| JAnderson - 1/21/2025 09:34
If staying angus, $5k should get a pretty good bull. Everyone and their brother sells angus bulls= best bang for your buck.
If they sire 100 calves that’s $50/hd bull cost with 0 residual. Of course have to figure the bulls other expenses.
Can you AI for $50/hd by the time you figure labor and equipment cost? And you still need a clean up bull.
I don’t see where AI makes much sense for an average commercial herd.
If you have the time it's not a bad deal. If you watch for online sales and such or have a really good rep that will deal in high volume low margin you can do it somewhat on the cheap.
When we were aiing cows I was able to buy 1000 straws of a very good angus bull that had lost his flare with age. Still had phenomenal numbers. I bought those straws for $5 a piece.
Bred all the cows over 3 days. Figured half would have an ai calf. The nice thing about synchronization is the ones that don't stick ai will cycle in 21 days. If the cows were in good shape and I had enough bull power id Figure about 60 to 70 % of that next cycle would stick.
So I'd get about 50% of herd to ai then 30% to the following cycle.
Having 75 to 85% Calve in 21 days total is a huge thing for consistency of calves.
$5 for semen, pry another $20 for synchronization drugs cidrs etcetera. $25 a head on every cow. Half that sticks so $50 in hard costs for an ai calf isn't much more out of line than having a bull.
I figured a mature clean up bull could only cover 20 of the cows that didn't stick ai if they all came in heat in about 3 or 4 days. So maybe they skews the numbers some but not much
Edited by Iowa-beef 1/21/2025 10:23
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AI preg checking
