Today I sold a home-raised retained bull I have used in my line breeding experiment. He is out of my T021 bull and my best 1200 lb target cow. born 3/21/10 and used by both me and my neighbor in 2011 and 2012. Sired some good calves but did his job and time to go before winter hay feeding season. He leaves some good heifers with the genetics I wanted spread around.

A good natured "pure" Hereford bull but not registered, he weighed 1895 lb as loaded last evening and sold this morning at Bloomington at 1805 lb and $1.00/lb. Should net $1700+ after expenses. Will certainly help with my winter hay expense. If I had sold him a couple weeks earlier he likely would have brought 1.05-1.10 at Bloomington.

I took him to Bloomington last evening and frankly hated to see him step off the trailer. A solid bull, he gently walked down the lane.  The young folks receiving cattle last night at Bloomington seemed to be very good cattle handlers.

While my purebred Huth Hereford bulls seem to all level out between 2000 and 2200 lbs, it is interesting to see the offspring of my smaller target cows leveling out a couple hundred pounds less. If I can "roll" home raised 2-1/2 year old bulls at $1/lb or more, I may do this regularly.

One nice thing about selling bulls is the price is based more on the quality of the animal than the hide color.  But still sorry to see him go. It a seems that I develop a closer relationship with a good bull than with steers. Maybe it is more like a working relationship...

fwiw.

Jim at Dawn