Ad question

[cs106]

First off, I'm new here. Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm not sure where this topic fit in, so I put it in the beginners board. Anyway, I have recently been developed a website for my cattle operation. We have about 300 head and sell both commercial and purebred bulls and heifers. This year, we have decided to run more of an ad campaign in some local papers (such as the Midwest Messenger for those who are familiar with it) and list the website as a place to see more information and pictures of the bulls we will be selling this spring. We sell bulls through a, for lack of better word, 'broker', but in recent years have been having more bulls to sell than he can place, so we have decided to do some advertising.

My question for you all is this: Which do you prefer, looking at bull pictures as is or with them somewhat clipped? With the winter we had our bulls look like wooly mammoths and we were debating whether or not to trim them up. We wouldn't clip them to look like they were headed to a show, but just take off the long hairs on the neck and back. Some of them look heavy fronted and weak in the back end with all the hair. I plan to use a few pictures in the ad and also put all the pictures of available bulls on the website with the EPDs. Thanks for your input in advance!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You are going to get the full "gammet" of answers - from leave them alone, we want to see them NATURAL! --- to shave them bald - we want to see what they really are!
Well, I'm in the middle. I would rather clip the head, lightly trim top & bottom & back end. This is what we refer to as a sale clip. Essentially, you are clipping just enough hair to show their true profile.
Here's a sample of one we put in a sale:

 

[cs106]

Jeanne-
That's about the clipping amount I had in mind, only I'd probably go less than that because we have 30+ potential herd sire prospects, so we probably wouldn't clip heads or tails (unless they were really fuzzy).

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Oh, BTW, :welcome:

 

[novatech]

Would many women go out into the world without makeup? Would you buy a brand new SUV that looked like it just came off the 4 wheel drive test course? Not to clean them up is a lack of marketing and will show in the lack of return.
On the other hand these are bulls. Sometimes showing they are ready to go to work and not pampered can be just as effective.
Ask yourself how you would go about choosing a bull. Ask others, even those that are not interested in your breed.
I guess that is why you are asking on here.
I like to see them in their working cloths. Off of grain for a couple of months, with a herd of 50 happy cows.
Spend a lot of time looking at other sites of successful operations. Emulate them.

 

[KMacGinley]

I would rule out any clipped bulls for myself. If you clip them, I would assume that you also pamper them and they would not work for me.

 

[Aaron]

Bulls I took to a sale, I clipped the head. Bulls sold on the farm were not clipped. I think it pretty well sums up what kind of buyers you attract. Some buy on-farm and prefer to see rough and ready bulls (I do). At the sales barn, people are a little more dressed up and proper and seem to take a second look at a clipped bull (I do a single wash and clip of the head). :cowboy:

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

See - I told you you would get the full range.
You have to decide what IMAGE you are trying to portray of your operation. I wouldn't think of publishing a pic of an animal I wanted to sell that looked "rough", but I don't have any problem with people coming to my farm & seeing the animals natural. If I had someone coming to look at a specific animal, I might "tidy" up the topline & tailhead - but would rarely full shave the face.
If I had the ENERGY, I would dearly love to have all my cattle "tidy" looking at all times, but that is not EVER going to happen. Reality sets in. :banana:
In your case, I would clip up the individuals you want pictured, and leave the group shot bulls alone - unless you have lots of help & time - and energy!

 

[chippie]

Whatever you do, be sure to get good pictures. Cameras held at the wrong angle or using the incorrect lens can make the most wonderful animal look like poop. If they are extremely dirty, I would clean them up so that they photograph well.

You can also add short videos (2 to 3 minutes) to show the bull walking.

I think that you have a good idea. Good luck.

 

[cs106]

Thanks for all the comments. The hardest part for me in deciding this is that we have the 2 different types of cattlemen buying. I have some guys who like to see the bulls as is, and others who want to see them trimmed so they can tell what the animal really looks like under the winter hair. I think I might just trim the 15 or so top end bulls and then leave the rest.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

That sounds like an excellent choice. Noone "won't look" at the top end because they are trimmed up, but a lot of people could miss them if they weren't. Not everyone can SEE thru the winter haircoat.

 

[jcarkie]

nothing worse than unprofessional pics, big heads. i look at a lot of catalogs and i don't like show pics but i don't like the less than professional. middle ground is good

 

[Kingfisher]

You are going to get the full "gammet" of answers - from leave them alone, we want to see them NATURAL! --- to shave them bald - we want to see what they really are!
Well, I'm in the middle. I would rather clip the head, lightly trim top & bottom & back end. This is what we refer to as a sale clip. Essentially, you are clipping just enough hair to show their true profile.
Here's a sample of one we put in a sale:

Please show us your cows..... Thanks in advance.

 

[kerley]

You are going to get the full "gammet" of answers - from leave them alone, we want to see them NATURAL! --- to shave them bald - we want to see what they really are!
Well, I'm in the middle. I would rather clip the head, lightly trim top & bottom & back end. This is what we refer to as a sale clip. Essentially, you are clipping just enough hair to show their true profile.
Here's a sample of one we put in a sale:

Jeanne, thats a very nice red heifer.
~Tom.

 

[grubbie]

I really like Chippie's video idea. It's just as easy on a website to post a short video as a picture, and that would really give me a look at what I am buying.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

kerley - thanks - we sold her last year & she went to Ohio to a CT member (she had a heifer calf for them & they are super pleased!)
Kingfisher - I don't want to hijack this post - you can see tons of our cattle on my website:
http://www.SimmeValley.com
In the HERD PICTURES page, I have a pic of this heifer as a calf with her dam, Simme Valley Rhubarb.
I appreciate your interest.