When selecting a bull for your cattle operation, keep the cows in mind.
University of Missouri Extension southwest region livestock specialist Eldon Cole said the starting point is knowing the genetics in your herd. “Just because they’ve got a cow herd and they’ve been doing a certain practice or marketing it in a certain way doesn’t mean that that’s what they want to stay with, or have to stay with,” Cole said.
That means “looking at the positive traits of the cow herd, and also looking at the traits that need to be improved in the cow herd,” agreed Dr. Tom Troxel, associate head-animal science for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, told OFN. “You should look at the types of calves you want to produce and the type of market you’re trying to reach with those calves.”
Troxel said producers who plan to sell their calves at auction should seek out genetics that will result in medium-to-large framed calves with number one muscle scores. “Those two traits are really the most important in terms of getting the highest selling price,” Troxel said.
More and more producers select Angus. “Angus feeder calves are pretty well sought after at the markets,” Cole noted.
Another concern is the threat of trichomoniasis. The parasitic disease causes sterility and abortions, and Missouri regulations require all non-virgin bulls sold in the state, unless they’re headed to slaughter or castration, to test negative within 30 days of the date of sale. “I think it’s very important to purchase a virgin bull,” he said, but recommended that whether or not the bull is virgin it should be given at least 2-3 weeks of sexual rest upon arrival, and then tested for trich before coming into contact with the cows. Troxel noted, “You don’t know where that bull has been in the last 30 days.”
The downside of buying a virgin bull is the reduced accuracy of the Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs). “If we do purchase a bull that’s three or four years old and has more offspring, their expected EPDs will have more accuracy, but usually you can get a better buy with a younger bull,” Troxel said. He said it’s too soon to say whether the new science of DNA testing will prove to be more accurate than EPDs in assessing the potential of virgin bulls. “Research time and time again has shown that EPDs work,” Troxel said. “If you select bulls with high weaning weight EPDs and compare them with bulls of low weaning weight EPDs and breed them to a group of cows, there’s no doubt about it – the bulls with high EPDs will produce calves with higher weaning weights.” But he also said EPDs should not be the only criteria, and urged producers to make sure the bull is structurally correct and has the muscle pattern and other phenotypic characteristics that they want.
And regardless of the animal’s age, breed or EPD’s, he said it should come from a reputable purebred breeder. “You should never buy a bull from a sale barn,” Troxel said. “If, for whatever reason, that bull fails a breeding soundness evaluation, that purebred breeder will replace that bull for you. A reputable purebred breeder likes repeat customers, so they’re going to treat you properly.”
