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| Oh, I don't know BLKCOW, I've been to lots of bull sales the last two months and I know for a fact a lot of the ranchers I know here in the west were buyers for high prices. It's the law of averages, got to sit through 200-400 bulls selling to be able to purchase and lower your overall trailer load purchase price. Got to have enough marked in catalog that fits your herd objectives. Yeah, I guess we all want to purchase bulls cheap and sell calves high.
But a solid breeder that has worked years into development of a program also needs their rewards in the industry. I see the price tags on the herd bulls they purchase to be able to raise a set of bulls to sell, it's not for the faint of heart. I don't see these ranchers going broke anytime soon that purchase 8–10-thousand-dollar bulls in this current market. Maybe they have a value-added program they are in that pays dividends in running those genetics.
I'm not going to say I've never not set in a sale where the Rafter Brothers are bidding. I've seen it, but when do I get up and leave, and I tell owner why I'm leaving and not coming back. I've also had ring men double my bid, also have ring men put me in as a fake bid then try to get me to take the bull when selling cheap that day. I was purposely sitting on my hands when he did it. Ring man kept saying you can use the bull take him. It stopped the sale I refused and called them out. Never stepped foot back into one of their sales again.
When I set in 10 to 12 sales easy a year you get to a lot of the repeat buyers and the ring men by first name and their families. Same with the calf buyers at auctions we go to. I'm glad I run in an area where we all buy purebred papered bulls. Also, we hold to age standards, so someone isn't running old bulls that aren't breeders. We also all do BSE testing of bulls every year so I'm pretty sure even if my cow crosses fencelines she's going to get bred and have a marketable calf that fits lot loads.
We have reached a new economic plateau. Just like the price of a new truck, I remember paying 8-10 grand for a new pickup in mid 80's. Also remember paying $2.50 for a Big Mac meal at McDonalds in that time frame. But I also I'm well aware of commodity prices that are killing some farmers. Getting same prices that they got 30 years ago sucks. I saw hay selling this last year cheaper than what I bought for 36 years ago. All I can add is a person needs to be set up to walk the crop off the farm vs. in a hopper trailer.
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Ok folks whats a good bull worth?
