Semen Sales

Why is there so many semen distribution companies around? When the guys who own the bull and promote him, sell semen. Why would you bother buying it from some fly by nighter?

Housing, inventory, shipping, billing cost too much and take too much time to peddle semen 5 and maybe 10 at a time.

Cattle Visions  has offered the best friendliest customer service with very affordable shipping.  I dont consider them "fly by night" just the best in the business. That's the feed back I get from my customers year after year !! . I like the personal inquiries  but when you can refer them to another layer of professionals its a good feeling. In the past  Shipping from a stud was a complete "bad attitude" nightmare at least in this area.  I have enjoyed working with the Genex stud in Strattford, MO over the years too- 

Dealing with the public is not easy.  Every year during this time I shutter at the number of phone calls I get selling bulls. 
They lead with "How much are they"  then follow with "How many do you have" then "What are they out of"  then "What is birth weight." 

I have often wanted to say "They are $100, but they are pieces of crap that wouldn't make a good steer and I have 100 of them cause I kept them all. They are sired by Super Duper stud bull and weighed 120 pounds at birth. But they are only $100."

I am amazed at the number of buyers who care little of quality but would rather look at quantity.  But I digress....

Romax - To put it briefly, most people deal semen do not have the time, nor want to spend the effort to sell John Doe 5 straws of semen after wasting an hour on the phone with them. 

Actually what I'm getting at is guys like Lautners,Rodgers,Traush,etc promote bulls,put out catologues,and sell semen.Then these other guys come around and put out there sire listing and the bulls are the same price.So what I'm saying is all things being equal WHY wouldn't you just buy from the guy who owns the bull?

ABS comes to my house.

The reason I use the distributors is because if I want a bull Rogers has and two bulls Lautner has I only make one phone call and only pay shipping once.

ROMAX said:

Actually what I'm getting at is guys like Lautners,Rodgers,Traush,etc promote bulls,put out catologues,and sell semen.Then these other guys come around and put out there sire listing and the bulls are the same price.So what I'm saying is all things being equal WHY wouldn't you just buy from the guy who owns the bull?

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You would buy from Cattle Visions because they have all the owners bulls so you could buy Monopoly, BIM, Gucci, and Salty Dog from the same place. I'm not suggesting you use those bulls just the CV has them all.

In my case, I have a guy who comes around 6 times a year and fills my nitrogen tank.  For what he charges, he might break even or even loose money keeping nitrogen in my tank.    He stays in business on his cut of the semen that he sells.    So I try to give him all the business I can to keep the nitrogen cost down--  the bull owners will never come and fill my tank, and be dependable as this guy has for 20 years.  He also has sources to get about any thing I want, he gets the semen and drops it off in my tank and I don't pay shipping.

I know of another guy who is a distributor for a semen company and fills nitrogen tanks.  He told me about a customer that bought semen from the bull owner and even paid 3 dollars a straw more than what he was selling the same bull for.  Told the customer to get that guy to fill your tank cause he wasn't filling his tank any more.

If you have a person that dependably fills your tank and you never find it empty and hot-  take care of them like they are taking care of you.

Have a good one

colosteers said:

In my case, I have a guy who comes around 6 times a year and fills my nitrogen tank.  For what he charges, he might break even or even loose money keeping nitrogen in my tank.    He stays in business on his cut of the semen that he sells.    So I try to give him all the business I can to keep the nitrogen cost down--  the bull owners will never come and fill my tank, and be dependable as this guy has for 20 years.  He also has sources to get about any thing I want, he gets the semen and drops it off in my tank and I don't pay shipping.

I know of another guy who is a distributor for a semen company and fills nitrogen tanks.  He told me about a customer that bought semen from the bull owner and even paid 3 dollars a straw more than what he was selling the same bull for.  Told the customer to get that guy to fill your tank cause he wasn't filling his tank any more.

If you have a person that dependably fills your tank and you never find it empty and hot-  take care of them like they are taking care of you.

Have a good one

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Very good points about treating PPL that go out of their way to treat you right deserve a large amount of respect and loyalty.  <party> <rock> <beer>

In my case, I have a guy who comes around 6 times a year and fills my nitrogen tank.  For what he charges, he might break even or even loose money keeping nitrogen in my tank.    He stays in business on his cut of the semen that he sells.    So I try to give him all the business I can to keep the nitrogen cost down--  the bull owners will never come and fill my tank, and be dependable as this guy has for 20 years.  He also has sources to get about any thing I want, he gets the semen and drops it off in my tank and I don't pay shipping.

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This is very true, and also just as was mentioned, "Lautners,Rodgers,Traush,etc promote bulls,put out catologues,and sell semen".  Yes, they sell semen and if they partner with other distributors, ABS, Bull Barn, Cattle Visions, etc. Then they have an opportunity to sell more semen because of easier access and customers can avoid shipping charges.

I know of another guy who is a distributor for a semen company and fills nitrogen tanks.  He told me about a customer that bought semen from the bull owner and even paid 3 dollars a straw more than what he was selling the same bull for.  Told the customer to get that guy to fill your tank cause he wasn't filling his tank any more.

If you have a person that dependably fills your tank and you never find it empty and hot-  take care of them like they are taking care of you.

Click to expand...

Sometimes, it could be that a customer may not know that the guy who is filling his tank also has access to the semen.  Sometimes it seems like some AI companies, their reps and distributors can have very biased opinions and will not sell semen on some breeds because of their opinions.

We are dealing with that now with the dairy industry.  Crossbreeding has not been practiced as long in the dairy industry as it has been with the beef industry.  Dairymen are looking to add more strength, fertility, longevity and other traits to build and have better cows..  Other breeds that are being used are Milking Fleckvieh, Montbeliarde, Norwegian Red, Red Dane, Normandy, Swedish Red and White.

There are those who are so opposed to these other breeds that they will do anything to try and stop or prevent their customers from using other breeds.  We have been hearing more and more that  producers are or want to crossbreed and if their regular semen sales rep is unwilling to help them, then they will buy from someone else.

This can also come with negative consequences such as there rep refusing to service their tank.  We know of one company that has picked up several new customers because of this very situation.

Also, look at a sire directory from the late 70's to the early 80's.  In all of these catalogs almost every breed was represented.  Look at the sire directories today, only a handfull of breeds are represented.

Breeders should have the right to breed their cows to the breed or sire of choice.  First point of contact should be their semen supplier asking for his help.  If those suppliers can't or as in some cases WON'T then a breeders should have the right to get his semen from another source and not have or fear any consequences.

There are many good reps out there and they are not so prejudiced to think that their company is the greatest and the only source that their customer needs.