Bull Buying Tips

The selection of a herd sire is one of the very most important management decisions a producer can make. A good bull will father 20 – 40 calves a year, while a cow will parent only one. A high-quality bull is not an expense but is an investment in the future of the herd!

Regardless of whether you buy a bull at an auction or private treaty, there are some steps you should take to ensure that you are buying the best bull for your herd.

Define herd goals and objectives, identify herd strengths and weaknesses. Buyers need to take the time to consider their own breeding objectives and then select those bulls with the right combination to meet their needs. Producers can find bulls that will increase or decrease nearly every trait of economic importance.

Plan ahead and start early. Give yourself plenty of time to find the sire that best fits your specific needs.

Talk to the breeder. Purchase bulls from reputable breeders who provide records of their herd health and performance. You should not buy a bull unless a Breeding Soundness Evaluation has been performed within 60 days of the purchase date. Bulls should also be current on their vaccinations, worming, and delousing.

Inquire about performance information such as birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, average daily gain, weight per day of age, feed efficiency, frame size, scrotal circumference, and ultrasound scan data. Expected progeny differences (EPDs) may also be available from seed stock producers and give an indication of how a bull’s calves are expected to perform for certain individual traits.

Ask for a catalogue several days in advance of the sale if you are planning on buying a bull at an auction. Read through the bulls entered and create a shortlist of suitable animals. Determine what you would be prepared to pay for each bull. Do these sums in advance and be realistic in your estimates. Bull prices are at an all time high. Expect to pay more for quality bulls than you did last year.

Arrive in plenty of time to view all the bulls, but prioritize your time looking at those on your shortlist. Visually appraise structural soundness and temperament. Eliminate bulls from your shortlist which have major faults or fail to meet your herd goals. Identify “back up” bulls, which you would be prepared to buy if you do not secure your first choices.

Choose quality over price. Don’t settle for low quality bulls just because they are cheap. A bull with higher performance may cost you a couple of hundred dollars more, but can be expected to make it’s buyer an extra $2000 or more over its lifetime when siring 25 calves a year. Regardless of whether a selected sire has a favorable or unfavorable effect on the herd, if his daughters enter the cowherd, his effects, whether favorable or unfavorable, will remain for a considerable period of time. Assuming a sire is used for four years and his daughters are retained, his granddaughters and great-granddaughters may remain in the herd a quarter-century after he last sired calves. For this reason, purchases of bulls should be viewed not as a short-term expense, but as a long-term investment.