With the end of bull sale season drawing near, ranchers who need a new or replacement bull may begin to feel anxious about finding what they want. This feeling, along with the excitement of a bull sale and the social pressure to buy, may cause a rancher to have buyer’s remorse. However, a tool from the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) can help ranchers be prepared before they buy.
“I’ve bought bulls and it’s not an easy thing because it’s a fast and furious environment,” said Randy Saner, UNL Extension livestock systems educator. “If you have the values ahead of time, it can give you a better idea of your budget.”
The Bull Value Cow-Q-Lator tool is a free resource that allows ranchers to answer 14 different questions regarding a bull to help them develop a budget. The free online tool can be found at: cap.unl.edu/livestock/tools.
“Each ranch or farm is going to have different goals, values, and resources available to purchase bulls,” UNL noted on their website. “For the Bull Value Cow-Q-Lator, 14 key input variables are entered into the spreadsheet by the user. In addition to costs, users make a value judgment on the effect individual bulls are expected to have on calf value and calving rate of cows. Users are expected to provide estimates for all these values.
“This is where EPDs and index values can help in predicting possible calf value differences among bulls,” UNL added.
Questions UNL encourages ranchers to consider in using the Bull Value Cow-Q-Lator include:
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• Would the weaned calves from the newly purchased bull be of a higher value than those sired by your current bulls?
• Do you believe that a more expensive bull will increase progeny value enough to pay for the added cost?
Questions within the calculator include the cost of the bull, the cost of feeding the bull, and an estimate of the added value the calves the bull helps produce will bring to the herd. There is also a percentage assigned to the chance that the bull will become injured or die.
In addition, some of the most important questions on the Bull Value Cow-Q-Lator, according to Saner, are the questions to determine how much the calves would have to sell for to pay for the cost of the bull.
“We take the cost per weaned calf, the cost per weaned calf minus the value to the herd, and the added value the calf needs to have,” he said.
Having the Bull Value Cow-Q-Lator as a tool helps alleviate the need for a rancher to try and develop his own system using a spreadsheet.
“You could make your own spreadsheet or do a lot of calculations or just shoot from the hip, but this tool gives you a more consistent method,” said Dr. Matt Stockton, an ag economist with UNL. “It really helps you to get your selection criteria based on your operational goals versus social pressure and impulse buying.”