Selling yearling or 2 year old bulls

[rvf1986]

Which is the best way to go?

[larso]

Yearlings if you can, bulls are high maintenance,IMO

[btlrupert]

Agree with Larso. Get em gone as soon after yearling stage as possible..

[rvf1986]

Heres a lil more information about my question. I calve out 37 reg cows out starting March 1 thru may 11 this year. However I calve my ET calves in sept thru Oct 2 this year ( 13 calves with 8 being bulls). Im on the fence about moving my ET program to spring as well or leaving it as it is and marketing 2 groups of bulls in a production sale in Dec. My conception rate is much higher in the fall for my embryos.( cooler temps).All my cows are covered by 1 of my 2 herd bulls , I don't AI the cows. I keep a 3rd young bull around for a back up in case 1 gets hurt and to breed heifers.Your thoughts please!!

[klee]

Yearlings may be more profitable. But a good yearling can look like crap if the person that buys him doesn't understand the nutrition to develop a bull. People are going to ask where the bull came from. The bulls you sell will be walking billboards.

[btlrupert]

I like fall calving best in the South personally. Less mud and no cold rains. Whichever you choose I would have one calving season. Imo

[rvf1986]

For the most spring works well in the north east and my bull partner on one bull uses him in the fall. That allows us to used better bull without the full price. Be fall conception on recipts was bt 80%. Spring calving also requires less hay due to snow and ice. I guess the real question is to move the ET to spring or not!!

[Deleted]

Selling bulls as yearlings is probably the preferred way to go for most I would think. You are going to have less days of input costs which is going to maximize your profit plus bull sales in general usually seems to favor better prices for the yearlings. Especially with production sales some people may wonder if is a reason why the 2 year olds are being sold now instead of a year ago as yearlings. There are some guys that do prefer 2 year olds too because they are more developed at that stage and hold up better while covering more cows, it just depends on the breeder and buyer's thinking I guess but we would rather have the yearling bulls off the farm before breeding season starts.

[strojanherefords]

As a former bull buyer I really preferred 18 month old bulls. At that point they are well developed enough to hold there own with the bigger bulls.

[elkwc]

I prefer buying 2 y/o's for a couple of reasons. Many times a bull will look his best as a yearling and then he is done. As one breeder told me he quit selling bulls and yearlings and hesitates to sell any at 18 months. He said he always culls a few more during the 12-24 month period that looked ok or even good as a yearling. He said he wants to eliminate as much of the chance of a failure as he can. With that being said I also understand why many like to sell yearlings. Many don't have the resources to keep them until they are 2 or even 18 months.