Using my own bulls

[perli]

I traveled to several sales this spring and looked at lots of catalogs and seman sales books I bid on several bulls I was interested in and finally decided that I should just use my own raised bulls. They are out of my best older cows and a bull that I really like the pedigree of and have a couple of calf crops out of. I would have had to spend a lot more money for comparable bulls than what mine will sell for am I just shooting myself in the foot or am I moving forward??

[Carlos (frmaiz)]

You are moving forward.

[allenw]

I'll agree with Carlos your moving forward.

[mrvictordomino]

May 27, 2022 18:14:39 GMT -6 perli said:

I traveled to several sales this spring and looked at lots of catalogs and seman sales books I bid on several bulls I was interested in and finally decided that I should just use my own raised bulls. They are out of my best older cows and a bull that I really like the pedigree of and have a couple of calf crops out of. I would have had to spend a lot more money for comparable bulls than what mine will sell for am I just shooting myself in the foot or am I moving forward??

If the dams of the bulls you are looking at using are really good cows and you are satisfied with their production and udder quality you should not be shooting yourself in foot especially
if they are well adapted to your environment.

[timbernt]

Since we stopped using outside bulls we have have significantly improved our percentage of good replacements, both female and Male. Rather than totally throwing away 50% of your progress each generation, we build on each generation. If we see a bull we want to sample we use him and keep a son from a really good cow. The same philosophy that built the Beau Donalds for Curtice Martin. However, failure to sample what other breeders have built is also a mistake in my opinion. An example is the Line Ones where there has been no effort to use any outside genetics for many generations. There are needed traits that did not exist in the original population that should be incorporated into what has become the dominant strain of Horned Herefords. On the other hand the Polled philosophy of the bull of the month is even more destructive.

[guffeygal]

Agree with your approach.

[perli]

Thanks for the encouraging words! The mothers of the bulls I kept to use are really good producers and beautiful uddered and good footed I guess that’s more than I know of lots of sale bulls?