Low Priced Bulls. Are they worth it?

[MikeC]

Have heard lots of commercial guys bragging about only paying $1,000 to $1,500 for their breeding bulls. Most of the ones in this price range should have been castrated. (Just my opinion)

Most times they could have gotten a better quality animal for $2,500.

Has anybody really ever gotten a "Good Deal" on a cheap bull?

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Has anybody really ever gotten a "Good Deal" on a cheap bull?

Yep, I've gotten lucky twice in my life. Never a thousand bucks, but I've had two $1800 bulls that worked out good. Actually one of them was probably the best bull I've ever had on the place, and was easily worth $4-5000, if it had went through a bull sale. Just bought him from an oldtimer who raised him, then used him for a few years. He sold that bull to me at meat price. My current bull is an $1800 deal, and I'd call him average. Certainly not a herd improver, but he's giving me stuff that at least maintains my current herd until culls start being worth something again and I can start stepping back into the more expensive bull power that I need to improve the herd.

Rod

 

[bigbull338]

Have heard lots of commercial guys bragging about only paying $1,000 to $1,500 for their breeding bulls. Most of the ones in this price range should have been castrated. (Just my opinion)

Most times they could have gotten a better quality animal for $2,500.

Has anybody really ever gotten a "Good Deal" on a cheap bull?

yes i got a heck of a deal of a reg beefmaster bull a year ago.gave $1500 for him.talked to guy that had him.an he said he threw some dang good calves.so good in fact he is keeping 3 heifers for his herd.an raising 2 of his sons for herd bulls.

 

[nagwag]

Mike, I believe you can find a good bull for $1000 to $1500. You can't wait till the last minute though. I have a commercial herd and bought this Limo bull for $1000. I didn't need him at the time, but he was worth the money. I used him on my Angusx cows for 4 years and was a great terminal sire before he got too big. What do you think of him?

 

[cfpinz]

naggy - That is a whoptooter of a bull for a thousand bucks.

cfpinz

 

[ChrisB]

I read a study by South Dakota State Univeristy about what profitable commercial ranchers do compared to unprofitable ones. Keep in mind they used averages, but profitable ranches used price as the #1 factor in bull selection. It wasn't of course the only factor, but they paid more attention to the cost than unprofitable herds.

You can find a very good bull for $1600, sure I could find a bit better one for say $2400, and I may get 10 more pounds per calf at weaning. If a bull sires 30 calves a year at $1/lb that's $300 a year. If I keep a bull for 2 season's it's not going to pencil out. I realize there are other factors (keeping replacements, selling cost, mortality, feed costs, etc.) but that a better bull may not always be more profitable.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

You can find a very good bull for $1600, sure I could find a bit better one for say $2400, and I may get 10 more pounds per calf at weaning.

I think you'll see more than 10 lbs of calf at weaning with a jump between a $1600 bull and a $2400 bull, if you're speaking averages? Sure there are some _ok_ $1600 bulls (and sometimes, you'll get lucky and score an excellent bull) and some poor $2400 bulls around, but on the average I'd expect to see more than 10 lbs of weaning weight out of the more expensive bull.

And if you keep your animals past weaning, the weight spread grows. That $1500 bull may only give you 2 or 2.5 lbs/day backgrounding growth, whereas a good bull is going to give you 3 or more on the same feed ration.

edit: Forgot to mention that a good bull will consistently net you calves that will sell at or near the top of the market. May only be a nickel a pound, but if you're selling 8 weights, thats an extra 40 bucks a calf.

And when finishing, carcass quality can mean the difference between making a decent margin and simply feeding your animals out for free. One of my neighbors makes money hand over fist each year on his animals. He finishes every one, and has been doing it for over 30 years. These days, he won't spend less than $4000 on a bull, and he often spends more. He used to buy lower end bulls, but spent a couple years buying high end bulls and compared margins. The high end bulls paid for themselves in the first year, and he never looked back.

Another thing to keep in mind during this price discussion is that prices alone vary from region to region and yearly. In my area, during BSE, bulls that would have normally brought $5 - $6000 were selling for 3. We also get alot of out-of-province buyers in Saskatchewan as they feel they get higher quality for less money here than they do at home.

Rod

 

[Dave]

I believe that you can. The people I get my bulls from raise 20 - 30 commercial bulls every year out of about 400 calves. They retain ownership on the other calves and have been doing that for years and I know that has been working out for them. They started raising bulls which they would sell or lease to their neighbors and they would offer to buy calves that were produced by their bulls. They send these calves to the feedlot with their own calves. To me this means they have faith in how the calves will preform both at the feedlot and on the rail. I have been very pleased with the calves produced by their bulls. The price I pay runs around $1,000 - $1,200 for yearling bulls.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

don't know yet what a great deal i got last spring. guess ill see in a couple more months. but i bought a bull that went too the auburn test station. but would'nt eat from the electronic feeder . he sure dont have any trouble eating here from any thing. his brothers went for 2500.00 or so ill have too look back they werent any less this mans bulls have been at the top or close the last few years i got him for 1500.00 off the farm

 

[*Cowgirl*]

Ya'll taken grown bulls, or yearlings?

 

[CowpokeJ]

A whoptooter

 

[Jogeephus]

Sure you can, just like you can spend a bunch of money on a POS.

 

[S.R.R.]

I wish that bull buying was like shopping at walmart were you can get the same can of tuna half the price of what you pay at a brand name grocery store but it ain't!!

When it comes to bull power you get what you pay for 9 times out of 10.

Now of course there comes a limit but we are talking about herd bulls here.

Do not go the route of buying someone else's scraps like one of the above posters has done and then waiting to see if your bull turners out! :roll:

Save your money and buy a bull that will compliment your herd and then some. You will see the results the first year from a good bull!

 

[Mosho]

I sure hope one can get a good bull for less than $2500.00. We are looking for one to use on small to moderate size AngusX cows but $2500.00 is more than I can pay.

 

[cfpinz]

A whoptooter

Yup. Not quite a humdinger but mighty close.

cfpinz

 

[novatech]

Have heard lots of commercial guys bragging about only paying $1,000 to $1,500 for their breeding bulls. Most of the ones in this price range should have been castrated. (Just my opinion)

Most times they could have gotten a better quality animal for $2,500.

Has anybody really ever gotten a "Good Deal" on a cheap bull?

I know a couple of small breaders that have no market for there bulls. They are new to the buss. and don,t have a clue as to what they have. The great bull goes across the scales with the bad ones.

 

[Dap]

I had been buying bulls from the same man for a few years, mostly in the $2500-$3500 range. I called him for another bull and he said he had what I needed for $1500. I was a little worried but I bought him SUS and he's turned out to be a very good bull. He is an OCC Anchor grandson. I wanted to knock some frame off, and keep replacement heifers, and he's worked great for me. The breeder just didn't have a strong market for a smaller framed bull that didn't have great EPD's.

 

[jscunn]

I see two scenarios in which you might be able to get a good bull and a reduced rate (Less than $2000).

1. (already mentioned) buying a bull from a small or new breeder.

2. Going to a large bull sale (quality is important here) and the market has to be soft. This fall was a perfect example of a soft market. I saw 20-50 bulls at the middle of a sale that would have brought $1000 more last year at the same sale. Really good bulls too. The market had softened at just the right/wrong time. Of course I wasn't buying any bulls

 

[sidney411]

Sure you can. I don't sell registered animals and I don't know a bunch about EPD's and such but I think we've done pretty good with our bulls. In the time I've been messing with cattle we've gone through 7 bulls. The cheepest one was a 4 yr old blk limo bull for $900. Bought him off a trailer in line at the sale barn. Man guaranteed him and vet confirmed it. I really liked that bull and have some of his daughters in the herd now and sold several heifers - all who have turned out to be great producers. I bought a reg. red angus this year for $1100, he is beautiful (well, as beautiful as a bull can be) I have a reg. blk angus I bought for $1600 - he's the most expensive bull I've bought but I really liked him for his frame size. I have sold 2 bulls for more money then I paid for them AND got 2 years of calves out of one a 1 year of calves out of the other. I think it really depends on your operation and what you are looking for and your location to some extent.

 

[stocky]

I have had good success buying bulls at 10-12 months old at cheaper prices. When I ran limo bulls, I would get them for 800 dollars at weaning from a very good breeder. Since I shifted to Charlois, about 10 years ago, I used to pay 800-1000 from breeders for very good bulls but now most of those breeders have gone to blacks so the price of charlois bulls has sky rocketed. I got two outstanding young bulls last week for 1250 each from a local, longtime breeder. Best bull I have ever owned, I got when the breeder brought his young bulls to an auction because of his health. There were 3 outstanding bulls and the youngest one only brought 800. He turned out to be the best bull I have ever owned and I sold him at the age of 9 for 75 cents at over 2,000 pounds. I have some neighbors who believe the quality of the bull is determined by how much he costs and they pay 2500-5000 for bulls at special sales that should have been castrated. There are also alot of gullible people who pay way too much from registered breeders because of the name and hype. These breeders feed a hot feed and really make the bull look great, but after a couple of months out with the cows, you see the flaws that were covered by fat. For a commercial cattle person, it boils down to what the bull will do for that calf and not what the breeder made some gullible person pay for the bull.