What do y'all spend?

I have been comparing semen prices lately and I was wanting to use some Duff semen. $30 a pop is just a bit stiff for my situation. I'm more used to the $15 stuff. What do expect to budget each year for semen? This is my first year handling that expense and I just wanted to know what the cost is of bringing superior genetics.

When buying semen you cant look at it as an expense... you have to look at it as an investment.  Say you did spend the $30 on a few of those bulls compared to the $15 you are used to paying but when it comes time to sell calves the calves out of your $15 bull bring 800-1000 dollars and the calves out of your $30 bulls bring 1250-1500 dollars.  If you look at it that way then that extra $15 is a pretty cheap investment if you ask me.  For me when it comes to buying semen i find bloodlines that I like and find what bulls are going to click well with my cows and then I buy semen from those bulls.  And if those bulls are an extra 5-10 dollars more a straw... who cares as long and you are getting the results you want and you are happy with the calves.  And like I said before if you get the couple of extra hundred dollars at sale time, then spending the extra $15 at breeding time seems pretty cheap.  But that is just my opinion.

Considering the time and effort and expense of getting cows ready to AI, $30 vs $15 for semen isn't much difference if you're producing calves that are worth a premium.  I know that it all adds up, but this just isn't a place that it pays to skimp, IMO.

I've been selling semen for almost 20 years, and back then $15 semen was the rule, but what else hasn't gone up since then?  I know there are still some $15 bulls available, but $20 is pretty much the rule for base price on the newer promoted bulls.  Considering the cost of breeding or buying and promoting a really good bull, semen prices may not even be keeping up.  After all, we use bulls that have been promoted at least partly because that promotion is already in place for the calves we get out of them.  All things considered, $20 to $30 doesn't seem too bad to me.

All that said, $30 is about the most I give unless it's for a flush or at least a proven mating... Again, just my opinion.

OK, thanks. In thinking about that, it seems to make more sense to pay good money for good genetics than waste it on poorer ones.

how much do you believe in your own program?  buy a bull you beileve in...have him colected, use him, even clean up with him if it works for you then build...are you going to lead or follow?  this industry is full of band wagonners, cut your own swath...don't follow the herd.

If you are going to go through the hassle and expense of an AI program, do yourself a favor and buy the best genetics you can that  match up well with your females. Semen cost should NEVER be a deciding issue in an AI program. Figure out your costs on owing a bull and then you will realize that bull ownership is the most expensive but also the most convenient. If the semen is only $15, do yourself a favor and "JUST SAY NO". If you are serious about the livestock industry then please make serious mating decisions.

Just my thoughts!!

Well, just because it costs $15 doesn't neccesarily mean it's bad.  There are some older bulls still selling at $15 that can work really well in the right scenario, and a few younger bulls selling at that price that might also work very well too, but they aren't the highly promoted ones.  It all depends on what you're trying to produce, but if you're talking about $5 to $15 difference, I truly believe it pays in the long run to select for the genetics you want to use rather than the price you want to pay.

Over the last 5 years, the cheapest I have bought has been $25, the highest has been $1500. (Yes, $1500 per straw.) I would say I rarely spend less than $30.

I have never really considered the expense per straw if I see a bull I think will match up with my cows. Like others have said, by the time you get to the point of actually AI'ing the cow (sync drugs, heat check aids, time/labor, cattle working facilities) I figure the cost of the semen is irrelevant.  Heck, that is the best time of the year, when I go through semen catalogs, travel around looking at calves and calling owners. I love it!

I have never figured out why many people get so hung up on the price of semen. Of course, there are upper limits you can afford to pay, however, when you are looking at semen between $15 - $35 per straw, that is only $200 difference on a cane of 10 straws. If I am going to go to all the work of watching cows, getting them in, synch drugs, etc etc I want to make sure I am using the best genetics I can afford for each cow. This cattle breeding thing can be a real mind game, and I usually spend many hours each year, thinking about the options I think should work on each cow. On my heifers, I usually breed them all to an easy calving bull,as I feel it is important to have a trouble free calving the first time.
I would be much more concerned about the quality of the bull being used, and the quality of his semen. Also, there often is a reason some bulls are higher priced. Sometimes, the bull owner prices the semen higher, so that he will get used on higher quality females, rather than across an entire herd. I see good logic to this approach.

In the long run, the price of the semen is one of the minor considerations. I find that many ranchers have a much clearer vision on the importance of buying good sire power. Many will spend $3000-$4000 ... or more for good bulls. In our bull sale last spring, we had commercial producers buying bulls to $4850, and I have seen many in other sales pay much more than this. Quality is seldom cheap, and it almost always pays dividends .
Another thing to remember is that the price of the semen does not refer to the quality of the sire. A bull who sells for $15 per straw can be just as good as a bull who sells at $45 per straw. This is where you have to study you lessons and make decisions on what you  think will work best for the end product you are trying to produce.

Just caus they charge more for semen do doesn't mean it is better semen , an especially if it is a young bull with no proof  of quality progeny.  It is easy to price semen higher, if I'm giving more for semen I want a bull with more accuaracy than just a young shot in the dark, an some breeders it don't matter how great the bull is if they are selling semen they price all of them at thirty , an some are  trying to get 50.00  Quality seme n is worth more if it is proven.

Most of the semen we buy is 20 - 30/ straw.  I'm looking for semen on a couple bulls and I know it will be considerably more than that but it will be used to flush.  By the same token,  we have semen in the tank that we bought at an auction for $5.00/unit.  I can guarantee that some of that is worth it's weight in gold when breeding heifers.   

Thanks you all for the input. I really learned a lot here. I think it's worth it to go ahead and spend a little more on bulls that will improve your program versus trying to squeak by with cheap stuff. Thanks again.

Again, just keep an open mind when it comes to selecting the right sires. The price of the semen can have little relationship to the quality of the bull. Sometimes, the price is governed by semen supply, especially on bulls that are dead. Pick the sires you think are best, within a price range you can afford.  Sometimes a $15 bull will give you as good calves as a $50 bull. The trick comes in figuring out which one will work best with the cows you have at home.

Go to Ohlde's site! That's where most of Duff's genetics originated and semen is reasonable the last I checked!

I was going to that a young bull not proven might not be worth 50$. I have seen full brothers almost be on opposite end of trait spectrums when siring calves. I am sure there are undiscovered bulls out there that never get used. I always hated to see the 60,000$ bull calves that sell and everybody stands around slapping each other on the back congratulting themselves on buying a share then the bull is no good.