I just dont understand

[firesweepranch]

there is a sale on Willoughby auctions where a particular bull went for $1700 per straw for his semen! They had ten different lots that each had one straw of semen, and each lot sold $1700 or higher.  It takes three straws to make a flush, so that is $5100 in just semen expenses. How can someone afford that? I have nothing against the bull, just wondering why he costs so much and how people justify that expense? Or am I reading it wrong?

here is the sale
http://www.maxanet.com/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?willoughby5/category/ALL

 

[Warrior10]

Wondered the exact same thing....

 

[Grousepark]

Supply and Demand...emotion, adrenaline, and speculation;  Economics:  Hopefully it will turn out great!

 

[Ohio1]

That was a good deal on monopoly

 

[woltemathangus]

heard it go for an upwards of $2000

 

[Showin a Shorty]

If you take that one unit and use it in IVF you could fert around 5 cows to it (providing the semen is decent quality). Last IVF cycle we did we transferred 9 embryos and got 6 pregs. If you multiply that 5 x 6 your up to around 30 pregs from that one unit of semen. Now with a bull this "hot" I'm sure you could sell the calves for a decent premium (again providing they are of decent quality). It might not make sense at first but there is a lot of technology to help stretch rare or expensive semen.

 

[johnmetzger]

I have success with 2 straws on flushes but still more money than I care to spend.

 

[breyfarm]

That was a good deal on monopoly

AGREE! wish I would have gotten in on that deal

 

[vcsf]

That was a good deal on monopoly

AGREE! wish I would have gotten in on that deal

Could someone explain to me what I am missing that makes this a good deal on Monopoly.  If I am reading correctly you got 5 straws of Monopoly and 5 straws of Monopoly 2 and it cost either $700 or $750 plus you were responsible for shipping.  Is the retail value of this not only $750 with Monopoly at $100 and Monopoly 2 at $50?


With regard to the $1700 a straw semen I saw that at Denver they sold 3 straws of semen on an old bull at $5250 per straw.  How would you like to be using that?

 

[cornish]

since when is Double Stuff semen worth 35? Every distributor still calls it $15.

 

[breyfarm]

That was a good deal on monopoly

AGREE! wish I would have gotten in on that deal

Could someone explain to me what I am missing that makes this a good deal on Monopoly.  If I am reading correctly you got 5 straws of Monopoly and 5 straws of Monopoly 2 and it cost either $700 or $750 plus you were responsible for shipping.  Is the retail value of this not only $750 with Monopoly at $100 and Monopoly 2 at $50?


With regard to the $1700 a straw semen I saw that at Denver they sold 3 straws of semen on an old bull at $5250 per straw.  How would you like to be using that?

Well  i dont know about you but 50 bucks is 50 bucks and most places your going to pay shipping for that amount and times that by 3 or 4 lots..

 

[woltemathangus]

Uncle told me a good story, he said him and a buddy were AIing a few years ago and his buddy about died when he put a straw of Baldridge Bob (i believe) in a cow. the semen was worth almost 5000 a straw.  (lol)

 

[justintime]

Why is there semen selling at $1700 per straw? The same reason there is tractors and combines selling for $350,000 each and 4X4 trucks selling for $65000-$70000. This reason is simply because there are people williing to pay that for these things. Whether it is a $1700 straw of semen, a $50,000 show heifer, or a $500,000 house, they usually only sell if the buyer thinks they are getting value or prestige. I suspect the buyers of the $1700/straw of semen are thinking they got value for their money.

 

[vet tech]

You can flush with 1

 

[firesweepranch]

Why is there semen selling at $1700 per straw? The same reason there is tractors and combines selling for $350,000 each and 4X4 trucks selling for $65000-$70000. This reason is simply because there are people williing to pay that for these things. Whether it is a $1700 straw of semen, a $50,000 show heifer, or a $500,000 house, they usually only sell if the buyer thinks they are getting value or prestige. I suspect the buyers of the $1700/straw of semen are thinking they got value for their money.

So true! so true.... has anyone heard of that bull? I am not an Angus breeder, so I am clueless!

 

[ruhtram]

Wow that's a lot of money ???

 

[justintime]

In regards to the amount of semen used in a flush, I am going to be doing several flushes for an Aussie breeder in the next few months. We had a phone conversation this afternoon and he was telling me how they have been flushing 4 donors from one straw of semen with excellent results. He said the technician has to know what he/ she is doing and a small amount of semen is placed right in the entrance of the follopian tube on  each horn of the uterus. He said they have had excellent results with 10- 14 grade 1 embryos from 4 donors and 1 straw of semen. He is wanting me to do this, as he wants to use some very rare semen of which we only have two vials and don't know of any more. I don't think I have the expertise to do this so I need to find someone with far more tech experience than I do. I have not heard of anyone in North America  flushing in this manner but this Aussie breeder says he has done it on several occasions with rare semen and has never had a bad flush yet. I'm still not totally convinced though.!

If you could flush 4 donors with one straw of $1700 semen, and get 40-50 embryos....  it starts to look like a smarter economical decision.

 

[woltemathangus]

Why is there semen selling at $1700 per straw? The same reason there is tractors and combines selling for $350,000 each and 4X4 trucks selling for $65000-$70000. This reason is simply because there are people williing to pay that for these things. Whether it is a $1700 straw of semen, a $50,000 show heifer, or a $500,000 house, they usually only sell if the buyer thinks they are getting value or prestige. I suspect the buyers of the $1700/straw of semen are thinking they got value for their money.

So true! so true.... has anyone heard of that bull? I am not an Angus breeder, so I am clueless!

Dameron First Class won Denver