twabscs
Well-known member
Hi All,
I've been at this now for a bit over a year and I want to thank everyone for the help and support.
Last February I started with 10 older, mixed pairs. Learned a lot over the summer and sold 9 calves (kept one heifer back) at the sale barn and did well. I borrowed my neighbor's registered BA bull and bred my cows for early March calving, which I'm doing now - 3 on the ground so far.
In December I purchased an additional 37 younger, mixed, bred cows that were bred to a "black bull" and they are calving now - 7 on the ground - black or smokies. I moved quickly to build the herd after putting a business plan together. No need to wait around if I want to be profitable soon.
Anyway it's about time to buy my first bull (or two). I've been watching the bull auctions on DVauction and looking through sale catalogs and I see you can get some good bulls for under $2k, and I see why this bull buying is an important part of running/building a quality herd.
Anyway, I think I have three ways to go with a registered bull: Black Angus, Red Angus, or Hereford. However, there are also these association calf programs for all three - AngusSource, Certified RedAngus, HerefordVerified, etc.
My cows are mostly black but I would like to understand what value add these programs really provide. I would much prefer to sale my calves from the farm instead of at the salebarn, and by purchasing a registered bull I'm pretty much setting the direction of my herd, and selecting the specific breed program in which I should enroll for next year.
Anyway, the question - What is your experience with these certified, verified, source programs? The marketing material seems to show it's worth the effort, and if it doesn't work that well, the salebarn is the fallback option.
Thanks,
Tom
I've been at this now for a bit over a year and I want to thank everyone for the help and support.
Last February I started with 10 older, mixed pairs. Learned a lot over the summer and sold 9 calves (kept one heifer back) at the sale barn and did well. I borrowed my neighbor's registered BA bull and bred my cows for early March calving, which I'm doing now - 3 on the ground so far.
In December I purchased an additional 37 younger, mixed, bred cows that were bred to a "black bull" and they are calving now - 7 on the ground - black or smokies. I moved quickly to build the herd after putting a business plan together. No need to wait around if I want to be profitable soon.
Anyway it's about time to buy my first bull (or two). I've been watching the bull auctions on DVauction and looking through sale catalogs and I see you can get some good bulls for under $2k, and I see why this bull buying is an important part of running/building a quality herd.
Anyway, I think I have three ways to go with a registered bull: Black Angus, Red Angus, or Hereford. However, there are also these association calf programs for all three - AngusSource, Certified RedAngus, HerefordVerified, etc.
My cows are mostly black but I would like to understand what value add these programs really provide. I would much prefer to sale my calves from the farm instead of at the salebarn, and by purchasing a registered bull I'm pretty much setting the direction of my herd, and selecting the specific breed program in which I should enroll for next year.
Anyway, the question - What is your experience with these certified, verified, source programs? The marketing material seems to show it's worth the effort, and if it doesn't work that well, the salebarn is the fallback option.
Thanks,
Tom
