BEFORE we discuss bulls, who among Beef Central’s readers uses airlines to travel to distant locations of interest and to get us there promptly, and with less time spent than driving long distances?
Well, the next question: Who relies on the pilots to fly the plane with all the navigational aids, instruments, measurements, or do we check to see if they will only fly at sufficiently low enough altitude to see all the ground topography and terrain to get to our destination?
Do we trust their calculations of aircraft weight, passenger numbers and air speed for height of travel and the litres of fuel loaded prior to departure?
If so, why do we place utmost confidence in objective measurements and calculations in that aspect of our daily lives and business, yet overlook so much valuable objective information when it comes to buying bulls?
Bulls are a major investment for commercial breeding businesses. As with any investment, it is important to get value for money – but the return on investment can be difficult to quantify.
There are two things of substance cattle producers get out of a bull whilst they own him: his semen, which passes his genetics on to his progeny, and his excrement, better known as bullshit.
How much of his purchase price is realised through these two substances will have a big impact on whether a commercial beef producer gets a positive return on his or her investment.
It is a phenomenon to witness, how the grandeur of a big shiny animal can mesmerise buyers and outweigh any objective data on sale day
Where a bull has been fed to the eyeballs prior to sale to make him big and fat and shiny on sale day, most of that shine has to be excreted as bullshit before he is fit to work.
In the meantime, the extra feed he has been given can also cause problems in his feet and joints and potentially, fat in the neck of the scrotum adversely affecting testicular temperature regulation and spermatogenesis. Structural deterioration can be a function of the additional weight he has been carrying around, precipitating early bull breakdown.
Fed bulls sell better
Some studs will tell potential buyers they feed them so they can ‘realise their genetic potential’, which only adds to the pile. The reality is that they are fed because the fed bulls usually sell better (statistically), and work-ready (condition-wise) bulls are overlooked by most buyers who have trouble discerning between genotype (genetic composition) and phenotype (observable traits).
It is a phenomenon to witness, how the grandeur of a big shiny animal can mesmerise buyers and outweigh any objective data on sale day!
Demand driven
It could be argued therefore that the tendency to feed bulls is demand driven, and the studs are giving buyers what they want. Although there are a number of courageous bull-breeders who buck the trend and trust enough in their genetics to present bulls prepared in the paddock without grain.
The whole exercise of feeding bulls up and then having to bring them back to working condition has absolutely no influence on the genetics those animals pass on to their progeny – which is where the value of the bull should ultimately be realised.
The cost is ultimately borne by commercial bull buyers though, who pay for it twice:
- They pay extra for the fed bulls because they look better, which allows the stud to recoup their feed costs, and
- They pay for it again in resulting bull breakdown and through the time taken for them to lose their shine and get into work ready condition.
In many cases, reduced bull fertility is a direct result of fatty deposits in fed bulls restricting normal testicular function in the short and sometimes longer term.
If thousands of dollars are spent per bull and thousands are fed up each year, then it costs the industry millions, if not tens of millions, of dollars each year. We’re not sure the post-sale photo in the paper is enough to recoup this cost.
An animal’s genetic potential can, and is, effectively measured without jamming a heap of feed down their throat. Those seedstock producers who are disciplined in measuring the phenotypic traits of their animals throughout their life and submit this information into BreedPlan along with genetic SNP profiles for the single-step Genetic Breeding Value have a much better idea of their herds’ genetic profile and direction than those who do not.
Understanding the genotype of the animals available for purchase, and selecting those which will improve the profitability of their herd is the challenge, and opportunity, for bull buyers.
There is an increasing number of astute buyers who, whilst ensuring their bulls are structurally sound and able to effectively pass on their genetics, focus primarily on the objective information on the genetics they will pass on and ultimately define the business profitability. They have recognised that understanding the BreedPlan data is a necessary skill for their profession and invested the time and effort to understand and be able to apply the BreedPlan data.
Valuable resource for bull buyers
Bush Agribusiness’s Top Studs publication has been prepared as resource for those commercial bull buyers who want to ensure their seedstock source is providing genetics that will improve their herd and business. It identifies 237 studs from across Australia that have breed leading genetics, as determined by the BreedPlan selection indices. It also simplifies the BreedPlan data and presents it in an easy-to-understand way for commercial bull buyers.
The bull source a buyer selects, and the bulls they buy from that source, will determine whether their bull investment returns genetic gain, or bullshit.
A small investment in the Top Studs publication will greatly assist this selection process; it will give you the confidence to look past the fat shiny bulls and identify genetics that will lift your bottom line.
- Co-author John Bertram is a respected private consultant in beef breeding and genetics. Earlier in his career he was an integral contributor to Northern Australia’s Bull Power project and Beef CRCs I, II and III. He continues to deliver bull selection workshops through QDAF and FutureBeef.
- Ian McLean is the founder and managing director of Bush Agribusiness based in Toowoomba.
EBV’s are not the be all and end all they are just more data on the potential sire that is about to be purchased. I work on a simple theory, I purchase yearling bulls that are fertile as I want their heifers to be fertile at that age. Bulls must never have been fed grain. How do people think they can buy bulls on phenotype if they have been fed in an unnatural environment on a feed that hides faults. And to purchase 3 and 4 year old bulls, sorry I don’t have their progeny around until that age and it is a shame they are held onto that long to be saleable. Have fun but I won’t be going to a grain fed sale or buying a bull that I can’t read the EBV’s.
How can ebvs be accurate When 600 day weights 20 years ago were lucky to reach 95 in Angus – now they are 130-150 yet bull weights at sale time are still the same
I agree with the article but it needs to be added that data submitted should be looked at as well. Astute seedstock producers should be submitting birth 200 400 all scan data temperament scores cow condition scores and genomics to increase accuracy. A lot of data on animals is not submitted or just not done so in some cases it’s not a true reflection of the management group just mid parent values
Great article – over 30 years ago the industry started to move away from multi-vendor feeding races and showing to a preferred model of on property sales of grassfed bulls. This was coupled with the increased awareness and use of EBV’s. This was a fantastic shift, but many would say the feeding race has started again. It is the responsibility of the seedstock producer to supply a well identified, reliable product that will produce as many calves per year for as many years as possible. So many other industries around our country take this responsibility very seriously, why does the seedstock industry not.
I’ve been to a few bull sales of late and there is so much hype,dummy bids from spotters and trying to compete with syndicates while clearly the bulls have been jammed with oats!
I think there is a balance in feeding bulls. Bulls can be fed a ration that has high protein low energy to allow the bull to grow and fill-out to allow him to present well. The peak bull selling season in the South is late July, August and September which would allow your bull to be on farm for a 4-6 week period before his is utilised. He needs to be healthy and have a spring in his coat to go out to joining. Agree overfed Bulls hide faults or bring them out, but also can affect semen quality.
Maybe I am missing something but it seems to me that the title question was not answered by the authors. In fact, it seemed to be just a promotional piece for a publication produced by one of the authors. This issue is too serious to be treated like this. Firstly, there is the cost of the feed given to the bulls (including labour). Then, if the level of feeding goes beyond a certain threshold, arthritic and other detrimental change can appear in leg joints which can compromise mating dexterity. As well, higher levels of feeding can increase the thickness of the fat under the skin of the scrotum, a well documented cause of reduced semen quality. All of these phenomena lend themselves to costing.
Thanks for your comment Phil. Given your skillset and experience, we’d welcome any attempt to quantify the cost/impact of feeding sale bulls. Editor
What a refreshing article
To put it in my language
Pod gutted mud fat bulls are no good to any one
When taken home you might get a consolation prize but if the bull is any good it will be two years before you might get the results and then it might not be the results you wanted
What I have seen with over fat bulls they never last any more than 3 or 4 years if that as they go lame and can’t travel
I don’t understand all these ebv’s and have no intention s of trying
A bull must come up to the standard that suits me and I can see his traits
He must be in working condition and will get the cows in calf from day one
Not leaving the watering point because he is too heavy to walk is no good to me
I do believe in semen testing and preg testing
To me this tells me if either sex is performing
Mike Teelow
Great article.
Grain and fat hide a host of faults, not only in the sale ring, but also in the show ring.
Over feeding, and many sale and show animals are overfed, has negative impacts including fertility and longevity.
While I have experience with tropical cattle, my main knowledge regarding EBVs is around British breeds, so this doesn’t cover those in the bos indicus. Breeding seems to be very similar to the political world – you are either “far left” in the no growth, terrible feed efficiency high IMF camp, or you are “far right” with traditional easy-doing, high mature cow weight, with no calving ease. If you think selecting in the top 5 or 10pc will make you profitable without any understanding of how that animal was created, you are kidding yourselves. Also, this is conversely the same for the “far right”. Further to this, just because a stud spews out hundreds of bulls with thousands of scanned animals doesn’t make their herd more profitable than a smaller stud. I believe that the art of assessing livestock correctly for some has been eroded by confusing people with pages of numbers. Anyways you set a nice hook and I couldn’t help myself. Cheers Matthew Della Gola
What an outstanding article by John. Fat covers a heap of problems and is a con job really to hide the lack of genetic influence of the big fat shiny bull to improve their progeny in the commercial world. Specialist feed lotters and grass fatteners demand performance through measured traits, EMA, IMF, Feed efficiency and Growth Rates to supply top end markets locally and internationally and as stated in the article it is all there for buyers to see but due to a lack of understanding and ignorance of leaders in the beef industry it pains me to say that not a lot will change.
But I’m glad to say the smart producers will just keep going ahead and the others will just whinge about there is no money in Beef.