$10,000

Help Support Steer Planet:

savaged

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
730
Location
Greenfield OH
I've lately been mulling this over and wonder about other's opinions.  If this fall you can allocate about 10 grand to the ole herd, would you rather purchase a bred (maybe two) or would your acquire 3 - 4 sets of really good embryo's?  Of course, the primary objective is to turn profit within a 3 - 4 year timeframe.
 

knabe

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
13,639
Location
Hollister, CA
10,000 on embryo's and sell the offspring in 3 years without being the same person you bought them from?


or do i have that wrong.
 

savaged

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
730
Location
Greenfield OH
knabe said:
10,000 on embryo's and sell the offspring in 3 years without being the same person you bought them from?


or do i have that wrong.


I'm saying that either way, within a three or  four year period (say you kept a replacement from an e.t. calf) I'd like to have recouped that initial investment.  Of course the quicker the better :)
 

Limiman12

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
469
Location
SW. Iowa
Wouldn't investing the 10k extra in a bull make a bigger impact?  Buy the best bull you can, turn him out with 25-30 cows and have 25-30 calves that are better then they otherwise would have been.  Of course AI allows you to reach better bulls then you can afford but you still have a cleanup bull that sires a lot of calves if you are a typical herd.....  Or even lease a great bull...  I guess I have always believed bulls are the quickest way to improve a herd.
 

Limiman12

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
469
Location
SW. Iowa
Knabe has a good idea as well......  Depends on what your goal is, just making money or I proving your herd in the process.  Do you have plenty of feed?    We have done well the last few years buying old broken mouth cows in the late winter that are bred but have not been foraging well through the winter.  Through a little. Extra feed at them and sell the cow and calf in the fall...... 
 

trevorgreycattleco

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 22, 2010
Messages
2,070
Location
Centerburg, Ohio
Limiman12 said:
Wouldn't investing the 10k extra in a bull make a bigger impact?  Buy the best bull you can, turn him out with 25-30 cows and have 25-30 calves that are better then they otherwise would have been.  Of course AI allows you to reach better bulls then you can afford but you still have a cleanup bull that sires a lot of calves if you are a typical herd.....  Or even lease a great bull...  I guess I have always believed bulls are the quickest way to improve a herd.


Aren't good bulls just products of superior cows? If I had ten grand to play around with I'd find a linebred son of the best cow you can find. Well, wait, that's not a shirt term deal.

I'd go to the stockyard and buy the off colored cattle in the spring. Graze them all season and sell them in the fall. Your ten grand just grew and now you can buy a better bull.  (dog)
 

justintime

Well-known member
Joined
May 26, 2007
Messages
4,346
Location
Saskatchewan Canada
It would partly depend on what size herd you have if you want to purchase a bull. I delivered a bull to a commercial producer a few days ago who has done this very well. This family purchased a Shorthorn bull in our Sun Country sale for $7850. They have a herd of mainly Simmental X Angus females and they believe in buying the best bulls they can to improve their herd. On the same day of our sale, they also purchased a Simmental bull in the Wheatland sale for $14,000. This is the 4th Wheatland bull they have purchased and they have all been between $14,000- $20,000. They started their own bull sale a few years ago selling mostly crossbred bulls ( Simmental X Angus) and this year they averaged $5560 on 59 bulls with a top of $9850. I think most purebred breeders would love to have a bull sale as good! This family truly believe that the best bulls they can buy are the best way to improve their herd in the fastest manner. They have also purchased some high selling Angus females in recent years and also combine breeds in a very good ET program. The cow they consider to be their best cow in their herd, is 50% Simmental, 25% Angus and 25% Shorthorn. She was the dam of their high selling bull at $9850. She has also produced several other top progeny for them. She is at an ET center now, and is being flushed to some good Simmental and Shorthorn sires.
While visiting with this family, I asked them why they had decided to purchase a Shorthorn bull after the success they have had with their Simmental and Angus crosses. They said that they felt that Shorthorns were going to be the next breed to see great acceptance in the beef industry and that they wanted to have Shorthorn and Shorthorn cross genetics available when it hit.
Buying good herd bulls has certainly worked in this program. It may not be a similar situation if a person had a herd of 12-15 cows.
 

trevorgreycattleco

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 22, 2010
Messages
2,070
Location
Centerburg, Ohio
Why buy a bull just to try and make money? That's a huge gamble on a unproven animal. Then you need to promote him. Prove him out and hope he works. Bulls are mostly sold by their sire these days. Most ads say he is out of monopoly and his dam is sired by who made who. No mention of cow families or track record of the cow. Not always but it's the majority. I'd like to see more focus on the cow side. OCC sent me their semen ad. The Dixie Erica 1019 built that herd. Not emblazon. Yet he gets most of the credit. You'll see that cow in more of his bulls pedigree then any other cow. Only way I'd risk a new young bull purchase is if he was linebred to a proven cow or cow family with no surprises.

Just my thoughts today as the grass turns green and my second load of feeders is on it's way in two days. More pure shorthorns. Life is good.


I still need another 21 calves to fill my order.
 

frostback

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
2,068
Location
Colorado
Limiman12 said:
Wouldn't investing the 10k extra in a bull make a bigger impact?  Buy the best bull you can, turn him out with 25-30 cows and have 25-30 calves that are better then they otherwise would have been.  Of course AI allows you to reach better bulls then you can afford but you still have a cleanup bull that sires a lot of calves if you are a typical herd.....  Or even lease a great bull...  I guess I have always believed bulls are the quickest way to improve a herd.

If this is a purebred operation then a bull may be a good investment. Find one out of a proven known cow and go from there. If it is a clubby operation walking bulls are not worth much. Try to sell a calf out of a herd bull. I see a few calves in sales being out of a so and so son but they usually don't sell well. With grain being worth so much its almost better just to ship those calves right after weaning and turn them into feed for the AI sired calves.
 

jbzdad

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
783
Location
southwestern Kansas
I have more embryos in the tank than I have recips and the fellow that runs cattle with me has several recip grade cows that are going to be late

I am thinking about buying those pairs and selling the calves off ( these calves are not show quality) .. and taking the cows to the embryologist and ask him to try to get them AI'ed within a month of the others..

if this works I will be moving them up about a month and getting those embryos in.. to make it work I need to convince him to sell them for market price
I need 4-5 and I think that will be about 10K

is that a good use of 10K?

 

Freddy

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Messages
2,720
Location
North central -- Nebraska on highway 183 - 30 mi
The casino is the quickest way to invest and find out whether you win or lose ...

AS FAR as investing in cattle or embryo's it depends on the guy you purchase from and his integrity and honesty to make this work ...The big outfits probably wouldn't spend much time working with you and not much  interest in making it work  You need a good honest breeder with top cattle and a honest program to work with ....
 

jbzdad

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
783
Location
southwestern Kansas
i have some of my own... I only have about 16 cows but have been able to flush some of the heifers we have sold and some of my own

just have about 18 embryos I would like to get in and not quite enough recips

this is one of those embryos we sold last year
 

Attachments

  • Jpeg 5W.JPG
    Jpeg 5W.JPG
    49.7 KB · Views: 168
Top