Unfortunately it is the genes that are important and genotype and phenotype do not always match, so the better looking bull may throw better calves or the cheaper bull may throw better calves.... only time will tell. I have a friend who bought a SAV flush brother to a SAV bull that brought 6 digits. He still paid plenty for the bull, but his bull is functional and has fertile semen. The high dollar and better growing brother apparently has poor semen as when we flushed him to the same cows, we didn't get any good embryos and his AI pregnancy rate has been very poor on the same farm. (The semen from the high dollar bull is from a reputable stud company.) My friend wanted to buy the expensive bull because he looked better, but he cost too much. I think my friend got the better bull by far, but only time will tell. In year #1, the less expensive bull is doing a better job at settling cows and making calves. Bigger and stouter could mean better or could just mean that one bull likes to eat more and grew better and fatter and too much fat isn't good for fertility. I don't know which of your 2 bulls is the best. If both the cow and bull in the breeding are both well proven and consistent and the structure of both bulls is good, I wouldn't worry too much about which one I got. If neither the cow nor the bull in the mating are proven or if there are structural problems, I wouldn't buy either one, but this is just my 2 cents worth.
