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Buying Bulls With a Plan

Three young, Black Angus bulls in a pen.
Courtesy: Kristen Schurr Photography and Medicine Rocks Angus

Written by Taylor Grussing, Former Cow-Calf Field Specialist. Reviewed and updated by Kiernan Brandt, former SDSU Extension Cow/Calf Field Specialist.

Selecting new herd sires is an annual process for beef producers. But before attending any bull sales, or ordering any semen from an artificial insemination (AI) rep, take the time to read through catalogs and identify which characteristics are of the most and least importance for the next herd sire to contribute to his offspring on your operation. The ultimate selection goal is to choose a sire that will enhance the current cowherd in terms of the reproductive success of the daughters he sires, as well as the performance benchmarks of his terminal progeny. The data included in catalogs can help sort through bull consignments and AI catalogs; however, the selection process will be unique to each beef producer and their herd goals based on the environment of their operation and marketing avenue for their cattle.

Cowherd Vision

Select a herd sire that will bring complementary attributes to the cowherd as he enters the herd battery. Take the time to objectively critique areas that need improvement in your cow herd and also identify areas to improve the uniformity and marketability of future calf crops. Write a job description for the bull and target improvement through multiple-trait selection to avoid over selecting for a single trait. Extension.org has a beef sire selection decision flow chart that is handy to assist beef producers to define breeding objectives when selecting sires. Example questions they note to ask when setting up a breeding objective include: Step one: Will replacement heifers be kept? What environmental limitations are present? When will calves be marketed? Answering these questions will guide sire selection based on traits that are important to herd management and marketing. Step two is to determine the breeding group that the sire will be with: Will he be breeding heifers only, cows only or both? By answering this question, the flow chart will show producers which expected progeny differences (EPDs) and indexes to look at based on their unique answers. The remaining considerations on the flow chart gauge whether replacement heifers will be kept out of the potential sire as well as how and when terminal progeny will be marketed. If producers are retaining ownership of their cattle and marketing them on the grid, this helps simplify finding the genetics and EPDs that align with that endpoint.

Elimination

Once all the questions on the flow chart have been answered, we can then sort through sale or AI catalogs and decide which bulls possess traits that are desired/acceptable and will help meet targeted breeding objectives and progress the cowherd. Often, it is easier to begin with elimination rather than selection. Take a red marking pen and eliminate any bulls that do not meet the criteria you have established, have specific lines in their pedigree you’d like to outcross or avoid, or poor structural integrity that will inhibit their ability to effectively cover cows. Regardless, if a bull is used through AI or purchased for natural service use, it is critical that he and his offspring can remain functional and sound in the environment they will be reared in.

Selection

Now that we have narrowed down the playing field, reverse the process and begin evaluating those bulls that have acceptable ratings in desired traits. Take a new marker and highlight bulls that have EPDs and economic indexes that excel them from the rest of the herd. If bulls have pictures and videos available, closely examine these and compare them side by side for any bulls being considered to ensure that both the genetic potential and phenotype meet your criteria and will complement the phenotype of the females they will be used on. Keep in mind that single-trait selection is not recommended, and maximizing a single trait is not always ideal, but instead moderating several traits will yield optimum results. For example, repeatedly selecting bulls with high pre-weaning growth (WW) and milk EPDs would raise calf weaning weights, but it would also increase energy requirements, feed costs and mature cow size if daughters were being retained, which may not be optimal.

Sale and AI Catalogs will also have additional information, such as individual actual birth weight, weaning weights, etc. Be cautious to select sires based on these measurements that are influenced by production environment and management practices, such as creep feeding, age of dam, and grazing practices. While actual-animal performance is a useful tool for comparing closely related sires raised in similar conditions (i.e., half-siblings in the same catalog), EPD values are the most-accurate depiction of the sire’s genetic potential and his calves’ performance. New DNA technology has greatly increased the accuracy of EPDs in young bulls and provides even more insight into their genetic potential without siring any progeny. These genomic-enhanced EPDs provide producers with EPD values and accuracies of an animal that has sired 10 to 36 calves, depending on the trait.

Ranking

Now that you’ve eliminated some bulls and studied the others more closely, it’s time to rank them in order of purchasing priority. Starting with bulls that best possess the most acceptable EPDs, indexes and performance traits that fit your operation. This is easily accomplished for AI sires, and many of the major bull studs offer comparison tools on their websites. If you’re planning on attending a bull sale, make sure to review and adjust rankings accordingly and determine potential purchase order well in advance of the sale-day whirlwind. In a perfect world, hopefully some of the numbers will match up and you’ll go home with a new herd sire in the trailer!

Take time to do your homework and select the correct herd sire for your operation that will progress your operation and improve your cattle. If you do, sale day and breeding season will be more relaxing as you are confident in the investments you’ve made for your cowherd’s future.