We need more Lower Tier Bulls

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Bright Raven

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Some of my neighbors live by a code: no self respectable commercial beef producer ever pays more than $1500 for a bull.

A friend of mine who lives about 2 miles from here has a Limousin bull he uses on shabby Charolais cows that reminds me of a crocodile with long legs.  He paid $1500 for that bull.  He was over here a couple days ago.  He saw my fall bulls in the bull pen.  He ask about the white face Optimizer Bull.  I told him I expect he is worth about $1800.  You would have thought I kicked him in the gut.

Although it is a highly specialized and demanding vocation, someone has to meet the demand for cheap, inferior bulls.   My question is this: Do the users on this forum see that as a sinful occupation?  I feel guilty not being able to help these commercial farmers.  Unfortunately, I have invested in nice stock, spend the time and money to AI my cows to good bulls so cannot meet their needs.

Can anyone refer me to a source of low end bulls to meet the needs of the great unwashed?
 
I see good bulls sell cheap at some of the bull test sales. For the bull to make the sale he's a purebred, proven to gain weight, have no defects in his DNA, passed a BSE, and up to date on all shots and vaccinations. I could of bought 50+ bulls this year for less than what you think you bull is worth.
 
True Grit Farms":2udt0gsf said:
I see good bulls sell cheap at some of the bull test sales. For the bull to make the sale he's a purebred, proven to gain weight, have no defects in his DNA, passed a BSE, and up to date on all shots and vaccinations. I could of bought 50+ bulls this year for less than what you think you bull is worth.
+1
 
I have seen bulls go cheap. Even as low as $1500 at high profile auctions.

It brings to mind all the effort we put into raising good cattle but there is a large portion of the industry that does not see the value you and I do in quality. They could not care less about the pedigree or breed characteristics.
 
We bought some yearling registered Herefords off of a bull sale in the $850 range that would have weighed 1100 plus. We bought them because they were cheap enough to cut and feed but ended up not cutting them because they were nice looking bulls and their epds looked pretty good. The registered bull business has not been good in our area lately.
 
We have a place in town where we keep replacment heifers and butcher bulls. There are always 3 or 4 bulls 1-2yrs old. We have people calling wanting them for herd bulls pretty regularly. They all want to pay in that $1000-1500 just like you are talking about.
 
It's called STOCKYARD! But I've also seen some pretty nice younger bulls go dirt cheap this Year. Some of these people should just keep their own bull calf and raise and use. They don't want to pay for nothing when its time to purchase and then whine and be upset if their calves don't do well and bring top $.
 
Ojp6":2tat0ru6 said:
We bought some yearling registered Herefords off of a bull sale in the $850 range that would have weighed 1100 plus. We bought them because they were cheap enough to cut and feed but ended up not cutting them because they were nice looking bulls and their epds looked pretty good. The registered bull business has not been good in our area lately.
I would list
Number one cost wise here would be

Char/Brangus
Hereford due to availability
Angus

The rest are virtually non existence
 
Even a rag tag herd needs a bull that can pass a BSE, that's the bulls only job. And a bull with Trich or some other VD will ruin your bottom line. A small producer can't afford to feed open cows.
 
True Grit Farms":2d2r9hek said:
Even a rag tag herd needs a bull that can pass a BSE, that's the bulls only job. And a bull with Trich or some other VD will ruin your bottom line. A small producer can't afford to feed open cows.
A lot of the small producers here purchase at bull sales at the salebarn.
They put one on pretty regular with decent animals.
Not the way I do it
 
I know of several whom have money to take nice vacations, cruise's, buy brand new pickups, and etc... but won't spend just a decent figure for a decent bull. They go to the sale barns and around and about different breeders jewing about their bulls to get a bull.
 
Bright Raven":1gq70h9z said:
I have seen bulls go cheap. Even as low as $1500 at high profile auctions.

I always comment to my wife at some of these high profile bull sales around us about why guys that won't spend much on bulls don't go to these sales and buy their "junk" bulls. Even their "junk" is pretty darn good compared to going to the sale barn. One big farm we have purchased from offers a 1 year warranty no questions asked even for their back page bulls. I've seen some go for less than $1500.
 
I haven't spent less than $3K for a bull in a long long time.. if ever, except for my homeraised bulls.

Perhaps a distiction could be made between "not seeing the value" and "not being able to pencil it out"...

When I bought my Limo bull for $3500, it was easy to pencil out.. I got $3100 for my 7 year old Gelbvieh bull in meat.. certainly I can afford $400 extra!
This time around I might not be so lucky, I figure I'll get ~$2K for the Limo, and probably be paying $3K again for the new one.. still ain't bad.
 
The people that were hitting us up for the bulls typically had <10 head. When you look at it from that stand point its smart on their part. A lot smarter then spending $2.. 3.. 5K on a bull. They can buy a young bull, breed their cows one maybe two years, or how ever long he will be satisfied with 8 cows... and haul him to the auction. Get another for next time. If you pay $1300... breed 8 cows 2 years... I bet you get real close to you money back in the end. Pretty smart IMO.
 
FlyingLSimmentals":2lmck876 said:
I know of several whom have money to take nice vacations, cruise's, buy brand new pickups, etc...
but won't spend just a decent figure for a decent bull.
They go to the sale barns and around and about different breeders jewing about their bulls to get a bull.
Sounds like Proof that "A penny saved is a penny earned."
And that managing input costs is more profitable than over paying for any Unproven bull with a fancy pedigree.
Those that really care about Top Genetics use PROVEN A.I. sires not over priced unproven sons of A.I. sires.

IF you had more proof buying bulls at sale barn = new pickups, and vacation cruises.... sale barn here I come! :banana:
 
The cheapest of the cheap will buy old bulls from others that are starting to get questionable in terms of reliability and bull calves/yearlings at the auction. If 1/2 their cows end up open, it's no big deal as the farm is just a write-off for taxes anyways. Off-farm work and pension checks pay the bills, vacations and new trucks. Their herds are quite often loaded with BVD and local buyers learn the hard way to keep a wide berth from their cattle offering.
 
There will always be "bottom feeders" as I like to call those who don't care if the bull looks like a whitetail buck, as long as he mounts a cow every once in a while. Most of these guys around here run enough head to justify a decent bull, but they're stuck in the 80's when it comes to the price of things in 2017. Hey, somebody has got to produce the beef for all that canned stew!
 
M.Magis":9gzn94v1 said:
Seemingly endless supply at the nearest salebarn. Plenty of guys here will use anything with nuts.
That would be the source I would recommend to someone that wanted a cow freshener. With any luck it wouldn;t have tric from breeding some other guys sorry cows.
A short story. Had a neighbor that had some pretty sorry cows that always bought his bulls at the salebarn. When we sold out and moved, he hauled everything he had to the sale barn, and bought our herd. We cut the fence and ran my cows through to his place. He had always commented on how good our cows were and didn;t understand why his were junk. I went on travel to that area about 5-6 years later and stopped by his place. He still had a few of our old cows but most everything else on the place was junk. He was running a corriente brahman cross bull on his cows that year. He commented that he had noticed the quality of his calves had gone down over the years. No Schitt sherlock! Learned then the valuable lesson, "You can never go home again" and expect anything good.
 

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