# North Dakota Bull.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Very impressive.

Regards, Mike

https://www.agweb.com/article/is-a-bull-really-worth-800000-naa-greg-henderson/


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

404 not found...


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Was working....anyway try it now Chris.

Regards, Mike


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Works now.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

$1000 per straw probably? I did have a question about longhorns. Why would I care how long the horns are at 3 years of age? Why would horn length matter at all? Last I checked my market docks me pretty hard for horns.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I asked a neighbor friend how they ever justified paying $40 K for a bull. He said the bull had already paid for itself by selling semen. All that is a different world that the one I live in.

I guess $1K straws would go a long way in rationalizing an eight hundred thousand dollar investment.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Second highest dollars I have been a bovine sell for after the 1.2 million dollar holstein cow that sold here a few years ago.

Are they going to use the fact he sold for $800 000 as a sales pitch when selling seman? Probably. With my luck if I bought him he would die before I signed off on the insurance for him.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I never owned a bull anywhere close to those obscene prices. But the most expensive bull that I ever owned I bought at a University Bull Sale. He topped the sale and I was very proud of him, I took him home and kept him in the barn a few days and petted on him. He was a very gentle beautiful Hereford to go with my black cows. He was halter broke and I led him out to the girls and he was happy. That night he jumped the electrified 5 strand barb wire fence and caught his penis on the top strand and broke it.....never to recover. I got one bull calf out of him. I have told this before but it has been many years ago.

Regards, Mike


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

Vol said:


> I never owned a bull anywhere close to those obscene prices. But the most expensive bull that I ever owned I bought at a University Bull Sale. He topped the sale and I was very proud of him, I took him home and kept him in the barn a few days and petted on him. He was a very gentle beautiful Hereford to go with my black cows. He was halter broke and I led him out to the girls and he was happy. That night he jumped the electrified 5 strand barb wire fence and caught his penis on the top strand and broke it.....never to recover. I got one bull calf out of him. I have told this before but it has been many years ago.
> 
> Regards, Mike


When I was first getting started with my own cattle, I had nothing but bad luck with yearling bulls. Penis Injuries and broken legs was my luck with bulls I had just bought that spring. Not what you need when your just getting started and money is tight. Hard enough to find the money to buy the bulls you need in the spring, even harder to find the money to replace him midseason. The worst one was a yearling we turned out one day and the next day had a broken hind leg. I was going to shoot him but Dad said no lets try and load him up and take him home. Dad unloaded him next to a water tank at home, put hay close by and grained him every day. Took him a year to heal up and put weight on but was able to butcher him. Now I buy bulls from two brothers that have a first year guarantee. They'll even pay for loss of use if the bull is injured or goes bad. I've never needed it as I've never had a problem since I started buying bulls there.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I buy registered bulls. I only buy what I can afford. To me, that means what I can write a check for.

Now and then I go to a registered bull sale just to take a break. I still can't pencil out paying 5K - 8K for a bull to use live cover on commercial cows. He is only going to breed a set number of cows a year and I do not see those calves bringing enough added value to justify the expense.

Heck, I feel like a big dog just owning one that has papers and EPD's. Not that I can decipher the EPS's.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

Tim/South said:


> I buy registered bulls. I only buy what I can afford. To me, that means what I can write a check for.
> 
> Now and then I go to a registered bull sale just to take a break. I still can't pencil out paying 5K - 8K for a bull to use live cover on commercial cows. He is only going to breed a set number of cows a year and I do not see those calves bringing enough added value to justify the expense.
> 
> Heck, I feel like a big dog just owning one that has papers and EPD's. Not that I can decipher the EPS's.


To each his own. All my bulls are registered anymore. I like EPDs as a tool to measure traits that I feel I need to add to my cows and for calving ease low birth weight heifer bulls. I also like them to be DNA tested as it makes me more confident in the EPDs. I know the numbers aren't everything and you still have to give a bull a visual inspection to make sure he fits. The highest I've paid for a bull was 8k and I usually average around 5k. I don't always get the bulls I'm after at the sale when they go higher then I'd like to pay but I won't buy a bargin bull just to breed the cows if he won't bring change in genetics the way I want to go. I don't have a perfect cow herd and there is always room for improvement so I buy bulls that I hope will bring a little improvement to my herd.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It would be tough to pay 8K to breed to commercial cows, but the better bulls do pencil when one improves his herd by going from commercial cows to a little more performance line of cows. The market right now is not encouraging, but it is a good time to improve your cow herd....whether through better heifer calves or general young cow purchases.

Regards, Mike


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

IHCman said:


> The highest I've paid for a bull was 8k and I usually average around 5k.


How many cows will one of your bulls breed per year?

I buy good bulls from good blood, with good EPD's, semen tested, good conformation and disposition. I usually buy them around 20 months old from a breeding farm. I want one farm raised on a pasture with little grain or added feed. These usually run about $2500.

I added a good Angus bull this past fall. He was one of 5 bulls a neighbor had bought to breed heifers. I got to pick from the 5 and only paid 2K for a bull coming 2 years old.

When I go to the bull sales I see pampered bulls bring 2 or 3 times what I normally pay. No doubt they are pretty.

I look at their birth weight, yearling weight, and wonder how much higher the yearling weight is due to the bull being fed free choice his entire life? What is that bull going to look like after a year on the pasture?

The Brangus bull we just rotated out cost $1,000 at 19 months. His sire was a 6 figure bull a local partnership bought. I picked him from a group of 9 young bulls. The owners are friends and wanted one of their bulls in my pasture and gave me a good deal. He was a great bull. I would not have paid 8K for him.

When I see the yearling weight of a bull at 1200 lb. I wonder how many buyers think their calves are going to weigh 1200 lb. at 365 days? It is not going to happen on grass.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

Tim/South said:


> How many cows will one of your bulls breed per year?
> 
> I buy good bulls from good blood, with good EPD's, semen tested, good conformation and disposition. I usually buy them around 20 months old from a breeding farm. I want one farm raised on a pasture with little grain or added feed. These usually run about $2500.
> 
> ...


I usually figure a yearling bull will breed 15 to 18 cows, a two year old will handle 25, an older than that I plan 30 cows to a bull. Some bulls will handle more, some might be breeding less. If the bull breeds 25 cows a year and is around for 5 years I feel I've gotten my moneys worth out of him for 5k.

Its great that you can find bulls that work for you at that price. I'm not saying that higher priced bulls are any better than lower priced ones. Their value at auction is determined by two people bidding. I know what you mean about pampered overfed bulls that look great on sale day but fall apart by fall after breeding seaon. The guys I buy my bulls from do an excellent job of feeding their bulls to grow them instead of fattening them. How bulls are grown certainly needs to be looked at to before buying.

That's amazing that you were able to buy that Brangus bull for 1000. That's a steal. spring born steer calves are bringing 1100 to 1200 dollars per head now. That bull would bring more for slaughter here. You'll make money on that one.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

> That bull would bring more for slaughter here. You'll make money on that one.


Yes, I was lucky. Been knowing the breeders since high school and know they were doing me a favor.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

A former co-worker raises and sells Brangus bulls. One that I recently sent to auction I purchased for $100. My friend found him wondering around and couldn't locate his momma, so he took the bull calf to his home in town and was bottle feeding him until the auction market opened the next week. I happened to call him and he told me about the calf. He agreed to sell him to me as I had a cow that just lost her new born calf. I brought my new bull home in a dog crate in the bed of a Chevy S10. He was a tough little guy as the cow kept kicking him when he attempted to nurse. Three weeks later they were turned out together and she raised our new bull.

I normally buy registered bulls for our commercial cow heard. I like using the EPDs to match these bulls to first calf heifers or to the cow herd. Have only had to pull one calf in 8 years, knock on wood...

Just had a cow give birth to a rather large bull calf early this morning. She succeeded without assistance but apparently injured herself as she cannot stay up on her hind legs. Gave her 20 cc of dexamethasone (sp?) this afternoon that is supposed to ease her pain. Was supposed to stand her up this evening, but rain and lightening prevented doing that. She tries to stand up when I approach, so she getting some circulation. We drenched the calf with colostrum and put it on straw in a covered dog crate for this rainy night to protect it from coyotes. We also put hay and water in front of the downed cow.

What are your experiences with cows that cannot get up after giving birth? Is there something else we can do for the cow?


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

vhaby said:


> A former co-worker raises and sells Brangus bulls. One that I recently sent to auction I purchased for $100. My friend found him wondering around and couldn't locate his momma, so he took the bull calf to his home in town and was bottle feeding him until the auction market opened the next week. I happened to call him and he told me about the calf. He agreed to sell him to me as I had a cow that just lost her new born calf. I brought my new bull home in a dog crate in the bed of a Chevy S10. He was a tough little guy as the cow kept kicking him when he attempted to nurse. Three weeks later they were turned out together and she raised our new bull.
> 
> I normally buy registered bulls for our commercial cow heard. I like using the EPDs to match these bulls to first calf heifers or to the cow herd. Have only had to pull one calf in 8 years, knock on wood...
> 
> ...


The only thing I would add now is to give her a tube of CMPK. Cost @ $10.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

I have CMPK but my veterinarian says it's not a lack of Ca problem- is a temporary paralysis problem from birthing a large calf. Cow moved about 20 yd last night by attempting to get up and falling down. She is eating bermudagrass and alfalfa hay, has water in front of her and is covered with a tarp. Calf is doing fine in the dog crate. Received 3" of rain since last evening and still raining. Thankfully it's only about 50 degrees F and predicted to stay in this range for the next week or so.


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

I would still give her cmpk if she was mine, just seems to help.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

bluefarmer said:


> I would still give her cmpk if she was mine, just seems to help.


Same here. Especially since she is trying so hard on wet ground.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

I hope he was delicious... Better be at those prices...  OL J R


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

* Is A Bull Really Worth $800,000?*

The title of the referenced article is misleading...

"Elation was produced at Schaff Angus Valley, Saint Anthony, N.D. He was purchased by Square B Ranch and Cattle Company of Warsaw, Mo., and Bogle Ranch LLC of Langley, Okla. *Schaff Angus Valley retained 20% ownership interest." *

Since Schiff Angus retained 20% ownership interest, the bull is actually a $1,000,000 bull, if my math reasoning is correct.

After five 20 cc shots of dexamethasone in five days, my birth crippled cow was up and walked at least 600 yds this evening and is enjoying the green grass.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Good to hear she is up and moving Vincent.

Regards, Mike


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## azmike (Jan 4, 2015)

We have 5 pure bred Hereford bull calves (18 months and less) going to auction this week. Not registered but both sides are, semen and trich tested--we are anxious and hopeful! They have been on finisher for a couple of months and look great! This is new territory for us.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

Link to an article in the ND angus Association's magazine on this $800k bull. Gives an example of how this bull in theory could make $9.2 million in semen sales. A lot of IFs but still a good read. Takes a while to load as its loading the whole magazine so be patient. Its on page 32.

http://www.ndangus.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/March-2018-Angus-News-Online.pdf


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