Building a herd

[cowman]

These responses are great! Thanks to everyone for chiming in...sometimes the building process makes you impatient, but the predictability is priceless. Sometimes it just takes a little reminding...thanks.

 

[Top Knot]

Put more investment in the bulls. Your herd sires and AI sires influence is huge for generations to come. Identify the cows that are really working in your herd and save every daughter you can from them. They are adapted to your management and environment and will be your most consistent producers. If you go elsewhere to buy females, I agree with looking for bargains. High priced cows are just that - high priced. You don't want cows that look their best the day you get them home. Find breeders that have similar management to yours and a health/testing program you're comfortable with (Johnes, BVD PI, etc). If you can find someone that NEEDS to sell, those are your best bargains. The fancy sales from the hottest breeders are good entertainment, but in my opinion, not the best place to find the best value. Be patient, work hard at your AI program, and base it on PROVEN bulls.

 

[Cattledog]

Put more investment in the bulls. Your herd sires and AI sires influence is huge for generations to come. Identify the cows that are really working in your herd and save every daughter you can from them. They are adapted to your management and environment and will be your most consistent producers. If you go elsewhere to buy females, I agree with looking for bargains. High priced cows are just that - high priced. You don't want cows that look their best the day you get them home. Find breeders that have similar management to yours and a health/testing program you're comfortable with (Johnes, BVD PI, etc). If you can find someone that NEEDS to sell, those are your best bargains. The fancy sales from the hottest breeders are good entertainment, but in my opinion, not the best place to find the best value. Be patient, work hard at your AI program, and base it on PROVEN bulls.

Buying a herd bull requires you to have enough cows to justify the purchase.  I have 20 cows and no herd bull.

 

[aj]

I always wondered about people buying bulls at sales without seeing the dams in person. Also how many people buy bulls for big money. Then the bulls sire bwt calves or bad udders. But the buyer stays with him cause he's a grandson of some special cow or whatever. They have to use them cause they paid 7,000$ or whatever for them. Then you end up promoting something you don't even like. It just almost seems like it gets to be a vicious circle. You are now trying to push a big birth weight bull on some other sucker to recap your money.jmo

 

[dlc]

I think buying genetics is only one part of building a herd, yes genetics are expensive but so are fancy trailers and feed wagons and processing facilities. I think the best way to buy genetics is buying semen on proven bulls that are priced resonably. You can make alot more on a $250 rack of semen than tring to out bid someone on the bull of the day. And as far as cows I think cows need to be balanced genetically, by that I mean not all cows need to look the same or be the same size, but they need to be able to produce what you want them to in one breeding so you don't get caughtn chasing trends. Finally I think you need to learn to look inside your own herd as much as posible, your best cow is probable better than a big name herd's average cow so don't buy average genetics from him hoping it will advance your herd.