Buying a bull requires careful thought

I knew the bull I was looking to buy was a good one but, as I stood around and looked at the pen of bovine, he was the one that kept his eye on me too.

He didn’t snort, paw the ground or move toward me, just watched. He was out of an excellent cow, good EPDs all the way down to his great, great grannie. His sire is still the top or near the top of the ratings and has a slight tendency to snort in a hip pocket but, man, does he put beef on the ground.

I like buying from the rancher because he delivers you to the pen, turns you loose and sits in his little cart until you need to ask questions. He is completely informed on each critter and has the papers in hand to show you. All his sale bulls are certifi ed as ready for service and vet checked. There is not a big sale, he just advertisesthat he has some breeding stock ready to fi nd new homes.

This is one pleasure I allow myself and an indulgence, I suppose. I can buy one really outstanding bull and, yes, it costs more than I can afford but I do it anyway. I figure since I do not ski, deep sea fi sh, fl y to Canada for hunting or play golf, I can do this once in awhile! I don’t even bowl or hang out at the joints. I do drink coffee and eat pie, but that doesn’t keep me from my appointed tasks such as bull buying!

I don’t want to give the impression that I give millions for a herd bull. Thousands going out of my account causes some bloodletting and too many thousands would cause my banker to have heart palpitations.

I know that the sire of our calf crop is so important and that he is 50percent of our income and will influence my herd for years to come with his produce. Heifers should be better and more of them retained in the herd if they are what I expect him to produce.

The next thought is my age and ability to scramble over a fence quickly. How snorty is this ton of beautifully assembled beef and what will he pass on to his progeny? I can reasonably accept a disposition that isn’t sugar and spice, but I do not want or need a bunch of Hell’s Angels. I have been there and done that when I was years younger, and it was not a happy ordeal.

I want to turn a good sire in on cows on December first. It is getting close to time to know what bull I am gonna have. I want him to feel at home, so he needs to live with us for a couple of months before going towork, get acquainted with our pens and settle in.

It is my opinion, and everyone has one, a decision carrying so much weight should be carefully examined and maybe even mulled over for a day or two. I sorta make the deal in my head, go home and, if it feels OK, the next morning, hitch up the trailer and go after the bull. I am not bidding in a fast-paced auction; I have time to consider and figure on paper what the costs are. This time lapse seems to help me make better decisions.

So I guess you know there is a shiny new bull in the lot, and he is still watching my every move. But I believe it is because he doesn’t want to miss a feeding!

Bill is a pen name used by the Gravette author of this weekly column.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 09/04/2013