FEATURE ARTICLE
Highly Successful THE KEYS TO
by Bob Hough Many people feel there is a great mystery on why one outfit’s bull sale is successful, while another fails. However, the components of a successful sale are actually straight forward, and can be boiled down to leadership, breeding, and marketing. The key to success is how well each of these are implemented and if they are prioritized in the correct order. Those who master these components will dominate the market. BE A LEADER When people are choosing a bull supplier—whether they are a commercial or seedstock customer—they are first and foremost choosing the people with whom they want to do business. Buyers are attracted to seedstock suppliers with a vision on how to build a profitable cow herd. Ones that also have a reputation for providing their customers with the pertinent data needed to make an informed decision and then stand behind their bulls once sold. Next, buyers are drawn to the reputation of the person’s bulls themselves and the logic of the breeding program from which they came. Ultimately, buyers are attracted to thought leaders not followers and it’s a common expression that people like to be led. So, one of the first questions for someone who seeks to be a highly successful seedstock operation is: Are you a thought leader or just following the crowd? Success comes to both the buyer and seller when the seedstock operation has a program that is recognizable and consistent year after year. Seedstock managers also need to be well educated and up to speed on the latest science of cattle breeding. They can choose not to use one of the latest tools, but they need to have a logical, fact-based reason. The sad but true reality of the cattle business is the average commercial cow-calf producer that is making a living on their cattle is far more advanced in their knowledge of selection technology than your average seedstock breeder. Commercial cow-calf producers have businesses that deal in large gross sales but narrow margins. These narrow margins mean their livelihoods can depend on taking advantage of all the technology available. This includes the science that helps custom fit genetically a commercial herd to a ranch’s unique matrix of environment, management, feed resources, and market. A seedstock supplier’s ability to design genetics that best fit this matrix of their customers are well on their way to success. 36
March 2021
BULL SALES
BREED BETTER CATTLE Most breeders focus on how much they can sell their cattle for, but their first priority should be to breed better cattle and then see how much they can market them for. We are in a data driven world and if a trait is not quantifiable and repeatable, you cannot make genetic progress on that trait. Some of these traits will have genetic predictions and some will not, but they all can be measured in some form. Sometimes that is categorical. For instance, the International Brangus Breeders Association does not have a disposition EPD, but it is a heritable trait which can be defined in a limited number of categories that will give their customers a good idea what to expect when they get them home. In terms of looks, cull any unsound animals and any that are too ugly to sell. Ugly is something each producer has to define, but after that let the bull buyers sort them out. Today’s genetic predictions are more precise and reliable than a person could ever have imagined 20 years ago. However, the statistics and methodology behind them has become ever more complicated and difficult to understand. This difficulty to understand their underpinnings leads some producers to reject modern genetic predictions out of hand. This is to the long-term detriment of their operation. Today’s genetic predictions give the best estimate of what the actual genetics of an animal are, while other forms of selection contain both genetics, as well as the noise of the environment. The bottom line is for the traits that have objective genetic predictions, they should be used to design a producers breeding program regarding the traits they describe and then keep and cull based on production and performance. MARKETING Many people who want to have successful sales think the place to start is marketing, but marketing is only truly effective once you have a clear vision for breeding cattle and the outstanding bulls that reflect that vision. You don’t start out seeing how much you can sell them for. Rather, the first place to start is by breeding better cattle based on a program that will draw people to come buy them with a well-coordinated marketing plan. Another key is you don’t set out to breed that one home run bull that will sell for an eye-popping amount to a fellow seedstock buyer. Design your
