Young Replacement Bull Prices

[J&D Cattle]

With calf & killer prices up, the new Trich requirements here in MO, and the cost of feed going way up I've heard the cost of young replacement bulls will be increasing significantly this year if they already haven't. I was wondering if this was isolated to the few breeders I've spoken with or if across the country replacement bull prices are increasing rapidly. One guy I spoke to over the weekend is up $500-$800 for his yearlings. Thanks

 

[Mid South Guy]

The price the breeders are asking and the price the buyers are willing to pay are two different things. High quality bulls will always demand higher prices and lower quality bulls will always bring lower prices, and it has nothing to do with the cost of raising them. It's all about the precieved value to the buyer, not the producer. Prices may come up some because of the higher calf prices, but not much. There are too many options for serious bull buyers to find quality bulls for any one, or group of producers to raise prices much. Then you have a group, larger than we think, that will never pay over $1,500. for a bull.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

The price the breeders are asking and the price the buyers are willing to pay are two different things. High quality bulls will always demand higher prices and lower quality bulls will always bring lower prices, and it has nothing to do with the cost of raising them. It's all about the precieved value to the buyer, not the producer. Prices may come up some because of the higher calf prices, but not much. There are too many options for serious bull buyers to find quality bulls for any one, or group of producers to raise prices much. Then you have a group, larger than we think, that will never pay over $1,500. for a bull.

there's alot of em,, but i got my feelings hurt on my last one... :cowboy:

 

[Dave]

The price the breeders are asking and the price the buyers are willing to pay are two different things. High quality bulls will always demand higher prices and lower quality bulls will always bring lower prices, and it has nothing to do with the cost of raising them. It's all about the precieved value to the buyer, not the producer. Prices may come up some because of the higher calf prices, but not much. There are too many options for serious bull buyers to find quality bulls for any one, or group of producers to raise prices much. Then you have a group, larger than we think, that will never pay over $1,500. for a bull.

there's alot of em,, but i got my feelings hurt on my last one... :cowboy:

There are those who wont pay more than $1,500 for a bull. There is also those who think if you pay more than $4,000 it is a good bull. The truth is that price, either high or low, doesn't determine the quality of a bull.

 

[Julian]

The price the breeders are asking and the price the buyers are willing to pay are two different things. High quality bulls will always demand higher prices and lower quality bulls will always bring lower prices, and it has nothing to do with the cost of raising them. It's all about the precieved value to the buyer, not the producer. Prices may come up some because of the higher calf prices, but not much. There are too many options for serious bull buyers to find quality bulls for any one, or group of producers to raise prices much. Then you have a group, larger than we think, that will never pay over $1,500. for a bull.

there's alot of em,, but i got my feelings hurt on my last one... :cowboy:

There are those who wont pay more than $1,500 for a bull. There is also those who think if you pay more than $4,000 it is a good bull. The truth is that price, either high or low, doesn't determine the quality of a bull.

A 1,250# steer sold for $1.25/pound is worth $1,562.50. If a person doesn't think one of my bulls is worth 2 of his fat steers then I won't sell them a bull as they are telling me they need something different. There are a lot of cheap bulls at the sale barn. The $1,500 bull buyers should go get someone else's problem.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

you could, get a ""good"" bull to go into a commercial herd for 1500.00 before the price increase...and i trust my judgement

 

[Julian]

you could, get a ""good"" bull to go into a commercial herd for 1500.00 before the price increase...and i trust my judgement

Or you could just not cut one of your steers to have not only a cheap cow settler, but it will be easy to cash flow and if he doesn't work out you will know the breeder to blame

 

[ALACOWMAN]

no i just bought mine from cowmen, i that i know and trust ... you want to take more shots, go ahead, im here to 5 oclock....

 

[TexasBred]

you could, get a ""good"" bull to go into a commercial herd for 1500.00 before the price increase...and i trust my judgement

Sorta like horses.....nobody wants a $500 horse....mark him up to $1500 and you'll sell out before dark. ;-)

 

[SSGenetics]

The price the breeders are asking and the price the buyers are willing to pay are two different things. High quality bulls will always demand higher prices and lower quality bulls will always bring lower prices, and it has nothing to do with the cost of raising them. It's all about the precieved value to the buyer, not the producer. Prices may come up some because of the higher calf prices, but not much. There are too many options for serious bull buyers to find quality bulls for any one, or group of producers to raise prices much. Then you have a group, larger than we think, that will never pay over $1,500. for a bull.

there's alot of em,, but i got my feelings hurt on my last one... :cowboy:

There are those who wont pay more than $1,500 for a bull. There is also those who think if you pay more than $4,000 it is a good bull. The truth is that price, either high or low, doesn't determine the quality of a bull.

"You get what you pay for".... maybe not??

 

[ALACOWMAN]

you could, get a ""good"" bull to go into a commercial herd for 1500.00 before the price increase...and i trust my judgement

Sorta like horses.....nobody wants a $500 horse....mark him up to $1500 and you'll sell out before dark. ;-)

nope before the price increase here,, you could get a good AI yearling bull for 1500.00 ....FACT

 

[dun]

"You get what you pay for".... maybe not??

Not necessarrily. Some good bulls sell reasonably and some crap bulls sell skyhigh. Pretty much like anything else in life.

 

[Julian]

no i just bought mine from cowmen, i that i know and trust ... you want to take more shots, go ahead, im here to 5 oclock....

Not taking shots, just provide one avenue to the solution.

 

[ANAZAZI]

A 1,250# steer sold for $1.25/pound is worth $1,562.50. If a person doesn't think one of my bulls is worth 2 of his fat steers then I won't sell them a bull as they are telling me they need something different. There are a lot of cheap bulls at the sale barn. The $1,500 bull buyers should go get someone else's problem.

Hear! hear!

 

[ALACOWMAN]

if i can get quailty bull's reasonable for my commercial herd, thats all the solution i care about.. edit, and i aint talking stockyard bought

 

[KHereford]

What kills me is when a buyer comes by and tells us how he just sold his old herd bull that was 2250lbs and brought $1 a pound but $2500 for a young bull that I hope is going to improve his herd is too much. A few years ago we still had guys asking for the $1000 bull,ha-ha, we sold steers off the cow last year for $940, why would we carry a bull through the winter, feed him, take all the measurements and lose money on him, they usually give us a real dumb look and start back tracking there statements.

 

[Bigfoot]

I was tired of paying the high price for a bull I learned to ai years ago. Having commercial cattle, I never had much use for it. About every two years i put up my best three cows after they calve. I ai them. In hopes of getting one usable bull. Many years I have a better looking prospect with my natural cover calves. I just like fooling with it.

 

[u4411clb]

you could, get a ""good"" bull to go into a commercial herd for 1500.00 before the price increase...and i trust my judgement

Sorta like horses.....nobody wants a $500 horse....mark him up to $1500 and you'll sell out before dark. ;-)

nope before the price increase here,, you could get a good AI yearling bull for 1500.00 ....FACT

Put me down with Alacowman I recently bought a good looking yearling AI bull for $1500.00 and bought 2 registered Simmental bred heifers for $850.00 and $1250.00, but also went to a sale last week and saw bred heifers in groups of 5 I would not let a person give to me for free and they went for $2500.00 a piece. It sort of like horse hay if you say you have square bales for $5 a bale no respectable horse man will touch it say the exact same hay is $12 a bale and they will buy it all day long.

P.S. Alacowman, You know why conservatives are like slinky toys because they both make you smile when pushed down a flight of stairs.

 

[3waycross]

What kills me is when a buyer comes by and tells us how he just sold his old herd bull that was 2250lbs and brought $1 a pound but $2500 for a young bull that I hope is going to improve his herd is too much. A few years ago we still had guys asking for the $1000 bull,ha-ha, we sold steers off the cow last year for $940, why would we carry a bull through the winter, feed him, take all the measurements and lose money on him, they usually give us a real dumb look and start back tracking there statements.

Well there's the real crux of the story. If a bull is worth close to 1000 at weaning and you feed him all winter etc, and all you do is break even then what's the point.
I don't think mine are world beaters but if you buy a yearling from me for 1500 then you sure didn't go home with the top end of my bull crop!(and probably not the middle either)

 

[Dave]

It is certainly not always the case but I have seen bulls that the asking price is over $4,000 that I wouldn't put in with my cows. There is not a direct correlation between price and quality. I do realize that there is time money and effort put into raising quality bulls. However there are quality commercail bulls available for a reasonable price if a person hunts them out.

The people I have been buying most of my bulls from for the last 15 years raise reasonably priced commercial bulls. They have about 400 cows. They have been retaining ownership through the foodlot for 40+ years so you know the cattle have been working for them. They end up keeping 24 bulls evey year. About half are AI bred. Some are composits. None have papers but they keep real good records going back for years. They can tell you the weaning weight on every calf that the cows grandmother had. Their selling price..... by the pound a nickle over fat cattle price. They make more than they do on the steers that go to the feedlot because they have less into them and they sell out every year. As to the quality. I have had a number of years when my saleyard sweetie cows have weaned an average of 700 pound steers. That is February calves weaned in late September. I could buy a high priced bull and get the same results.