Rydero
Well-known member
I hear so many people complain about these overfed developed bulls melting in the pasture but yet if you try to sell a young bull that has not been stuffed with grain people don't want to pay anything for it. I had a reg. Red Angus low birth weight coming 2 year old bull for sale. We were going to shorthorns so that was the only reason he was for sale. I had lots if interest but no one wanted to pay much. I ended selling him for 1500 to move him along. Now I have calves out there from him and thinking I should have kept him. We want colorful calves so we are going short horn. One of the most important things we look for in a bull is handlability. If they don't want to be nice they have to leave. I have a very hands on operation. I halter break my bulls. My operation is different from most of your operations. I think everyone needs to get the best bull they can afford that fits their operation. But a high price does not always mean quality. You need to look at the bull and really evaluate him to make sure he can help you get to your goals. How will he mesh with your cow herd?
It's definitely a fine line between overfed and underfed on a bull. I usually like to get a new one early and put him on a bit of a diet before breeding season as I like them fit not fat. Sometimes you see one that someone wants to sell (for 2-3x the price of a similar aged animal that isn't a bull) and they obviously fed him poorly and they don't want to register him because it's too expensive. Why would I pay a premium for that?
It's very hard sometimes to fairly compare bulls from different homes because they're fed differently. To simplify I like to look at the epd's and then compare the ones I'm interested in vs their peers in the same herd. Because I'm looking for terminal performance I want to buy from the top performers in that breeders herd. His bulls that didn't do as well might be bigger than the guy down the road's but they're not exceptional vs their peers so I'm not interested.