aj
Well-known member
What is the mame of the 20,000 bull and is semen available on him?
justintime said:aj... the $20,000 was real.... and I paid commission on the entire amount. What was left was in my settlement cheque. I really do not understand what is the big deal about a $20,000 bull. If I was to go to town and buy a used 1/2 ton truck, no one would suggest that the price of $20,000 was made up. My neighbours just purchased two new green combines at over $400,000 each... no one is suggesting there is anything suspicous about that deal. In reality, $20,000 is NOT a big amount of money any more. By the way, the US and Canadian dollars were almost exactly at par at sale time.
In the case of our bull, we had two syndicates try to buy him. I retained a semen interest in him and let both groups know that I would be a partner in whichever group won the bidding. The winning group was made up of 7 commercial and purebred breeders from Alberta and Saskatchewan ( I made the 8th member of the group). There were 5 in the runner up group ( I would have been the sixth if they had bought him). I do not think that a $2500- 3000 investment is much to pay for an interest in any animal that you feel will help your herd.
I personally think that there are more investment opportunities in the beef industry than ever before. A good sire or a good donor can generate many thousands of dollars, if they are promoted properly.
aj said:I wish the old bulls were gene star tested and everything so we could figure out who mr. gradability is.jmo
simtal said:I wish the old bulls were gene star tested and everything so we could figure out who mr. gradability is.jmo
I don't think genestar is gonna tell you much, marbling epd is probably a better option.
EPDs are still the most accurate predictor out there. The shorthorn assoc needs to have carcass merit testing if they wanna compete with other breeds. Get 25 of the most popular shorthorn sires used, get hooked up with cooperator herds somewhere, find a feedyard/university to do a study/collect data on a couple thousand head. That would dramatically validate and improve predictability of current epds.
coyote said:I think one of the reasons why breeders are using old bulls is because there is too much exotic blood in the Shorthorn breed now, people want to get the Shorthorn back in Shorthorn.
One thing that is hurting the breed right now is the hard doing cattle. Buy using some of these better old bulls it is adding some fleshing ability and guts back into our cattle.
justintime said:I will have to take exception to comment about the feeding practices of breeders in that era. I watches many of these breeders and they fed their cattle longer and with hotter feed than anyone does today. I worked at a well known herd , that is still around today, and I remember the hours I spent chopping potatoes which would be added to the boiled barley and corn.We fed the cattle 3 times a day.. I remember how fat these cattle were and it was completely obscene.I remember being sent out to a pasture and having to pour disinfectant between the gobs of fat on several cows to kill the maggots and to stop the infection that was starting bewtween the folds of fat. These cows were on grass with no other supplement. When this herd went to shows, their cattle looked just like everyone else's. I also remember the barns that were full of nurse cows that the yearling bulls still nursed at the shows. I can actually remember a very popular two year old bull in the 60s, that nursed on two Holstein cows , while he was on the show circuit. If you think there are Master feeders and fitters today.... I doubt if they are any better at counterfitting an animal than many in the 60s. I used to go through the barns at night when no one was around and run my hand on the inside of the flank of as many cattle as I could. I was not very old, but I was old enough to know when a flank had been cut and stitched so it would appear to be lower.