Bull buying delimma

[TCRanch]

Seriously, if I didn't have bad luck with bulls I wouldn't have any luck at all. Woody was quickly becoming a favorite, literally eating out of my hand within a week & I was super excited to see his calves next year. Too bad he freakin' got struck by lightning Wed night. Vet came out & posted him yesterday. He can't say 100% but it looks like he took the hit on his right front foot; there was a red, raw mark, no fur. Had him less than a month and hadn't even turned out the bulls yet because of the torrential storms & flooding (the lake even breached the emergency spillway).

At the risk of being insensitive, why couldn't it have been Dick? We still haven't sold him because it's too muddy to get the trailer in the pasture & won't get squat for him anyway (currently .70 - .87 per lb).

This is me: :bang: :bang: :cry2:

This is truly unfortunate, when we lost one of our top cows all of the sudden earlier this year, I was devastated.

Sometimes things like this happen and we wonder WHY? Constantly, "WHY ME?", but the maker has a bigger plan in store is what I always tell myself. Or the universe has a direction and we must adhere to where it's going.

I'm sincerely sorry about your loss and hope that things improve for you. There will be sunny days ahead.

Thank you, Branded. And as much as I hate losing Woody my original intention was to replace Dick with a bull with similar EPD's (lower calving ease, higher BW, etc). Willy will do fine with the heifers - heck, I used Dick on them 4 years ago - and the breeder is delivering a new bull tomorrow. Don't know much about him yet but I trust the breeder because he thoroughly went through all my previous registrations/EPD's. So far +7 CED, +1 BW & Chisoholm/Lead On (?) for the sire & Hoover Dam for the dam. Will update tomorrow. If I don't like him or his calves (same with Willy for that matter) I can swap them out for different bulls next year. So maybe things do happen for a reason. Now, if it would just stop raining so can move the bulls . . . .

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Seriously, if I didn't have bad luck with bulls I wouldn't have any luck at all. Woody was quickly becoming a favorite, literally eating out of my hand within a week & I was super excited to see his calves next year. Too bad he freakin' got struck by lightning Wed night. Vet came out & posted him yesterday. He can't say 100% but it looks like he took the hit on his right front foot; there was a red, raw mark, no fur. Had him less than a month and hadn't even turned out the bulls yet because of the torrential storms & flooding (the lake even breached the emergency spillway).

At the risk of being insensitive, why couldn't it have been Dick? We still haven't sold him because it's too muddy to get the trailer in the pasture & won't get squat for him anyway (currently .70 - .87 per lb).

This is me: :bang: :bang: :cry2:

This is truly unfortunate, when we lost one of our top cows all of the sudden earlier this year, I was devastated.

Sometimes things like this happen and we wonder WHY? Constantly, "WHY ME?", but the maker has a bigger plan in store is what I always tell myself. Or the universe has a direction and we must adhere to where it's going.

I'm sincerely sorry about your loss and hope that things improve for you. There will be sunny days ahead.

Thank you, Branded. And as much as I hate losing Woody my original intention was to replace Dick with a bull with similar EPD's (lower calving ease, higher BW, etc). Willy will do fine with the heifers - heck, I used Dick on them 4 years ago - and the breeder is delivering a new bull tomorrow. Don't know much about him yet but I trust the breeder because he thoroughly went through all my previous registrations/EPD's. So far +7 CED, +1 BW & Chisoholm/Lead On (?) for the sire & Hoover Dam for the dam. Will update tomorrow. If I don't like him or his calves (same with Willy for that matter) I can swap them out for different bulls next year. So maybe things do happen for a reason. Now, if it would just stop raining so can move the bulls . . . .

Now that is top notch service. I'm impressed.

 

[TCRanch]

This is truly unfortunate, when we lost one of our top cows all of the sudden earlier this year, I was devastated.

Sometimes things like this happen and we wonder WHY? Constantly, "WHY ME?", but the maker has a bigger plan in store is what I always tell myself. Or the universe has a direction and we must adhere to where it's going.

I'm sincerely sorry about your loss and hope that things improve for you. There will be sunny days ahead.

Thank you, Branded. And as much as I hate losing Woody my original intention was to replace Dick with a bull with similar EPD's (lower calving ease, higher BW, etc). Willy will do fine with the heifers - heck, I used Dick on them 4 years ago - and the breeder is delivering a new bull tomorrow. Don't know much about him yet but I trust the breeder because he thoroughly went through all my previous registrations/EPD's. So far +7 CED, +1 BW & Chisoholm/Lead On (?) for the sire & Hoover Dam for the dam. Will update tomorrow. If I don't like him or his calves (same with Willy for that matter) I can swap them out for different bulls next year. So maybe things do happen for a reason. Now, if it would just stop raining so can move the bulls . . . .

Now that is top notch service. I'm impressed.

It is! Bill is the nicest guy, down to earth & he is passionate about his cattle. He was devastated when I called him last night because he hand-picked that bull just for me/my operation. Evidently my reputation preceeds me because he already knew about my bulls the first time I called him. His area Extension Agent used to live here, is very familiar with our ranch & brought the University of Tenn Ag Dept out here last year for a tour. They were a little freaked when my bulls walked up & nuzzled me, begging for cubes, and whipped our their cell phones for pics.

 

[TCRanch]

TT, you want to talk about top notch service? Just delivered the new bull. No charge. He guarantees his bulls fertility the first year and we don't have any bred heifers right now. What???? He's not transferring the registration until next year in case we decide to trade him in (they'll use him on their commercial cows). Plus, he took one look at the pictures of Woody before/after being posted and pointed out exactly where he was hit (right front shoulder) and it exited his right front foot. I must have misunderstood the vet or he didn't catch the point of entry.

So this new bull (no name yet) is CED +7, BW +.7, WW +55, YW +91, CEM +12, Milk +22. Sire is S Chisum and dam is TM Mrs Lead On (Hoover Dam was her sire).

 

[Ky hills]

TT, you want to talk about top notch service? Just delivered the new bull. No charge. He guarantees his bulls fertility the first year and we don't have any bred heifers right now. What???? He's not transferring the registration until next year in case we decide to trade him in (they'll use him on their commercial cows). Plus, he took one look at the pictures of Woody before/after being posted and pointed out exactly where he was hit (right front shoulder) and it exited his right front foot. I must have misunderstood the vet or he didn't catch the point of entry.

So this new bull (no name yet) is CED +7, BW +.7, WW +55, YW +91, CEM +12, Milk +22. Sire is S Chisum and dam is TM Mrs Lead On (Hoover Dam was her sire).

From what I can see in the pedigree of your new bull it looks good. Chisum was a bull that I thought about using when we were AI'ing. Hoover Dam daughters have raised some good calves here, and we kept a herd bull out of Hoover Dam one year. The name Mrs. Lead On has me figuring his dam was a daughter of Hoover Dam and a Lead On daughter. We AI bred some commercial cows to Lead On several years ago, the calves were pretty good also. I can imagine that your bull is going to be thick and on the larger end of moderate framed.

 

[TCRanch]

TT, you want to talk about top notch service? Just delivered the new bull. No charge. He guarantees his bulls fertility the first year and we don't have any bred heifers right now. What???? He's not transferring the registration until next year in case we decide to trade him in (they'll use him on their commercial cows). Plus, he took one look at the pictures of Woody before/after being posted and pointed out exactly where he was hit (right front shoulder) and it exited his right front foot. I must have misunderstood the vet or he didn't catch the point of entry.

So this new bull (no name yet) is CED +7, BW +.7, WW +55, YW +91, CEM +12, Milk +22. Sire is S Chisum and dam is TM Mrs Lead On (Hoover Dam was her sire).

From what I can see in the pedigree of your new bull it looks good. Chisum was a bull that I thought about using when we were AI'ing. Hoover Dam daughters have raised some good calves here, and we kept a herd bull out of Hoover Dam one year. The name Mrs. Lead On has me figuring his dam was a daughter of Hoover Dam and a Lead On daughter. We AI bred some commercial cows to Lead On several years ago, the calves were pretty good also. I can imagine that your bull is going to be thick and on the larger end of moderate framed.

Thanks, that's encouraging! He's already bigger than Willy; taller, more broad shouldered and 6 days younger. Already getting excited for next years calves!

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Oh Lord! What an ordeal and journey. I sure hope these new guys work out for you. Hopefully you'll have some dryer days ahead and the tornadoes will go away.

 

[TCRanch]

Oh Lord! What an ordeal and journey. I sure hope these new guys work out for you. Hopefully you'll have some dryer days ahead and the tornadoes will go away.

Thanks! So far I like them both and they're very docile. That said, trying to move Woody 2 to the central pasture yesterday was an epic fail. Johnson knows what's on the other side of the road and didn't hesitate going through the muddy ditches but Woody balked. I get that - I got stuck in the mud, sucked off my boot (3 times!). So I'll have to catch him in the corral & trailer him as soon as it dries up a bit.

 

[hurleyjd]

Sometime bull buying has problems. 2016 I bought two nice black bulls $1800 each. One week later one had what looked like a tennis ball sized growth on his penis. Loaded him up and off to the vet. Vet said I can fix it but it is a long drawn out expensive ordeal. I put him in the auction and he brought a little over one 1/2 of original price better than a total loss. Why I asked the Vet said he probable stepped on the penis and injured it. The other bull did well had a 30 head calf crop all within a month of each other.

 

[TCRanch]

Sometime bull buying has problems. 2016 I bought two nice black bulls $1800 each. One week later one had what looked like a tennis ball sized growth on his penis. Loaded him up and off to the vet. Vet said I can fix it but it is a long drawn out expensive ordeal. I put him in the auction and he brought a little over one 1/2 of original price better than a total loss. Why I asked the Vet said he probable stepped on the penis and injured it. The other bull did well had a 30 head calf crop all within a month of each other.

We had a similar situation. Bought 2 yearlings and one broke his penis all of 6 weeks later. The breeder had 1 bull left that had warts on his penis but said he'd deliver him & we could take him to the vet to see if there was anything he could do. Vet cut them off (eweee!!) but it wouldn't heal so ended up selling him, check went to the breeder & we got credit for another bull the following year. The other yearling was on his A-game and all the cows eventually got bred but Spring calving segued into Summer. Never a dull moment when you have bulls!

 

[TCRanch]

Remember when I whined: "Seriously, if I didn't have bad luck with bulls I wouldn't have any luck at all"? Bears repeating. Just got back from the vet with Willy, the one I ended up using on my heifers. Dang, if he doesn't have a puncture wound in his right front foot, which is of course infected. He hasn't been moving around a lot but the heat index this week was up to 108 so didn't notice him limping until last night. Vet opened up the foot (so. much. pus!), got him cleaned out & a hefty dose of Draxxin. Keeping him in the barn for now. Turned him out May 31 so presumably all the heifers are bred. Hopefully!

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Dang the bad luck! Sorry.

 

[TCRanch]

Thought I'd follow up: Couldn't be happier with the bulls! Used Willy on my heifers and the calves average 75 lbs, all calved with no problems (well, except the one that wouldn't claim her calf). Put Woody with Johnson in the main herd and I can spot one of his calves immediately. Almost done, 4 left, all good. Hubby's surgery was a success so he's been able to help me this year, which is really just keeping the mamas occupied with cubes while I work their calves but very much appreciated & only one cow made a diligent effort to take me out.

And the breeder? Still periodically calls just to see how the bulls are working out, even called earlier this week wanting to know if I was pleased with the calves. Amazing customer service is alive & well!

 

[darcelina4]

I love when people update an older post. There was a good discussion a year ago. Knowing how it turned out brings the discussion full circle. The breeder following up is great

 

[Hippie Rancher]

Rod, Dick, and Johnson? :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:


edit - ok, I am not original and this thread is 5 pages long. read the thread, Hippy! :hide:

 

[TCRanch]

I love when people update an older post. There was a good discussion a year ago. Knowing how it turned out brings the discussion full circle. The breeder following up is great

He's currently in the middle of calving out 400 (I can't EVEN! :shock: ) and still found time to call. Class act!