No… I’m not going to discuss Artificial Intelligence. AI, in this case, stands for Artificial Insemination. As you might expect, bulls are totally against it! Nevertheless, we sell a lot of bull semen every year. Miss Tammy handles most of those sales – but every now and then, a customer wants my opinion.
New customers like to tell me all about their program and what they are wanting to do. Nearly all of these people, however, are after the same thing. They want to reduce cow size and feed requirements – and they want to increase profit. They want a bull that is guaranteed to produce great replacement females that will fit their environment.
Many think I have one bull that will fit their program to a tee. I never do. All of our bulls have been bred and selected for the same things for over 30 years. We specialize in bulls that produce low-input, moderate-sized, easy-fleshing, early-maturing, long-lasting, highly-fertile and functionally-correct momma cows. If you want something different, you need to go elsewhere.
With that said, I will help those who live in hot and/or humid and/or fescue environments to identify the bulls that are more likely to work best for them. That selection is still huge! There isn’t just one or two bulls that will work. You decide on the breed and I will show you how to identify the bulls that will provide the best fit for you.
Many new customers, as well as a few repeat customers, like to sample a lot of bulls. For example, if they are going to AI breed 50 cows, they want to order 10 units of five different bulls. Tammy and I think this is ridiculous! If you are timed-AI breeding (breeding all animals at a predetermined time), your conception rate will be in the 50 to 60 percent range. At best, you will only get two or three replacement females out of each bull.
What are you going to learn with two or three daughters out of five different bulls? Nothing! The samples are not large enough to provide any meaningful comparison. When the daughters of those five different bulls are old enough to breed, how will you decide what bull or bulls to breed them to? Life does not need to be this complicated!
If you are going to AI breed 50 cows or less, I suggest you pick one bull and use him on all of the cows. This will produce half-sisters. I suggest you continue to use the same bull on those same cows every year until those cows are gone. Now you are producing more and more half-sisters. When those half-sisters are old enough to breed, select a different bull to use on all of the half-sisters every year until they are gone. Now, you are producing 3/4 sisters.
Before you know it, you will have an extremely uniform herd of 7/8 and 15/16 sisters. You have a plan that works – and life is simple again.
One more thought… Several newbies to the cow-calf business mistakenly believe they don’t need to own a bull if they AI breed their cows. I only know of one person who was good enough to get a high percentage of his cows AI bred in two 21-day heat cycles. Most of us feel lucky to get 60% percent of our cows and/or heifers AI bred. To avoid having open females, you need to have a cleanup bull to breed the ones you missed.