Selecting the right breeding bull for your herd can be a time-consuming process for many farms, as there are many factors to consider.
Do you select more on figures and ABVs? Do you prefer to select mostly on type? Is price a limiting factor? Do you want a yearling bull or is a ‘ready to work’ two year old better? Are you choosing for heifers or cows, or both?
For Milne Feeds beef sales manager, Jess Andony, all these questions were discussed over the kitchen table recently as her family looks to purchase another young bull for their commercial Angus breeding herd in Harvey.
Last year they purchased a heifer bull, this year they require a cow bull to replace an older bull in their team. This involves some lengthy discussions, pouring over bull catalogues, attending numerous inspection days, comparing ABVs and assessing the type and structure of bulls on offer.
But even before you get to the point of selecting a few studs to compare, businesses must first discuss a few things:
1. What is the breeding aim of your herd, i.e. What market are you targeting?
Is your business turning off yearling heifers and steers at 200 to 300 days, ready for a feedlot to pick up and finish? If so, be sure to look at birth weights and early growth, 200 – 400 day figures, so you can ensure your weaners will hit good weights at sale time.
Or are you looking to calve down and finish the weaners yourself? In which case, making sure your 600 day figures stand up well will be important.
The breeding objectives of a stud herd compared to a commercial herd are more than likely to be vastly different, so don’t be concerned if your top pick in a sale differs from other buyers. Whilst most breeders will agree on type, the overall value that a particular bull will add to your herd can vary with breeding values.
2. Is there a structural trait you are looking at to strengthen or dilute in your herd?
Sometimes, when focusing heavily on one trait in your herd, you can affect another without realising. This was an industry wide issue for dairy farms 10 – 15 years ago. Whilst producers were selecting strongly for milk production in their herds, overall fertility of the dairy herd reduced dramatically, as these two traits are negatively correlated.
Be careful when selecting strongly for one to two traits, as these may affect others unknowingly.
For example, you may be looking to improve Rib Fat and Eye Muscle Area in your herd, and so selecting bulls with more positive ABVs for EMA and R8 will improve these traits in replacement heifers.
Or you may feel that your herd is lacking in leg strength, or is too straight in the leg, leading to lameness issues, or has cows that break down faster than desirable. These structural traits can also be slowly corrected by selecting bulls with breeding values lower or higher in Claw, Angle and Leg.
3. What animals in your herd will you use the bull over?
For some it’s solely heifers, and so calving ease traits, gestation length and birth weights are important to consider. If the bull is to be used over older cows in the herd, whilst these traits are important, you may choose to select bulls with slightly higher birth weights, and focus more on growth and muscling traits.
If the bull will be in rotation with others and be used over animals in the whole herd, it can become a bit of a balancing act to select a bull with strong growth figures, but also have confidence that heifers will calve without issues.
Answering some of these key questions, with others in your business, will give you direction when it comes to picking up a bull catalogue at a sale and navigating the pens. If possible, it is good to attend inspection days and see with your own eyes the overall structure of bulls on offer. Watching them walk will show you how well they track up, which is an indication of leg structure, and is important when you consider how far a bull will walk in a day, not only for food and water, but also with his herd. It can sometimes be hard to tell in photos if a bull is ‘down in the hocks’ or ‘straight in the leg’.
Attending the inspection days will better prepare you for the actual sale day, which can be intense and over quite quickly. If you’re indecisive on sale day it can lead to missing out on the bull you originally wanted. Speak to the stud managers and stockies present at inspection and sale days, as they can also offer their opinions on the bulls penned and background of the breeding in the stud.
Always set a budget within your team before attending sale day, but keep in mind that beef cattle prices fluctuate and some years you will pay more than you would like for the same type of bull.
There are a lot of factors that will influence your decision when purchasing a bull for your business, so ensuring you attend sale days with a plan in mind is important. One of the keys to success is doing your homework so you can be certain you’re selecting the right genetics for your business to continue moving forward.
Photo credit: Pictured is one of the sale bulls on offer from the Sheron Farm 2023 Angus bull sale
