CattleMan1920
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Ky hills":wo1062ee said:*************":wo1062ee said:One more thing Ron, most people could take, say 5 heifers, their best, whatever breed they may be, mixed or whatever, breed them to say, Hoover Dam, they may get one or two bulls, maybe more. Those sons, even from non-registered, mixed cattle, would probably exceed in quality most of what could be purchased in the form of "homegrown" bulls in the $1500-2500 range. People may tell me that's hogwash, but you do have 50% of that son from a highly proven and accurate superstar.
A cattle producer can call up an A.I. tech, ask them to get him or her some Hoover Dam, 10 straws for around $250. and breed some heifers, $250 and the A.I. fee is far cheaper than what a bull would cost, and A.I makes WAY MORE sense the smaller your herd. The real issue is that most people don't want the hassle. That is the crux of the matter.
I would bet that I could take a terrible example of a cow from the stockyards and in three generations change that animal completely to where you would not even recognize where it came from, with A.I.
I can say that I have done just that thing in the past with my small herd. I have had cows and heifers bred to Hoover Dam. He is in my estimation a very good Angus bull, used his semen 3 years in a row. I liked the calves well and have a couple daughters from that. More recently we used two different Bulls one of which was PA Power Tool, am currently using a son out of an Image Maker daughter now. We have had very hit and miss results with timed AI, and certainly still need clean up Bulls. My hat is off to those who want to pursue AI, I do think you can get some good calves that way, but just does not seem practical for us. I have also been one of those that has bought several Angus Bulls in the $2500-4500 range, and honestly that has not seemed to be cheap by my standards. If we had a whole lot of cows or could utilize a bull for several years that may not be as costly, but we seem to have a very high turnover rate with Bulls. The home raised Power Tool bull is going on 4 years now which is a 2 to 3 years longer than the majority have stayed. The most expensive bull that I have purchased at over $4000 resulted in some of the worst doing calves as a whole that we have had. I liked him as an individual and he came from a larger and reputable breeding program. I have often thought about keeping back some Bulls from some of my best cows even cross bred but still haven't committed to it in large part. Have a predominantly Hereford bull calf with a little Brahman influence that I am going to use on a very small scale or if need be as a back up if something happens to either the Registered Angus or Hereford bull. I am just not in a position to where I can afford or see the benifit to buying a several thousand dollar bull for commercial and a handful of registered cows. For the record I used to have the way of thinking that you have and I understand the the reasoning behind it.
Hello fellow Kentuckian and thank you for the comment. I hear this a lot, and I totally understand. I talked to a guy the other day that had 11 cows (raises them as a hobby) and he said he could not justify buying a good bull, so he grabs one at the yards. Here is my rational when I heard that:
11 cows could produce 11 calves, maybe 7 if things don't go so well. Let's assume of the 7, 3 are bulls (he can steer and sell at 205, or keep the bulls and try to sell them to someone. On the low side, he makes between $1500-4000 (I may be high on that) depending on what he does, but here is the kicker, the other 4 females then adds to his herd. Now he is at 15 females after the 1st year. Let's assume he AI's the 1/2 Angus heifers to Hoover Dam the second year, and uses the bull again on the cows. Then he has 10-15 calves (repeat steps above) on the way on the second go around, with some REALLY nice heifers and some even nicer calves on the way out of those heifers. Lot's of people on here may correct me on this, but the way I see it, that bull has paid for himself, not to mention his residual which if he's a solid bull with a good pedigree will not be hard to sell to someone else. The way I see it if you take care of that bull, he basically pays for himself easily.
We have service ready bulls for sale, they have proven pedigrees and best of all they are free of recessives and any other diseases that you may pick up from a bull at the yards (trich amongst them). I'm not pitching you on a bull, but ask anyone who has bought from us and they will tell you that our bulls get the job done and produce nice calves. The ones we have ready now are between $3-4k. You get to see the dam and the sire and how they are raised and then you can make the decision how they would work for you.
The problem when you buy a bull that has no info is that it's just a wild guess. Hoover Dam is highly accurate if you want predictability, but if you are buying a herd bull for cleanup, I suggest at least being able to see his genomic-enhanced EPD's and how the dam and the sire are holding up, and know that he has had a breeding soundness exam by a reputable vet. Just my two cents.
Here is an example of one we have ready that would be just fine for cleanup work. He is around 17 months old. Excuse the mud, no way around it.
Golden Nuggets of Branded