Value of a Bull

The following material was shared by Dr. Joe Paschal, Extension Livestock Specialist, Corpus Christi

I came across an interesting article in the Cattle Fax Trends (a quarterly publication of Cattle Fax for commercial cattle producers) about relative bull values (collected by Cattle Fax and reported by beef breed associations) compared to the average value of 5 weaned calves (a long held comparison on how to determine the value of a bull).

The gist of it was that at least up until around 2010 we paid less than 50% of the value of those 5 calves on a bull. From 2011 until 2015 we began to pay more, up to par in 2013 (100%), and then up to 150% more than the 5 calves were worth in 2015!  When calf prices dropped, the ratio dropped back to about 115% (between $5,000 and $5,250) in 2016 (or about the average values of the 5 calves).

It should be remembered that bulls are more than just cow fresheners as my former colleague Dr. Rick Machen was fond of saying, they supply the genetics for the next generation of replacement females in most commercial herds (except those strictly using terminal crossing) and as such their value goes beyond the market price for 5 head of calves. The old adage that if a bull is used 3 years and replacements are kept out of him (or them), then they are responsible for 87% of the cowherd’s genes, for better or worse.