If the customer is always right, how much weight are commercial cattlemen and women’s wishes given when it comes to bull development?
This question and others that address nutrition, performance and age at the time of sale are all discussed at length in the Red Angus Association of America (RAAA) white paper “Why All the Fat Bulls?” The paper, online at redangus.org, was composed by the members of the commercial marketing team, who seek to provide a service to the industry through increased education on the bull development process.
One of the keys to bull development is seeking to identify what commercial bull buyers want. Seedstock producers speak with their customers, painstakingly pore over EPDs and stew over mating decisions to best meet their production goals, as well as the requests of their commercial customers.
In a survey conducted by RAAA, commercial bull buyers ranked the traits they consider most important when searching for their next bull. Unsurprisingly, calving ease topped the list, followed closely by maternal traits, growth traits and carcass traits, then rounded out by visual appeal. An additional, related takeaway from the RAAA survey was the determination that more education is needed surrounding the breed’s genetic evaluation.
As aforementioned, calving ease ranked at the top of the list of importance for commercial producers, partially due to animal welfare concerns regarding dystocia, but also because many producers cannot justify hiring extra help just for calving season.
Ranking in a close second were maternal traits, which were listed in the survey as HerdBuilder, stayability, calving ease maternal and heifer pregnancy. The focus on maternal traits is indicative of the common theme of both seedstock and commercial producers who are adamant that if you “don’t mess up the cow herd, you will be miles ahead of the rest.” Many producers subscribe to this phrase and want to ensure that their bull selection will improve their herd and not set them back inadvertently.
A whopping 52 percent of bull buyers indicated that visual appraisal is one of the top three factors they use to select animals. Predictably, feet and legs are included in the mental list of important visual traits for producers, which gives credence to RAAA’s recent educational efforts regarding ideal foot structure and function.
Furthermore, seedstock producers who are in tune with their commercial customers’ needs will seek to offer functional, phenotypically attractive cattle in their offerings, as they know such animals, particularly those with accompanying desirable EPDs, will be highly sought after.
Another important takeaway from “Why All the Fat Bulls?” is bull sale data collected by the RAAA commercial marketing team that gives insight into the changing tendencies in bull development practices. For example, spoken emphasis on carcass traits is not extraordinarily common among commercial bull buyers. However, when it comes down to voting with their hard-earned cash, producers tend to put more emphasis on carcass traits.
The bull sale data also shows that over the past four years, bull buyers began to place more emphasis on growth traits and less on calving ease and birth weight EPDs, as they did in the early 2010s.
This documented pattern of emphasis on growth traits manifests itself in nutritional elements of bull development, which subsequently affects fertility and longevity. Interestingly, many bull buyers claim to want to buy bulls in a body condition score (BCS) of 5, which allows them to keep the bull on an increased plane of nutrition leading up to breeding season.
However, they also acknowledge that many young bulls for sale over the past several years have been fleshier than what they consider ideal. As an aside, the University of Nebraska’s “Bull Management and Nutrition” report suggests bulls should enter breeding season in a BCS of 5.5-6.5.
At the ranch of origin, seedstock producers must weigh the costs versus benefits of more desirable growth traits, such as average daily gain, weaning weight and yearling weight, against the unintended effects on the fertility and feet of a bull that will need to “step down” from a fleshier condition to a more desirable condition for breeding season.
This decision process shouldn’t be taken lightly, as commercial bull buyers indicated that “continued moderation of frame” is the No. 1 selection key they would like to see their seedstock suppliers focus on in the future.
Bull development will continue to be an evolving process. However, “Why All the Fat Bulls?” indicates that both purebred and commercial bull buyers base their bull selection heavily on feet quality, structural soundness and overall phenotypic balance. Furthermore, while calving ease and maternal traits rank highly in the minds of bull buyers, greater value is assigned by their pocketbooks to growth and carcass traits.
Seedstock producers who are attentive to the traits desired by their customers will continue to see success in their operations and at their sales. As resources evolve over time, bull development will become more refined, and those seedstock producers who capitalize on changes in genetics, technology and nutrition will be able to better serve their commercial bull customers. — Brandi Buzzard Frobose, RAAA director of communications
