Feasibility of Collecting My Own Bull

[Barry Farms]

Hello All,

We have what my dad considers to be the best bull we've ever had. He's now almost 6 yrs old (Jan '14 calf) and it's time to get rid of him due to having daughters etc. I want to have him collected. Question 1: Is it worth the trouble?

About the bull: Bought from a relative (registered Angus breeder local to North East MO) [Bull is AAA 17956082] and just planned to use on heifers. Turned out to be an all-around stud. His calves off of heifers were outgrowing calves off our more expensive bulls we bought for cow keeping. We showed his steers at county and state fairs. They had natural muscle and excelled in the rate of gain and carcass competitions, and did pretty well in the show (still can't compete with club calves). We ended up keeping some daughters that are now pretty good cows themselves even though we never bought him for this purpose or used him on the main herd they just were standouts from young cows. Only pulled 1 calf (he was backwards) using him since 2015. Approximately 25 females / yr, first 3 years of service only heifers & 2 yr olds.

Question 2: In your experience will people buy semen on an unknown bull like this for $12/straw?. It's cheap but I like him I think others would too. I question that we will ever go through all these straws but I need to get quite a few to make this economical, hence I want to sell a few on the cheap. Thanks guys,

Jackson Barry

 

[cbcr]

The bull does have some good ancestry.

It is a fact that there are and will always be bulls that can outperform bulls that are in the bull studs, but for some reason most people want to use the flavor of the month.

Given the fact that he has worked well in your herd and the outstanding offspring you have had from him, then yes I would collect him even if it were to be for your own use.  If he worked that well, chances are slim that you can find another bull that could do what he has done for you.

As for selling semen and promoting the bull.  Take pictures of his daughters.  If you have pictures of animals that were shown and their placings, that will help too.  $12 per unit is not expensive at all for semen.  One place that you could promote him is to dairy producers who are breeding parts of their herds to beef.

 

[CRS]

If you are pretty close to Hawkeye, they make it pretty easy for you to go up and have him collected and return with semen the same day.  We are taking one out this Spring and I was surprised at how reasonable it was to collect one and to even have sexed semen done.  If you email them they will send you all of the requirements along with a price sheet, so you'll know exactly what you'll have in it.

 

[CAB]

Jackson please try to call me. 712-542-7263. Thanks Cab

 

[cbcr]

If you are pretty close to Hawkeye, they make it pretty easy for you to go up and have him collected and return with semen the same day.  We are taking one out this Spring and I was surprised at how reasonable it was to collect one and to even have sexed semen done.  If you email them they will send you all of the requirements along with a price sheet, so you'll know exactly what you'll have in it.

I definitely agree on Hawkeye!  And if you are thinking of selling semen, they can store it and ship it too!

 

[knabe]

make sure you use those popular "stud" bulls in a contemporary group with your bull and turn in data on the worst one's from the stud's bulls.


you know they do the opposite by limiting access to only the best cows initially.

 

[oakview]

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone say "I wish I had collected that bull" I wouldn't be rich, but I'd sure have a lot more money than I have now.  The second most frequent comment I hear is "I sure wish I hadn't thrown out all that old semen."  I guess there's a thin line between "insurance" and "hoarding."  If you like the bull and what he's done for you, the cost of collecting 100 straws of semen is low.  It sometimes really works to come back with your previous bloodlines after a couple generations of something else.  I've got semen from quite a few of my old herd bulls, some nearly 50 years old.  I'm glad I have it.  As far as selling semen goes, that's a tough business.  The ones that truly succeed are few and far between.