Hereford Bull to the Sale Barn or Craigslist

[Texas PaPaw]

Had an elderly neighbor in this same situation earlier this year. Hauled his bull to the salebarn for him and watched it sell. It weighed about 1600. We had talked about buying him a younger bull in near future but no definite decision. About 20 minutes after his bull sold, a really nice 1050# long yearling black angus bull came in the ring. They tried to sell by the head but no bidders, so they said just weigh him. When they got an opening bid, I jumped in and got the bull bought for more than $300 less than the old bull had sold for. When I took my neighbor his new bull and a check for over $300 he was quite pleased.

Bottom line is you can tradein an older heavy packer bull for a lighter long yearling bull for little $ difference as the big packer bulls are bringing a lot of $$ right now. Would highly recommend selling him between now and christmas as the packers will be aggressively bidding to build enough inventory to kill during the last 2 weeks of the year when most of the salebarns are closed. Might wait until the second week of January to replace him in order to get past the xmas buying binge although would be prepared to buy earlier if the right opportunity was to arise.

 

[3waycross]

Had an elderly neighbor in this same situation earlier this year. Hauled his bull to the salebarn for him and watched it sell. It weighed about 1600. We had talked about buying him a younger bull in near future but no definite decision. About 20 minutes after his bull sold, a really nice 1050# long yearling black angus bull came in the ring. They tried to sell by the head but no bidders, so they said just weigh him. When they got an opening bid, I jumped in and got the bull bought for more than $300 less than the old bull had sold for. When I took my neighbor his new bull and a check for over $300 he was quite pleased.

Bottom line is you can tradein an older heavy packer bull for a lighter long yearling bull for little $ difference as the big packer bulls are bringing a lot of $$ right now. Would highly recommend selling him between now and christmas as the packers will be aggressively bidding to build enough inventory to kill during the last 2 weeks of the year when most of the salebarns are closed. Might wait until the second week of January to replace him in order to get past the xmas buying binge although would be prepared to buy earlier if the right opportunity was to arise.

I am curious about that long yearling. Did you have it Trich tested before you took it home for him and had they done a BSE on him or were they selling him for slaughter?

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Had an elderly neighbor in this same situation earlier this year. Hauled his bull to the salebarn for him and watched it sell. It weighed about 1600. We had talked about buying him a younger bull in near future but no definite decision. About 20 minutes after his bull sold, a really nice 1050# long yearling black angus bull came in the ring. They tried to sell by the head but no bidders, so they said just weigh him. When they got an opening bid, I jumped in and got the bull bought for more than $300 less than the old bull had sold for. When I took my neighbor his new bull and a check for over $300 he was quite pleased.

Bottom line is you can tradein an older heavy packer bull for a lighter long yearling bull for little $ difference as the big packer bulls are bringing a lot of $$ right now. Would highly recommend selling him between now and christmas as the packers will be aggressively bidding to build enough inventory to kill during the last 2 weeks of the year when most of the salebarns are closed. Might wait until the second week of January to replace him in order to get past the xmas buying binge although would be prepared to buy earlier if the right opportunity was to arise.

I am curious about that long yearling. Did you have it Trich tested before you took it home for him and had they done a BSE on him or were they selling him for slaughter?

Bull was too young to require Trich, but was sold as guaranteed for BSE. Tested good.

 

[3waycross]

Good deal then! :tiphat:

 

[Texas PaPaw]

Good deal then! :tiphat:

Thanks That's why I jumped on the deal. Just got lucky and luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

 

[chippie]

He will need a Trichomoniasis test if you are selling on Craigslist since he is not a virgin bull.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

He will need a Trichomoniasis test if you are selling on Craigslist since he is not a virgin bull.

Need one, yes, do very many privately sold bulls really get it, no. Atleast not around here.

 

[chippie]

I believe that it is a law here in Texas that bulls that have been breeding be tested prior selling.

 

[bmcdonald]

U could sell him at special sale if he has his trich test they have one coming up in Navasota on the 14th

 

[3waycross]

All bulls that leave their homeplace should be Trich tested. The fact that they are under a certain age means nothing. A 12month old "virgin" bull could have easily bred a trich infected cow on his home place and could then take that gift to whomever he is sold to.

The way it is done here is if you bring a bull to the salebarn for slaughter and it is sold for a purpose other than that they need to be Triched to leave that way. This is not mandatory but i guarantee that you're a fool if you take anyone's word that a bull is a virgin.

Slaughter bulls go to the local meat plant or get shipped on a truck within 24 hours.

Anyone who cannot see the virtues of this system has never seen a whole herd ruined by Trich.

Anyone who says well it ain't here and i don't need to waste that money, my answer is it ain't there YET

When I brought my bull from Missouri last spring i had him Triched before he left the state.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I believe that it is a law here in Texas that bulls that have been breeding be tested prior selling.

There is that law here to, but it's not always followed.

I won't use a bull that hasn't been tested, cost to much to straitened out a mess.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

3way, I wish more people would heed your words! Missouri is hot for Trich right now! I look at Trich like the wild hog problem, if you don't have it in your county now, it will be there soon!
EVERY bull we sell, even VIRGIN bulls, get Trich tested. I know I am covering my tail that way, so the buyer can not come back and accuse me of selling a dirty bull, and the buyer is assured the bull is clean... virgin or no virgin! Peace of mind on both sides of the equation, all for $95!

 

[bigbull338]

its a rule here in texas to have all bulls thats been with cows trich tested.an virgin bulls cert a virgin bull or trich tested.i wont buy a bull without it being trich tested.

 

[igrowgrass]

That is the reason why I moved away from Herefords. My family had them for years and my uncle swears by them, but I see rear ends like that on way too many hereford calves. Here is a picture of the last Hereford bull that I owned. My guess is that he was about 2200 pounds. He had a lot of muscling, but that didn't always translate to his offspring.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

That is the reason why I moved away from Herefords. My family had them for years and my uncle swears by them, but I see rear ends like that on way too many hereford calves. Here is a picture of the last Hereford bull that I owned. My guess is that he was about 2200 pounds. He had a lot of muscling, but that didn't always translate to his offspring.

Might have been better if he had been horned.

 

[Alan]

That is the reason why I moved away from Herefords. My family had them for years and my uncle swears by them, but I see rear ends like that on way too many hereford calves. Here is a picture of the last Hereford bull that I owned. My guess is that he was about 2200 pounds. He had a lot of muscling, but that didn't always translate to his offspring.

Might have been better if he had been horned.

Nice looking bull, horned has little to do with it. He's very deeped muscled in the hind end, muscle goes way down his leg, a deep girth bull, good front and hind end. With that said, I'm judging off of one pic. He could be 18 inches wide from a rear view pic, but he looks better than a lot of bulls posted here.

Denver, really jump on the horned Herfs bandwagon, lots of good polled Hereford bulls out there and this bull is not bad. Better than a lot of horned and polled bulls out there.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

That bull in the picture is fine, but he said that his quality didn't pass on to his calves. I have found that it's easier to find good all around horned bulls the polled. I defiantly don't think that horned is always the only way, but around here there are alot better horned bulls available than polled.

 

[Alan]

That bull in the picture is fine, but he said that his quality didn't pass on to his calves. I have found that it's easier to find good all around horned bulls the polled. I defiantly don't think that horned is always the only way, but around here there are alot better horned bulls available than polled.

I can't argue with you a bit with last statement. Horned Hereford bulls do have more quality bulls than polled. I agree the bull in the pic looks good, why he doesn't pass it on to his calves ...... Too many reasons, so let's not go there. I'm a polled Hereford hobby guy, I AI every year, but I have horned bulls in my tank .... Harland, 3027.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I have son of 3027 that I will be having calves out of anytime, I think there gonna be good.

 

[igrowgrass]

I think that in the early 90s when they started blowing the frames up on them they started getting lanky. Give me a bull like Enforcer 107H or one of the old school polled herefords and I will show you a beef machine. I believe that in an effort to make the frame bigger they destroyed the beefiness of the breed. And so you know, this guy is plenty wide.

Also, I think that a lot of bulls that were known for producing good milking offspring ruined the beefiness of the breed too. Bulls like Renegade made a lot of nice heifers, but I think that the same genes that made the daughters milk well frigged with the meatiness.

There was a time when people wanted these huge milking herefords. I bought into it and got a cow/calf from a sale at MSU out of Lord MIlkmore and she milked fine, but all her calves had pinched butts. Her bag would blow up like a set up of bag pipes and the calf could never drink it all.

I am slowly converting from commercial cattle to all lowline angus now. I don't worry about those problems anymore. Nice low BW, medium milking ability, but PLENTY of muscle on all my calves.

Not to highjack the thread, but I sold a lot of 4H show steers that were Polled Hereford x Charolais and they were gangbusters as far as muscling was concerned. I had never really seen anything like it.