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How Valuabull?
Bull costs can be a very significant expense to the cow-calf enterprise. Photo courtesy of Troy Walz. The spring bull sale season is underway. Catalogs are being studied, EPDs and individual animal...
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BeefTalk: What’s in the Current Bullpen?
Finding genetics information on current and previously purchased bulls is easy. As the bull-buying season continues, I offer some simple reminders. Every winter, I do enjoy visiting with producers...
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BeefTalk: Where are the Breeding Systems?
Have we forgotten the need for breeding systems and the benefits that a good breeding system will bring? The underlying feel to many discussions today is that cattle are too big. The question often is...
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How to Evaluate EPDs Across Different Breeds
Imagine buying a bull with a birth weight EPD (expected progeny difference) of 1.0, only to bring him home and find out he was actually a +9.6. What if that mistake was your fault? “If you’re...
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BeefTalk: Are You Feeding and Keeping an Eye on the Bulls?
Bulls that are underconditioned, overconditioned, underweight and lackluster need to be dealt with now. If the bulls are not in a separate pen, now is the time to separate them from the cow herd and...
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Beef Cattle Economic Selection Indices
Summary: Selection indices provide a single value, usually reported in dollars, for the selection of breeding stock that optimizes selection on a number of traits the define profit in a particular...
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Are You in the Bull Market?
This article may seem several months early for many cattle producers in the Upper Midwest; the combine and grain dryer demand a lot more attention than the cow herd this time of year. However, early...
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Don’t Short in Bull Quality
The past few years have seen a dramatic downturn in calf prices from historic highs to the lowest prices in four or five years. Unfortunately, some input prices are slow to come down while other inputs...
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BeefTalk: Bull Selection and Managing Risk
Consider this an invite to help beef producers manage risk. The greater the risk, the more likely the selected choice is wrong, and as producers, we want to minimize risk. Bull buying involves risk...
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BeefTalk: Bull Selection and Understanding the Bullpen
Knowledge is critical for beef producers when buying bulls. Beef producers experience a sense of joy and calm while enjoying the moments of hanging out with their cattle and watching the stock grow and...
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BeefTalk: Bull Selection and Obtaining Historical Benchmarks
Knowing the herd’s genetic benchmarks is critical. In life, knowing your goal determines your route to achieve that goal. The same is true when selecting bulls for your herd. The first step in smart...
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BeefTalk: Breeding Systems are Coming of Age
Cattle breeding systems are at the heart of long-term, cost-conscience, efficient beef production. Pondering in life is good. So let’s ponder this: “Can the beef industry produce terminal and...
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Using Genomics in Your Herd
Genomics: We hear this word frequently in the beef industry. But, how do we actually use this technology? More importantly, how do we use this technology to be more profitable? In “Part I:...
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Bull Buying – Focus on Value Not Just Price
2017 is shaping up to be another year of tight margins for cattle producers. As much as ranchers would like to limit expenses during market downturns, some expenditures can’t be postponed. Bulls fall...
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Top 10 Ways to Make Cow Herds More Profitable
It has been well-documented in popular press and repeatedly confirmed at sale barns and coffee shops that the current calf market is about one-half of where it was just 2 ½ years ago. The short-term...
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Shop for the Right Bull From the Right Place
Buying bulls that fit the cattle operation’s objectives is vital. Bull marketing season has started, which means producers are being bombarded with promotional advertising and articles on selecting and...
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Profit Tip: Economically Relevant Traits
Sire selection should focus on that which is economical. This requires a true accounting of the traits that generate revenue or incur a cost within a specific beef cattle enterprise. Once the drivers...
View ArticleBull Management is a Key to Successful Breeding Seasons
Bull management before and during breeding season can improve producers’ chances for reproductive success, said a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. Dr. Jason Banta, AgriLife Extension...
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Bull Shopping Season!
Bull buying season is well underway throughout the cow-calf regions across the country. Producers are constantly reminded of this through sale catalogs in the mail, glossy magazine advertisements, and...
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Surviving the Bull Buying Circuit
With bull buying season well underway and sale catalogs flooding mailboxes, some producers have yet to pull the trigger and purchase the next herd sire for 2017. This could be for many reasons such as...
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