. Finding a “superman” bull that can do everything including solve the Russian conflict is not possible.

Stay within your boundaries for need and you and the bull will be a lot better off.

Finally, the compelling question of how much should a producer pay for the right bull in today’s market.

The cattle industry has moved into complete different norm than anything we can compare it to in the past. Don’t get caught up in trying to buy a bull at 1990’s prices when feeder calves (produced by bulls!) are selling as weanings for $1200 apiece.

The old rule of thumb was a bull should be worth the value of five steer calves. Although this is still very true, most farmers would sell their wife before they would pay $6,000 for a bull. At today’s market prices, a producer should be willing to pay around $3,000 for the right bull and that’s still one of the best bargains in agriculture today. On top of that, to be able to get costshare assistance on bulls makes bull buying a no brainer.

There is no excuse for not buying the right bull.

The right bull will mean more dollars in your pocket down the road. This is a decision that requires some thought and planning but is well worth the effort.

’Til next time, keep putting on the pounds!

Steve