After the Master Tobacco Settlement, many tobacco farmers diversified into beef cattle or increased their herd size.  County Agriculture Investment Programs (CAIP) have helped producers purchase bulls and heifers through cost share arrangements.  Much work has been done on heifer development; however work on bull selection has lagged.  Navigating Expected Progeny Differences (EPDs) is difficult and producers usually choose to purchase through visual appraisal alone. A bull will provide 50% of the genetic potential for a herd of cattle so it is the most important decision that cattlemen will make.

Jackson, Laurel and Clay County ANR Agents and Cattlemens’ Associations partnered with University of Kentucky Beef Specialists and the Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy to participate in a Bull Value Assessment Program in the tri-county area.  The Bull Value Assessment Program was a two session program.  Session one focused on factors that a producer should consider in purchasing a bull for their herd, such as visual appraisal, birth weights, weaning weights, and docility.  At the end of the first night, producers were given a scenario and a mock sale catalogue to go home and make bull selections based on the scenario that they were given.  Producers were to identify several bulls that would fit that scenario and try to purchase a bull as cheaply as they could at the mock sale.  Session two was the mock auction at the Wilderness Trail Area Marketing Alliance Facility.  The mock auction was set up with a sale ring and bleachers just like producers would encounter as they go to bull sales.  A professional cattle auctioneer and ring team were on hand to conduct the auction.  Producers purchased bulls in the auction based on their given scenario.  Often producers get caught up in the bidding and competition for bulls at a sale.  Cattlemen were challenged to control their competitive impulses and to stick to their scenario and the specific need for their herd in the scenario.

At the end of the auction, producers were evaluated on their decisions and given feedback by University of Kentucky beef specialists on which bulls were good values based on the scenario.  Producers also completed a written evaluation. 

 Fifty-four producers attended both sessions of the Bull Value and Assessment Training and forty-five completed the survey for a 83% response rate.  Over 68% of attendees were commercial producers and 97% overwhelmingly ranked both sessions as very helpful in the selection of bulls.  Producers took the training seriously as evidenced by over 75% spending from 30 minutes to 2 hours studying their scenario and the sale catalogue to determine the bulls on which they would bid.  Over 45% said that they used EPDs in the selection of their bulls rather than just visual appraisal alone.  Ninety-eight percent said the things that they learned in this program would help them in their next bull purchase.  Ninety percent said they benefited from the mock auction experience by knowing what bulls would benefit their scenarios and the discipline to just bid on those bulls.  One producer commented that “before the program, I would not have considered buying a Hereford bull to add to my Angus herd.  Next month is purchase time for me, so I have lots of new information.”