garybob
Well-known member
ITK,itk said:justintime said:I do not want to condone anyone buying their next herd bull at a sale barn, but occasionally you do see some excellent herd sires go through. My dad worked at a local sale barn for many years when I was a kid. One day he saw an impressive bull come through. It turned out to be a former Grand Champion bull at a major bull sale. The owner was there and he spoke with him and found out that he was selling him as he had sold most of his cows due to poor health and was only keeping a few daughters. Dad purchased the bull and he was probably one of the best herd sires we used back then. I wish I had semen on him as I think he would be extremely popular today.
When we were still feeding cattle, we used to feed mature bulls occasionally. A order buyer put 400 mature bulls in our lot one fall and I was amazed at the number of quality herd sires that were in the pen. I remember a couple of horned Hereford bulls that came from southern Alberta that were two of the best bulls I have ever seen . All these bulls were purchased from sale barns, and while none of them were resold for breeding purposes, many of these bulls certainly could have been.
There is no law that restricts anyone where they can buy a bull to use in their herd. I think a sale barn manager telling anyone who the seller is, is only doing his job. I oftentimes ask who the seller is, if I see a good set of heifers or steers. I have also seen sale barns announce who the seller is in cases where the seller has developed reputation stock. The sale barn manager's job should be to help sell the cattle that come to his business... and that included bulls that do not have papers.
Lying to anyone will only come back to bite you in the butt. I agree that it bothers me when I see people buying their herd bulls out of the sale barn,when I have a pen of bulls at home. But this only serves as incentive for me to promote and advertise my bulls even more. You have to develop your own reputation for your cattle, and not worry about the few that buy at the sale barn. When I look at all the bulls available to any cattle owner in my area, it would be easy to think that I will not sell any bulls at all. I will have about 700 bulls offered for sale at auction in the next few months, within 50 miles of my farm. I doubt if these will all find new homes, but I plan to do everything in my power, to promote my bulls and find new homes for them. In the event that some don't sell, at least I know that I did my part to try and market them properly. I have only had one year in the last 8 years when I did not sell all my bulls. This spring may result in some remaining here unsold, but I will not know that until the breeding season is over. In the meantime, I will try to do my part in getting them moved to new owners.
In most cases, the guy who buys a herd sire at the sale barn is not a a quality potential bull buyer to you or anyone else. These guys are cheap and are only concerned about getting their cows pregnant and they have no breeding program at all. Most likely they would not buy a good bull for a decent dollar anyways. I find this discussion no different than having to deal with one of my neighbours who leases about 50 bulls each year at $400 per bull, or others who sell bulls at $1100. I have no idea how these guys figure that they are making any money... as they obviously aren't, but they continue to do this year in and year out.
We sold a former Louisville Champion at the sale barn and you should have seen the look on the workers faces when he stepped off of the trailer. He was still producing quality semen and could have covered cows however he was getting some age and lacked the motivation to do so. Someone might have got a heck of a deal if they would have bought him and he bred a few cows but chances are he would have just stayed under a tree all summer.
Were cows checking "open", or were they still getting bred? Chances are, those older bulls look lazy to us, but, really, they are smarter in their old age. They won't folllow a cow for days. They'll "Hit it" one time, and go and chew their cud. The cow still settles just fine. That's myFIRST-Hand experience with older sires of many breeds. Shorthorn, Horned Hereford, Polled hereford, Angus, South Devon, Charolais, Limousin, and (Daddy's favorite) Gelbvieh.
GB
