Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Most Stressful Day of the Year.

We all have some stress in our lives.  Those that raise crops and livestock have many factors that are out of their control.  Market fluctuation, and weather are two of the big ones.  But as a cattle producer there seems to be one day that adds even a bit more stress - Semen testing of the bull pen.

We spend over a year raising these bulls to develop them for breeding stock.  If they make the bull pen there are the extra costs of feed, registrations, time, promotion, and semen testing.

Bull pen in the fall
So you can see why the stress level goes way up on the day of testing.  In a moment you can be told the bull that you thought might be one of your higher sellers has just had his value decreased considerably and you still have all of the extra management costs into him.

We have sold a few bulls off of the farm and we have 6 that are consigned to the Red Deer Bull Sale on Monday March 19.  They were checked in for their semen tests last week.  The verdict was.......They All Passed! 

All of the bulls had excellent mobility scores and they measured up very well, ranging from 36 - 39 cm.

Now we can breath a little easier and spend our energy on getting them ready for sale day.  Watch for pictures of our consignments.  5 sons of IPU Revolution and 1 Black Joker son.

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