The Good, the Bad, the Ugly Bull Sale

A few have asked if I’m having a fall bull sale, and I am not...but since I have about 20 fall yearlings, I best put up a sales pitch for a private treaty sale. There are a few good looking bulls in the bunch, but the bad part is some are crafty crossed; and since they won’t be registered, I can’t call them “glorified composites”, so I call them Model B...no, B doesn’t stand for bad, but for between...between what ? you might ask; well, between a lot of things; birth, growth, milk, Angus but outcrossed... The crossing was not for heterosis, but for experimentation...but they’re still crossed. Since I don’t think you should have to pay much for experimental crossing results, these bulls are priced at $1500. My excuse for having them crossed is the public prefers them, it's what most everyone else does, and even if you appreciated and wanted closer bred bulls for a Tru-Line type commercial production approach; sorry, no one has enough of them made...so you're stuck for now with what you can get, and the best bet for future supply, already begun by some commercial cattlemen, would be to make your own from the cows you already have.

The 3 or 4 good bulls that are tighter bred are priced at $2000; I call them Model A's...they are derived from my closed {but still too broad} model A herd, or from Shoshone. I’m your contending bidder, not the rafter bidders, for those...I’ll use them a year or so, and then offer them for sale when I’m through with them

Then there are some really ugly bulls; that might be good. Now it’s one thing to sell you an experiment that looks good for $1500, but it’s quite another thing to attempt to sell you an experiment that looks ugly for $1500, so I guess I’ll just give those bulls away for further experimentation.

Nubbin would be one of those; the give away will work kinda like this. You buy Nubbin’s three-quarter brother who is linebred and looks good of his type for $1500, and we’ll send Nubbin along for free to run with his brother...if you can tell Nubbin’s calves from his brothers, and they are bad, then you can keep the proceeds of Nubbin’s slaughter to help cover your loss...if you can’t tell them apart, then you’ve had an extra bull to use for free, we’ve proved a point in our experiment, and I'll take possession of Nubbin back...if in the event you can’t tell the bulls apart because all the calves are bad, then we've got troubles, and I've likely lost a customer...who might be back someday telling me the daughters of those bulls were good if you dared keep some...if you're worried about a place to sell the heifers, good, bad, or ugly, but healthy, of any of these bulls for top market feeder steer price, look no further than me.

All of this is contingent on me not selling the $2000 bulls; who knows, some extravagant buyer might roll in and take them off my hands, leaving me dependent on Nubbin and his kin, and I'll have do my own experimenting ...which is more fun than selling bulls anyway, but even experiments take some cash to feed the research.

I’ll try and take a few pics of just the good ones soon

You can call me at 606-305-4501 most anytime or email me at mwkeeney1@windstream.net

Load of feed delivered today cost me more than one of your good bulls and not even got my hay home yet. ..and I think your price is more than fair.

Good god man. That was like reading me, or listening to clanking in my own head. I am worried.


Bootheel, wondering if one of those B's is a Kiwanted

Mark Day wrote:

Load of feed delivered today cost me more than one of your good bulls and not even got my hay home yet. ..and I think your price is more than fair.

given the price of feed Mark; the customer has to have a chance to profit too...and despite the price of feed, I will profit at my prices...

Bootheel wrote:

Good god man. That was like reading me, or listening to clanking in my own head. I am worried.


Bootheel, wondering if one of those B's is a Kiwanted

Joe, it`s been a struggle, but you are now my favorite Hendley...

MK, in the vicinity of hearing a now less favored Hendley sing The Boys of Summer

Pricing my bulls the same up here and no one is flinching at all, same with the freezer beef I am pricing at $2.55/pd hanging weight plus processing. Let me know if you would like to trade one of your $2000 bulls for my best Unwanted X 492 x HBR Elclipse bull for a year.

Mark Day wrote:

Pricing my bulls the same up here and no one is flinching at all, same with the freezer beef I am pricing at $2.55/pd hanging weight plus processing. Let me know if you would like to trade one of your $2000 bulls for my best Unwanted X 492 x HBR Elclipse bull for a year.

I`m thinking of breeding my crafty crossed Pinebank heifers to the number one $B bull in the beef just to please df...and to create a Tru-line demonstration without ever having to leave the Angus breed...since the Angus breeders have already left the breed for whatever genes whenever they needed it

Nubbin and brother`s sale is pending.

The thing that excites and interests me

Scott`s statement above sticks in my mind; I guess because nothing about the breeding business excites me; because nothing much surprises me...in cattle or humans...Excitement is the arena of the marketing con game; look at the lengths registered sales go to to create excitement; the Angus Journal is all about excitement; been there, done that, just like the Pointer Sisters, I`ve been so excited...not with results, but with the anticipation and expectations...kinda like being with the Pointer Sisters could have been

If you're excited about "the Angus business", don`t come here; I`ll strangle it right out of you...instead of exciting, cattle breeding is slow, arduous, sometimes disappointing, but once you can deal with reality, enough more good things than bad happen to keep you plodding forward...
Falloon has been on course 40 years; I have calves on the ground by his bulls...
are they exciting? no...
am I pleased? yes, because they are just about as I expected
Falloon has 80 years to go; how many would spend the first forty, encouraged only by slow progress, and no excitement?

I am pleased, but not excited, that some young folks have started a forty year plan...I sure wish I could put them in a time warp; so I could use now the bulls they will be producing in 40 years ...it would be exciting , just to see if they outdid the current breeders for predictability...I believe they will

BREEDING,

If it's exciting you're doing it wrong.

Quote :

BREEDING,

If it's exciting you're doing it wrong.

I do find breeding cattle exciting but then maybe I am not breeding. Watching the changes in the generations over the years...what did I improve a notch or two, what did I worsen and what was I able to maintain. Developing a functional cow herd that I can maintain and grow with my limited time that I was told I would never be able to do when my Father passed away nearly 10 years ago now. Can't help but think my grandparents and Father would say I am doing a pretty good job of things with the herd they started in 1957.

MD...knowing time on Earth is short and trying to enjoy some of the simple things in life like genetics lab.

Mark Day wrote:

Quote :

BREEDING,

If it's exciting you're doing it wrong.

I do find breeding cattle exciting but then maybe I am not breeding. Watching the changes in the generations over the years...what did I improve a notch or two, what did I worsen and what was I able to maintain. Developing a functional cow herd that I can maintain and grow with my limited time that I was told I would never be able to do when my Father passed away nearly 10 years ago now. Can't help but think my grandparents and Father would say I am doing a pretty good job of things with the herd they started in 1957.

MD...knowing time on Earth is short and trying to enjoy some of the simple things in life like genetics lab.

I guess you have used expensive bulls Mark; having been in business that long...

Quote :

I guess you have used expensive bulls Mark; having been in business that long...

Most high priced bulls bought in the last 30+ years were purchased in Nancy with the highest priced one not being smart enough not to lick a 1/2 buried old tractor battery.

MD - knowing that being in the cattle business a long time is more about sorting, management and perserverance than buying expensive bulls.

MKeeney wrote:

Bootheel wrote:

Good god man. That was like reading me, or listening to clanking in my own head. I am worried.


Bootheel, wondering if one of those B's is a Kiwanted

Joe, it`s been a struggle, but you are now my favorite Hendley...

MK, in the vicinity of hearing a now less favored Hendley sing The Boys of Summer

I'm gonna have to call bullshit on this one. I'm pretty sure that Kathy is everyone's favorite Hendley.

I met my top 4 in Red Lodge. Ranking beyond that would be pointless. All good people.

Tom D wrote:

MKeeney wrote:

Bootheel wrote:

Good god man. That was like reading me, or listening to clanking in my own head. I am worried.


Bootheel, wondering if one of those B's is a Kiwanted

Joe, it`s been a struggle, but you are now my favorite Hendley...

MK, in the vicinity of hearing a now less favored Hendley sing The Boys of Summer

I'm gonna have to call bullshit on this one. I'm pretty sure that Kathy is everyone's favorite Hendley.

You are on her bad side due to the fact you have not mentioned the windmill islands. This is very bad Tom. All the bear grease in the upper peninsula may not make up for it. Just giving you fair warning.


Bootheel

Any pictures yet?

Mark Day wrote:

Any pictures yet?

took a pic of another mistake today; a lesson for me I wanted to share...then made another by leaving the camera on the 4 wheeler; just an old age, can`t help that kind ...so another confession to look forward tomorrow

Quote :

just an old age, can`t help that kind

Is your age mistake mechanism bad enough to get you to lose a bull and some heifers this way?

Still plenty of bulls, though the repeat guys are narrowing the selection...

putting up pictures of my bulls might through desperation drive some to buy semen on Ben`s bull

this dude, that looks like a steer in this pic but sure doesn`t in the flesh, qualifies for parent stock with me and is headed to PA...



to get something that good {from here anyway} for $1500, there had to be some strings attached...here`s the string; the buyer has to use Nubbin as well...I`m going to be photographing Nubbin over time so we can stay up with his development...the sun was shining in on his testicles today; I believe they are developing nicely...



Semen checked Tuesday, the sperm on these two boys were jumping off the slide their half brother is a plain Jane as well; from a very pleasing cow...he`s looking for a home; might be spring before he gets pretty enough to be adopted...



Another bull in a parentstock direction; headed to IN where some half-sisters reside...presenting the opportunity to close things down tighter if so desired...



this young fellow is headed up to Ohio; to the closest Angus neighbor of the second eastern most co-operator of Pharo Cattle Company; he will trample out the puds as he marches past them; outfox the big genetic cripples, and leave his mark upon the land...He would not have left here; had I not been sitting here on this sack of seeds



and then we come to the experiments; the journey into the unknown...where a quarter Pinebank 41/97 in the pedigree casts it`s prepotent shadow everytime...
if the cow is bigger framed, they suit me fine...



I notice the testicles look uneven on these two in these pictures; not the case that I have noticed in the flesh...belly seems a highly heritable trait...



I fear puddiness is just a mating away if the dam is a smaller framed cow as this one is...



and this one...



can these sire a good framey steer like this one below is rubbing up to, ?...no, but I think they will sire big ribbed cows like the little Hodge cow pictured below that has been discussed here a couple times...




I think her kind can be an asset in this wet, green grass country...

yes, these feet are typical, and the best I have I believe...so, do we plug the trait in by continual crossing, or by making a new combination, and then close breeding it until it breeds true? realizing we are changing more than just feet...



for just a moment there looking at this pic, I thought I was in Big Sky Country...



but it was just the quiet of the early morning affecting me again

Very nice Mike, but... typical, and the best?

Keystone wrote:

Very nice Mike, but... typical, and the best?

typical of the group of bulls; the best, yes; except Nubbin, worst of the crop...cut the rest...but the steers look pretty damn good; more of a question of "how many can I sell? as you can see in the first picture, I`m always just a steer away from being in the sheep business

You say for years most people are better off using their own bulls than spending money on some one else's bulls and then you post that little picture story. Thanks a lot for making at least 1 person beat themselves up tonight in their sleep. Nice job to all parties involved.

Mark Day wrote:

You say for years most people are better off using their own bulls than spending money on some one else's bulls and then you post that little picture story. Thanks a lot for making at least 1 person beat themselves up tonight in their sleep. Nice job to all parties involved.

just as mine has been

Man alive Mike. These pictures must me drawing members like flies to poop. Everytime I log on I see somebody new. It looks like at least one or two of them would pipe up, make fun of us, throw some rocks or shit, slap us around, pat us the back or something. It is making me a little insecure and paranoid.


Bootheel, digging the madness.