Buying a bull at the sale yard

[Tod Dague]

Just an idea. I have a small registered herd. I will hold back my best yearling bull to use as my cover bull and put him up for sell after my breeding season. AI once and turn out the bull. I've been doing this for a while and haven't had a problem. A lot of my best calves come from my cover bulls which kind of makes since since they were the ones that performed best in my environment from my best cows.

 

[Alan]

Just an idea. I have a small registered herd. I will hold back my best yearling bull to use as my cover bull and put him up for sell after my breeding season. AI once and turn out the bull. I've been doing this for a while and haven't had a problem. A lot of my best calves come from my cover bulls which kind of makes since since they were the ones that performed best in my environment from my best cows.

It's not a bad idea, you still have the cost of raising the bull to breeding age, 15 months or so, but you also have the income of a young bull. Are you keeping a bull back every year? And if so, do you keep three pens of cattle through the winter with a small herd; your cows, your weaned heifers, and your weaned cover bull?

Thanks,
Alan

Thanks,

 

[Tod Dague]

Are you planning on selling breeding stock? If so you will have to raise the bull anyway. I wean the heifers and turn them out with the cows most years. This year they are separate because I'm being pretty tight with the cows until the grass comes in. The bulls go to feed test. When I have done my feed test at home they were in their own pen or rotated behind the cows.

 

[Farmhand]

I have started my whole herd from the sale barn. Including the bull. Quality cows get sold there because owner culls hard and these calve outside his time frame. Great for me because my time frame is different than most here. Some quality cows get sold because they are making money and room to up their genetics. Great for me because theirs ups my genetics. Quality bulls get sold there because they would be breeding daughters. Great for me because I don't have their bloodline. You can have the vet at the sale barn semen check when the bull leaves the ring. If it comes up bad the deal is off and the bull goes back through the ring for slaughter only. You can do real well at the sale barn if you take time to look them over good.

 

[Beefy]

I have started my whole herd from the sale barn. Including the bull. Quality cows get sold there because owner culls hard and these calve outside his time frame. Great for me because my time frame is different than most here. Some quality cows get sold because they are making money and room to up their genetics. Great for me because theirs ups my genetics. Quality bulls get sold there because they would be breeding daughters. Great for me because I don't have their bloodline. You can have the vet at the sale barn semen check when the bull leaves the ring. If it comes up bad the deal is off and the bull goes back through the ring for slaughter only. You can do real well at the sale barn if you take time to look them over good.

i agree.

 

[houstoncutter]

I think me and Dunn are on the same page with this one. Why would you want to take a clean herd, and stick a dirty bull that you had no idea as to his status.....Sorry bout that one dont compute.

 

[Farmhand]

The herd started from a sale barn. 10 years ago there wasn't a cow, calf, or bull on the place. Started purchasing heifer bottle calves at sale barns. These calves were the start of my cow/calf operation. Started buying holstein bull bottle calves. These calves were the start of my finishing operation. Think I stand a good chance of the place being exposed to just about everything. I also do not vaccinate for anything. I don't worm either. The only meds we use are LA200 and sometimes Excenel and have tried Nuflor. LA 200 usually takes care of any problems we have. Have never had any disease. Only problems have been footrot twice. Occasionaly pinkeye. Usually it's stuff like the ruptured bladder steer we just lost. Have lost to bloat 'cuz a gate didn't get latched properly. A few causes of colds in calves. Hardly ever use a vet. The biggest trick to buying at a sale barn is to be sure and look the animal over good before buying. If something doesn't look quite right or the animal just seems iffy - leave it there.

 

[Craig-TX]

I have started my whole herd from the sale barn. Including the bull. Quality cows get sold there because owner culls hard and these calve outside his time frame. Great for me because my time frame is different than most here. Some quality cows get sold because they are making money and room to up their genetics. Great for me because theirs ups my genetics. Quality bulls get sold there because they would be breeding daughters. Great for me because I don't have their bloodline. You can have the vet at the sale barn semen check when the bull leaves the ring. If it comes up bad the deal is off and the bull goes back through the ring for slaughter only. You can do real well at the sale barn if you take time to look them over good.

i agree.

Same here.

 

[novaman]

Sounds like a trainwreck waiting to happen. Especially when your not vaccinating. Cattle can carry all kinds of things that aren't visible. I'm not saying I wouldn't buy from the salebarn, but I certainly would be taking more precautions when I did.

 

[Farmhand]

It could be. Have been doing it so long this way though and it is working for us. Parents and grandparents the same. Neighbor across the road does everything by the book and he has a lot more problems than we do. Would hate to have his vet bill. I tend to think that the more we pump things into animals the less resistance they have to things. At one time alot of these meds didn't exist and how did the cattlemen survive that? Our animals look good and perform well. We just sold some the other day and got good money. We are small so we are always evaluating what we do and whether we can justify what we do. We still can't justify adding a big vaccination program.

 

[msscamp]

I also do not vaccinate for anything. I don't worm either.

Farmhand, you do realize you just jinxed yourself don't you? Fate cannot stand a statement like this, it has to mete out some kind of retaliatory edict any time someone makes a statement such as this. Take care and I hope things continue to go well for you!

 

[Farmhand]

I thought about that too, msscamp :lol: I sure hope I don't bring on more than we've already had lately. Luck started turning about 2 weeks ago and then got worse. Had a 6 month old calf go down. Started getting weak and thought the older ones were pushing him out of the feed. Started feeding special and alone. Weather turned bad. Calf finally went down. Moved him and started him back on milk replacer and all stock feed and hay. He ate just fine but couldn't stand even assisted. Front legs were buckled under so started straightening them out three times a day. Just couldn't get his legs back under him so finally called the vet out. He said calf was just weak. Gave him a vitamin shot and told us to continue doing what we were doing. Took a week but he's now back up and doing great. Then last Saturday we had the fat steer go down with ruptured bladder. He died monday. Then Sunday hubby and son each thought the other had gotten the gate. Went in for dinner. 2 cows were in serious trouble when we came back out. Vet back out. Determined they had gotten into the protein wagon and bloated. Took 3 days of serious work to save the one. The other died in a matter of hours. Worsted run of luck we've had in a long time. Hope that string of luck holds off the fates for a while.

 

[Beefy]

what causes a ruptured bladder? besides being blocked and overfilling.

 

[Farmhand]

Sometimes caused by a stone. Just like we get kidney stones. Causes a blockage so they can't urinate and the bladder breaks. Can give meds to break up the stones if caught in time. Free choice salt prevents most of this but some are prone to do it no matter what you do. Sometimes caused by a weak spot in the bladder. Just like we get hernias or pigs get belly ruptures. No cause, no prevention, no cure.

 

[msscamp]

Farmhand I'm sure sorry to hear about your run of problems. Hopefully they are gone now and you've got free sailing for a long time to come! <fingers crossed>

 

[Farmhand]

Thanks msscamp! We're crossing our toes too! :lol:

 

[msscamp]

Thanks msscamp! We're crossing our toes too! :lol:

I would have crossed my toes, too except that is a feat that is beyond my capabilites.

 

[Farmhand]

That's funny msscamp. I am also starting to notice that some things are not as easy as I remember them to be. I quess it happens to the best of us.

 

[stocky]

I buy all my bulls at the sales barns. There are several complete herd sellouts every week and the bulls are tried and proven and you can see their calves. There are also groups of 12-18 month old bulls that come from registered breeders that sell and the will run 3-5 in the ring and you buy choice, most farms around here would rather sell at the barn because they dont have the hassle of pricing and entertaining buyers at the farm, they are too busy taking care of their cattle for that. Things are probably different here because there are so many cattle, other areas may not have the selection. If you have the bull semen checked and you buy out of a herd and you look at the bull before the sale, find out who checked him in and talk to the seller, you will get the kind of bull you want. I run about a dozen bulls and all of them have come from herd sellouts at the barn. Remember, you dont want to consider any bull that is just brought there by himself to sell. They will probably sell him by the pound, around here, that means slaughter. If you are looking for a cleanup bull, you dont want to go pay 2,000 for a bull that 800-1000 will do just as well.

 

[MoGal]

Yes, they do the same around here as what stocky says. In fact they had 3 young black angus bulls 12-15 months old, from a registered breeder go through last week and were sold by choice. The first choice brought 970 and the other two brought 880 each. On a commercial herd, there's no need for papers, quality over quantity.