Three Questions to Ask Yourself When Preparing to Purchase Bulls

With bull buying season in full swing, it’s important for commercial cattle producers to have a game plan for making purchases. Matt Spangler, UNL Professor and Beef Genetics Extension Specialist, says there are three questions producers should ask themselves when evaluating bull purchases.

What are my breeding/marketing goals?

Which traits directly impact the profitability of my enterprise?

Are there environmental constraints that dictate the level of performance that is acceptable for a given trait in my enterprise?

Sire selection should focus on what is economical, Spangler says.

“This requires a true accounting of the traits that generate revenue or incur a cost within a specific beef cattle enterprise,” he says. “Once the drivers of profit have been identified, sire selection should focus on the suite of traits that impact profitability.”

Answering these questions leads a producer to the traits that are economically relevant to their enterprise, which are called Economically Relevant Traits (ERT), meaning they are directly associated with a revenue stream or a cost.

It’s important to note all traits that are not ERTs are indicator traits, or a trait that is genetically correlated to an ERT but not an ERT itself.

To further illustrate this, Table 1 provides a list of currently available EPDs indicating which are ERT and their corresponding indicator traits.