• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

To Honor and Protect the Ranching Way of Life

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Why Join
    • Leadership
    • Staff
    • Partners
    • FAQs
    • Newsroom
    • Sponsorships
    • Employment
  • What We Do
    • Theft and Law
    • Issues and Policy
    • Education
    • Students and Young Professionals
    • The Cattleman Magazine
    • Disaster Relief Fund
    • Cattle Raisers Insurance
    • Cattle Raisers Trading Co
  • Events
    • Cattle Raisers Convention
    • Policy Conference
    • Summer Meeting
    • Ranch Gatherings
    • Ranching 101
  • Join
  • Member Center
  • TSCRA Store
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Value of bull to commercial herd exceeds 'relative' value

The value of bulls in commercial herds goes beyond the “relative” value typically ascribed to them in market pricing, said a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert.
“In publications referencing cattle values for commercial producers as well as reports from beef breed associations, the value of a bull is often given as equivalent to the average value of five weaned calves,” said Dr. Joe Paschal, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist, Corpus Christi. “This has been a long-held comparison for determining the value of a bull, but it really doesn’t take into account all aspects of what bulls provide to the herd.”
Paschal said the value of one bull to five weaned calves resulted from a relative equivalency identified as market prices fluctuated over the past several years.
“At least up until around 2010, producers paid less than 50 percent of the value of those five calves on a bull,” Paschal explained. “Then from 2011 until 2015 producers began to pay more, including up to 100 percent of the value of five calves in 2013. Then in 2015, producers paid up to 150 percent of the value of five calves for one bull. And when calf prices dropped in 2016, the ratio dropped back to about 115 percent – between $5,000 and $5,250 – closer to the average value of the five calves.”
But this ratio doesn’t fully reflect the additional value bulls supply to the herd, Paschal said.
“Bulls supply the genetics for the next generation of replacement females in most commercial herds except those strictly using terminal crossing,” he said. “It should be remembered that bulls are more than just ‘cow fresheners’ as my former colleague, Dr. Rick Machen, retired AgriLife Extension livestock specialist in Uvalde, was fond of saying. As such, their value goes beyond the market price for five head of calves.”
Paschal said if a bull is used for three years and the producer does not introduce any outside female replacements into the herd, that bull will then be responsible for up to 87 percent of the cowherd’s genes.
“A lot of products and equipment are touted as being the best investment a cattle producer can make, but a good bull is the only thing that can really match that description,” he said. “If you maintain a closed herd, the genes entering the cow herd will come completely from the bulls you select, and that’s a huge contribution – for better or worse – to the herd’s overall genetic makeup. When you look at it from that perspective, you see just how valuable a good bull is to a commercial cow herd.”

Source: https://today.agrilife.org/2017/10/20/value-bull-commercial-herd-exceeds-relative-value/

Written by:
kristin
Published on:
October 24, 2017

Categories: Animal Health, The Cattleman Now

Recent Posts

Texas cattle raisers applaud passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill

July 3, 2025

AUSTIN, Texas (July 3, 2025) — Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Carl …

Continue Reading about Texas cattle raisers applaud passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill

Website launched to support producers, landowners and wildlife managers navigate New World screwworm

July 3, 2025

Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association assisted in the launch of a new website to …

Continue Reading about Website launched to support producers, landowners and wildlife managers navigate New World screwworm

Crime watch: Two cows missing in Concho County

July 1, 2025

Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association Special Ranger HD Brittain, District 19 in West …

Continue Reading about Crime watch: Two cows missing in Concho County

Footer

Who We Are

Why Join
Leadership
Staff
Partners
FAQs
Newsroom
Sponsorships
Employment

What We Do

Theft and Law
Issues and Policy
Education
Students and Young Professionals
The Cattleman Magazine
Cattle Raisers Insurance
Cattle Raisers Trading Co.
Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association

Information

Cattle Raisers Blog
News Releases
Bereavements
Events
Sponsorships & Advertisement
Tip Hotline
Get Involved
Links

Membership

Membership Center
Membership Center Instructions
Join
Renew
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

PO BOX 101988
FORT WORTH, TX 76185

1-800-242-7820

© 2023 Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association; All Rights Reserved.

COPYRIGHT | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS OF USE