3 M L & C
Well-known member
Are there any studies out there on cost of raising your own bulls for breeding vs buying bulls? Just always wandered.
3 M L & C said:Are there any studies out there on cost of raising your own bulls for breeding vs buying bulls? Just always wandered.
rancherfred said:I don't know what an official "study" of it would tell you. The experts say that you can't afford to develop your own replacement heifers. I have never understood how I can lose money raising my own replacements but someone else can make money raising replacements and selling them to me. As for raising bulls, we do it and we aren't a registered herd. I will occasionally buy a bull but most of the time we raise our own out of AI sires. We have been AIing since the early 80s so unless we have completely screwed sire selection up we ought to have a good enough cow herd to raise bulls out of. As to the financials, I don't know how that would work out if a pencil pusher went to work. I just know that I can't afford to buy the kind of bulls that I like to use.
eatbeef said:As long as you're AI'ing, raising bulls isnt a problem. But if you are just bull breeding and keeping bulls for 5 or 6 years, you will be left in the dust compared to the progressive genetics these days.
Denny said:eatbeef said:As long as you're AI'ing, raising bulls isnt a problem. But if you are just bull breeding and keeping bulls for 5 or 6 years, you will be left in the dust compared to the progressive genetics these days.
Just because they calf is AI sired does'nt garantee progress. Were useing some 35 year old semen and those calves will grow right along with the top sires in the Genex catalog so I'd say grass management will get you farther than modern genetics.
Faster horses said:Denny said:eatbeef said:As long as you're AI'ing, raising bulls isnt a problem. But if you are just bull breeding and keeping bulls for 5 or 6 years, you will be left in the dust compared to the progressive genetics these days.
Just because they calf is AI sired does'nt garantee progress. Were useing some 35 year old semen and those calves will grow right along with the top sires in the Genex catalog so I'd say grass management will get you farther than modern genetics.
I'd tend to agree, Denny. A fella here ruined his cowherd by AI'ing to the
wrong bull for several years. It's taken him a long time to straighten that
out and he did sell some. He also likes those older genetics. I often times
think the Angus seedstock producers had it more right in the 70's. Not
every individual, but in general. Bigger isn't always better, and neither is
smaller. In the 70's it seems they were more in the middle. IMHO
gcreekrch said:Nearly 1/2 of our bulls are home raised. Have never used AI. Buy good bulls and have several generations from the same supplier that manages cattle harder than we do.
We choose them at birth from older proven cows, cull at weaning and again later in the spring. Same buyers are still wanting our cattle because they grow.
My guess is we can raise a bull for less than half what it costs to buy the ones I like.
PATB said:Is it the cost or headaches and management challenges caused by having young bulls around. Young bulls will need to be seperated from the heifers/cows around weaning time unless you want some suprise packages 9 months later. The actual feed cost should not be much more than what it cost to feed heifers. The genetics are what makes the bulls worth the money or not.
BRG said:I would say, buy the best bull you can afford from a responsible seed stock supplier, and raise the best steer and heifer calves you can.
rancherfred said:BRG said:I would say, buy the best bull you can afford from a responsible seed stock supplier, and raise the best steer and heifer calves you can.
While I agree in theory, I can't in practice. If I would have to operate just with purchased bulls my herd would go in the wrong direction. In fact, the few times that I have found myself in a situation needing to purchase bulls I have never been able to afford the same quality of bulls that I can raise. It just is what it is. I go through the bull catalogs and pick out the bulls I like and that I think would fit into our herd and then go to the sale and sit on my hands while the prices blow through my top dollar with the early bidding. I don't know how others are able to justify those prices for commercial herds because I have never been able to make it figure.