There will come a point where the cows aren't holding up their end of the bargain in the equation (too good a bull to put on not so good cows). I wouldn't be worried about paying more and looking further for a bull just for that sake, when good bulls can be found in most anyones locale.
How many years/ calves did you get out of your current bulls? 3K each you paid for them? Now figure out how many calves you sold during that time and what premium (if any) did they bring you over what you would have gotten if you used a lesser bull.
The best money made on bulls doesn't usually come on the premium on the calf, its comes on buying it right and getting as many calves and trouble free years out of him. If you paid 3k for one and only have something like 20 calves out of him so far, without any input costs he's already at 150 bux per calf, Get 200 calves sold out of him and you're down to lower end semen costs of $15. But bulls eat a lot, so its not even that cut and dry on pay back. And hopefully nothing drastic happens and there is atleast some kill value left in him at the end.
I understand that the longhorn cows may not throw calves to some quality standards, but same goes for brahma influence for some people. I think that quality comes down to preference in some cases. He said they like the Longhorn cross(i have to say I have a few myself, raise some of my best calves). So using the best possible bulls should give the best possible outcome, even if its not Everyone's cup o tea. I don't think he's expecting some kind of super charolais, they like the hybrid vigor and resistance.
