Bull tests ?

[Wick]

What do you see as pros and cons of putting bulls on test. And also, can a person seem to justify costs to do so. I am stuck on the fence over this one of wheather to put some on test or to just keep poking along as usual. Maybe those of you who do or have done this can give me some in put here. Thanks in advance.

 

[cmf1]

I don't raise bulls, but I just bought a bull off of test.
From a buyers pov, The bull was available for me to see. I'm certain that there were as good or better bulls available somewhere else, but I had no way of knowing about them. The tests usually have customers available to look at bulls available. If you're raising good quality bulls and nobody knows it,...
As a buyer, there's unbiased information about the bull I'm interested in and comparables as to what else is available.
A bonus for me was the networking that's available surrounding the test. From feeds to transportation to breed contacts.

From a breeders/sellers standpoint, I don't know. Seemed like most of the bulls on that particular test went cheaper than I'd have thought. With what it costs to raise one and then whatever it costs put it on test and surely some fees in selling him.

I am very curious to hear what it costs to put one on test and others pov on this. The one thing that you will get from it is some market awareness/advertising. And if you're in the business of bulls, that can't hurt. Just judge the cost effectiveness and then decide.

 

[Frankie]

What do you see as pros and cons of putting bulls on test. And also, can a person seem to justify costs to do so. I am stuck on the fence over this one of wheather to put some on test or to just keep poking along as usual. Maybe those of you who do or have done this can give me some in put here. Thanks in advance.

We've been testing Angus bulls for several years. It was a good tool to help a small breeder, like us, get established. We can put our bulls on test alongside bigger, more established names and see how we compare. So can the buyer. More people will come to the test station sale than will ever come to our ranch to look at our bulls. You get all kinds of data that the buyers are starting to expect these days, ADG, WDA, ultrasound, Igenity. Those are pros.

Cons are the cost, of course. And we did have a bull die on test last year.

These last few years, we've sold more bulls from home than at the test station sale. Sale expenses aren't cheap, plus the night in a hotel and gasoline to make the trip. We use the sale prices from the last test station sale to help price the bulls here at home.

 

[edrsimms]

What do you see as pros and cons of putting bulls on test. And also, can a person seem to justify costs to do so. I am stuck on the fence over this one of wheather to put some on test or to just keep poking along as usual. Maybe those of you who do or have done this can give me some in put here. Thanks in advance.

Wick,
This depends alot on your scope:
1. who are you selling most of your bulls to?
2. Are your bull buyers a cow/calf operation only or cow/calf + stocker or cow/calf + stocker + retained ownership thru the feedyard?
3. Other questions are -- what kind of Test? Forage Test or Feed Test?
4. Who is benefiting the most with a Feed test?
5. Who is benefiting the most with a Forage Test?

Your scope- What do you want your bulls to portray to a buyer? A feed test tells him what? What a bull will gain when on full feed- so what? and is that important for a cow/calf enterprise selling calves at weaning? -- NOT REALLY

Is a Bull Test telling a bull buyer anything about fertility? or calving ease? or birth weight? or weaning weight? or Yearling weight, or REA? or IMF? or BF or phenotype or genotype --NO feed and/or forage efficiency -Yes

We used to send bulls to a Bull test, but have all but discontinued that practice due to the cost of doing it. We can feed bulls cheaper on our place, so why send them to a Bull test?

Bulls coming off a feed test are too fat, lazy and usually shed 200 - 300 lbs when put out for breeding season.
Bulls coming off a forage test are hardened off already and lose no weight and vigorously get to breeding and don't miss a step.

I believe a feed test is a waste of time because it only benefits the near end user (the feedyard) and if you are a cow/calf operation
you would have long since sold your calves. The cow calf man/woman wants to know about calving ease, birth weight, weaning weight, because that is when they are selling their calves- usually.

"Our sale we have every year we ask bull buyers what are you looking for in a bull"? Ya know what 90% say?

We want a good calving ease bull that we dont have to worry about calving issues and produce calves that have better than average weaning weights. 90% of our bulls go to commercial cow calf operations that sell their calves at weaning..... now who does a feed test benefit?

Forage tests better benefit the cow/calf producer because this is of interest.
Yes, they would want to know what will my calves do when they are put on forage since most people will not be full feeding their calves post weaning, but some might be carrying them over in a stocker operation.

Keep your bulls at home feed them get your own data and advertise them on a web page and I believe you would come out better than sending them away from home on some Bull Test

 

[talldog]

What do you see as pros and cons of putting bulls on test. And also, can a person seem to justify costs to do so. I am stuck on the fence over this one of wheather to put some on test or to just keep poking along as usual. Maybe those of you who do or have done this can give me some in put here. Thanks in advance.

Wick,
This depends alot on your scope:
1. who are you selling most of your bulls to?
2. Are your bull buyers a cow/calf operation only or cow/calf + stocker or cow/calf + stocker + retained ownership thru the feedyard?
3. Other questions are -- what kind of Test? Forage Test or Feed Test?
4. Who is benefiting the most with a Feed test?
5. Who is benefiting the most with a Forage Test?

Your scope- What do you want your bulls to portray to a buyer? A feed test tells him what? What a bull will gain when on full feed- so what? and is that important for a cow/calf enterprise selling calves at weaning? -- NOT REALLY

Is a Bull Test telling a bull buyer anything about fertility? or calving ease? or birth weight? or weaning weight? or Yearling weight, or REA? or IMF? or BF or phenotype or genotype --NO feed and/or forage efficiency -Yes

We used to send bulls to a Bull test, but have all but discontinued that practice due to the cost of doing it. We can feed bulls cheaper on our place, so why send them to a Bull test?

Bulls coming off a feed test are too fat, lazy and usually shed 200 - 300 lbs when put out for breeding season.
Bulls coming off a forage test are hardened off already and lose no weight and vigorously get to breeding and don't miss a step.

I believe a feed test is a waste of time because it only benefits the near end user (the feedyard) and if you are a cow/calf operation
you would have long since sold your calves. The cow calf man/woman wants to know about calving ease, birth weight, weaning weight, because that is when they are selling their calves- usually.

"Our sale we have every year we ask bull buyers what are you looking for in a bull"? Ya know what 90% say?

We want a good calving ease bull that we dont have to worry about calving issues and produce calves that have better than average weaning weights. 90% of our bulls go to commercial cow calf operations that sell their calves at weaning..... now who does a feed test benefit?

Forage tests better benefit the cow/calf producer because this is of interest.
Yes, they would want to know what will my calves do when they are put on forage since most people will not be full feeding their calves post weaning, but some might be carrying them over in a stocker operation.

Keep your bulls at home feed them get your own data and advertise them on a web page and I believe you would come out better than sending them away from home on some Bull Test

I couldn't have said it Better !!!! :tiphat: