Download Costs of Bull Ownership Why trading in your old bull

Biography:
Dr. Colin Palmer is an Associate Professor of Theriogenology (Animal Reproduction) at the
Western College of Veterinary Medicine. Originally from Nova Scotia, Dr. Palmer worked in
mixed practices in Ontario and British Columbia and has owned/operated a practice in
Saskatchewan. Dr. Palmer along with his wife Kim and children Lauren, Emily and Carter run a
herd of purebred Red Angus cattle under the KC Cattle Co. name.
Costs of Bull Ownership
Why trading in your old bull makes sense!
During the previous several years when cattle prices
were abysmal every cattle producer in the country
had to look at ways to cut costs. There was a
tendency to keep bulls longer than usual and to trade
bulls amongst neighbours. Although many purebred
producers reported strong sales of replacement
bulls it appears that on a broader scale the number
of bulls sold and the price per bull also declined.
An investment in new genetics, especially maternal
traits, is still a wise move when cattle prices are poor
as the payback will hopefully occur when prices are
good, but can be a tough sell. If you had the cash
there were some bargains, but who knew for sure
what was in store for the future! Now cattle prices
are up and replacement bulls are no exception. Is it
worth it to pay more for a bull?
Factors impacting the cost per pregnancy in a natural
service situation are the cost of the bull, the bull-tofemale ratio, the pregnancy rate, and how many years
the bull will be kept. Using a bull-to-female ratio of
1:30, a conservative $2000 purchase price, a 95%
pregnancy rate and 3 years of use before salvage each
pregnancy will cost $23.40 (90 breedings x 95% =
85.5 pregnancies; $2000/85.5= $23.40). However, this
is only part of the equation and doesn’t consider feed
costs, vet bills, labour, and additional repairs to fences
and gates that are inevitable with bulls. Bulls eat
more than cows and usually have separate facilities.
Interest and depreciation must also be considered.
What about death losses... probably around 10% so
you better consider this in your calculations. Adding
up all of these charges usually accounts for an
additional $1000 to $1500 per year in the cost of bull
ownership. At $1000 per year the cost per pregnancy
rises to $58.48.
There are two more important items that I have not
considered in my calculation. The first is the salvage
value of the bull. Most cost analyses figure on the
salvage value of a bull being around $1000. Factor
that in and the cost per pregnancy is about $47.
Have you checked the value of cull bulls lately? They
are still holding strong so it would be not too hard
to get at least $1500 for many older bulls. This sure
beats the pennies per pound we saw a few years ago!
Selling cull bulls this fall could shave 6 months off of
the annual costs of bull ownership. Even if he is a bit
thin it probably isn’t cost-effective to feed him in your
yard to a higher condition with the price of grain the
way it is.
My second consideration is the genetic value of
the bull. Too many cost analyses regard all bulls as
being equal; therefore, paying $3000 for bull and
plugging that value into my equation results in over
a $10 increase in the per pregnancy cost. Right
away many producers will say “Aha, see those bulls
are too expensive!!” I agree that herd name and
promotion can influence price, but it is possible to
consider genetic merit. Larger herds with astute
bookkeepers usually have the numbers of similarly
managed cattle to consider such things as the dollar
value of the calves sold, the number of replacements
retained, and the longevity and performance of
the replacements females generated by their bulls.
Many of them become pretty loyal repeat customers.
Certainly it is pretty easy to compare bulls using
EPDs. I agree that EPDs are just one selection tool,
but I also believe they are a very powerful one and
they have no doubt resulted in most of the genetic
improvement we have seen over the last several
years. Besides it is rare to find a sale catalogue that
doesn’t list EPD’s so everybody should at least glance
at them. So for fun let’s just look at weaning weight
and not even consider any other traits. If you could
trade up to a bull with a modest 10 pound higher
weaning weight EPD than your old bull that would
mean that the new bull’s calves would weigh an
average of 10 pounds more than the old bull’s; 10
pounds x $1.30 per lb x 85.5 calves =$1111.50 in
additional revenue, or $13 per pregnancy. A mere 10
pounds can’t even be detected by eye- balling the
calves! So which bull is more expensive now? And
that is just one trait! Check out the Genetic Evaluation
Results on the Canadian Angus Association website
sometime and you will find more good reasons to
trade up. You could argue that I am just trying to
bolster sales, but I don’t think you can disagree with
my numbers. With the prices we are seeing plus the
renewed enthusiasm for a bright future in the beef
industry it just makes good economic sense to invest
in better genetics. When prices are high the lost
economic opportunity from poorer performing cattle
is even greater. Simple as that!